MLM Bot Watch 17- chat about Utah based tragicomic cultastic racketeering scamalangadingdongs like Forever Living, Ariix, Herbalife, Younique, Juiceplus etc etc etc

[Toobusytowee]

A brief history of the threads so far-

A few people were bemused at their friends' strange personality changes when they joined MLMs.
Eyespying told us they were tragicomic, thought stopping cultic racketeers.
We told him to go away, he was clearly obsessed, and can he go to his own serious thread?
We delved a bit deeper into the issues.
Eyes started creeping back. We told him he was too serious.
We became more horrified at the information being turned up and were sharing links.
Eyes told us aboutMerchants of Deception.
Timeless Vie was set up as a parody about MLMs.[[www.facebook.com/timelessvie
Facebook,]] Twitter, blog, Instagram and YouTube were all used.
People started coming forward, telling of their experiences in MLMs.
We became more horrified.
Bot Watch started on Facebook where links were put up of interest to do with MLMs.
Botwatchblog started and produced factual analysis of the discussions from MN.
MLM members (bots) waded in saying it was all ok. You can earn great money. You just have to work 19 hours a day and not worry about morals.
Bots complained about their names being used. Their lawyers complained to MNHQ so that MN now do not allow us to use bots' names or show screengrabs of their writings even if it is in the public domain.
Blogs and FB posts increased, with the increasing amount of facts and whistleblowers coming forward.
FL lawyer tried to get TV YouTube video banned.
Bots claimed we were bullying them because we were asking them questions they couldn't answer. we were called middle aged women and accused of being drug dealers.
It got a bit nasty so we ate some cheese for a bit and they went away.
Health claims from FL bots now reducing dramatically as a result of pestering from all of us.
We stopped telling Eyes he was too serious. We all started thinking in his language and realised he was right.
Eyes turned out to be very funny and entertained us all.
Sunday Times article produced exposing FL. With a little help from people here.
Lawyers still persisting in trying to ban TV's videos.

Some links of interest-
A factsheet aimed at people considering joining an MLM or who have just done so, to warn them of some facts. tinyurl.com/ha6sgxw

A film of herbalife victims describing what it is like in their MLM-

A film on how to spot a pyramid scheme-

A comedy review of an MLM product- www.youtu.be/4yr_etbfZtQ

I think this has been asked before but is me&i (clothing for adults and kids) an MLM? An acquaintance posted on my FB today and my alarm bells started ringing.

Also I had my first ever Jamberry posting - launching in the UK next week I believe?

I think now is an appropriate time to thank eyes, timeless vie and botwatch for all that they are doing.

You cannot fault people for looking stuff up on companies house and sharing it. It is deliberately publicly available information. Anyone that didn't realise that has been very poorly advised. Anyway, what do they have to hide?? If all is as well as they claim it to be, surely they would be making the most of the publicly available info and using it to back up their claims of great success?

Hear hear! FLhaha

Vive la Resistance! Long may it continue.

And of course to note that there is wide ranging interest from journalists and regulators now and they won't waste a moment in obtaining company accounts

workingwithchimps Bother DollyTwat has just replied concerning your worries about being identified - I was about to make the same point; they wrote upthread:

The bot who continues to troll these threads was identified ages ago

It's rather about comprehension isn't it? I took, and continue to take her remark to mean your identity as a poster whose contributions to several versions of these threads to fluctuate wildly in content, tone, writing style, civility etc. I just spent a wee while re-reading them. On the 1st march at 16.33 the poster workingwithchimps wrote:

Eyespying - you are not merely suggesting anything - you rarely do, I honestly can't be arsed to read your posts because after the third sentence my mind begins to wander - so forgive me for not answering your questions as I don't get far enough into the post to read them!

I hope that a more rigorous reading of Eyespying posts were undertaken before his ban. Vive les filles de James Bond!

I have no idea of your identity; all I think of when I see your Mumsnet name is Jane Goodall, she is an aspirational woman.

Dear god this thread has got silly! Banning eyes. Yet people can claim that an untested and unlicensed medically product can cure all manner of problems.

maybe it's time to move to the emergency shelter

www.reddit.com/r/timelessvie/

personally, i kinda hope the MLMers keep making legal threats and censoring us, because there's plenty of people in internetland who will get rilly, rilly, rilly pissed off about it.

Perhaps the next opening post could have a list of the 'rules' (I have asked mnhq to reply to my post querying the banning of eyes) and also a list of useful places to research (companies house, good search terms on you tube).

Also to remind everyone, the ASA are very helpful when you are unhappy about an advert, as are the medical ones (MHRA) when enquiring about medical claims. For any breaches of the Cancer Act (basically saying something can cure/help with cancer) that goes to Trading Standards, they are also pretty good. :).

I have been lurking on these threads since the first one, Eyespying being banned has made me delurk.

I know this has previously been posted in one of the threads, but would it be possible for someone to explain how to report bot facebook etc posts to the ASA/anyone?

I mean i was outraged by the banning! I must learn to proof read what i write and work on my sentence construction

Interesting to read that the biggest threat to FL is their bots making false health claims. This is from their company accounts

It's great that a lot of the bots have cleaned up their act, in public anyway

Welcome, best. (Whatever the circumstances of your arrival.)

Does anyone have a link to the peer reviewed article which says that aloe vera causes cancer in rats?

In actual fact I think people have gone about it in a very correct way. Truths and lies uncovered, people who've suffered have come out of the woodwork.

I'm afraid you can't talk about how other humans are treated when we've clearly seen (and there is so much evidence out there) how vulnerable people are recruited, with promises that have no real backing.
We (I think I speak for most people) don't agree with how these people make their money and feed their kids, because it has great potential for those recruited to lose money and not being able to feed their kids. What's the phrase, robbing Peter to pay Paul?

I see no tumbleweed, TV likes are going up day by day, Bot Watch is all over the health claims, people are leaving MLMs because of the information uncovered.

I'm pretty sure the press use photos and status updates and tweets from open Facebook and Twitter accounts without permission.

I'm not sure there is any validity in he argument that public ally available information cannot be commented on.

The banning of eyes is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on mumsnet!

Mumsnet do you are agree that it is unreasonable that many vulnerable new mums are targeted and misled with claims of grossly over exaggerated income?

Wwc I think it has been commented many times that you have dramatically different posting styles on these threads and that no one here knows who you are but we seemed to conclude it was likely you were perhaps many different people

sparkle yes, they do. It's standard journalistic practice. If it's in the public domain, it's fair game.

Welcome best - as Friday is Delurkers Day, I hope more of you say hello. You're welcome here. :)

I also recall several posts from workingwithchimps claiming to have uncovered who melaw was.

Various claims about gates in paths, bitcoins and mining were made in these somewhat threatening posts.

I have always found in real life that those who cry bully the loudest are generally those undertaking the bullying themselves.

Contributors to these threads accused of being "low life scum" in the Feature Me post on Facebook (which went bananas) where a journalist from the Daily Mail was looking for people who had had bad experiences with Forever Living.

I suppose like attracts like: it's all down to the Law of Attraction.

It is clear that the threads, TV, botwatch are having a real impact. All the Bots I watch have gone quiet and while I am hugely disappointed with the banning of Eyes I find this, and MNs latest comment, very interesting.

Seems like FL are going to a lot of effort to kill these threads, shows the threads must be doing something right and is a massive credit to everyone who has kept them going for so long.

were accused

Best not to engage with the troll if you can, or mention it's name. It's like Beetlejuice, it appears on the thread! It wants you to engage.

best Well put. It says it all when a company worth billions feels threatened by a bunch of "middle aged keyboard warriors."