cheater_1
People still love you . . people are still interested in what you have to say . . . don't worry there big guy, I'll still post in your thread . . .
Maybe I'll go play some Game Boy chess and pretend I'm spending some quality time with everyone's favorite Midwestern charlatan :p
Can anyone tell me what all of that useless nonsense was about that i just read... Jeeeeesssssss, I just wasted two and a half minutes of my life.
Absolutley true.
Remember DuBrow's Law, "If it seems free, well it's not."
There's no such thing as "free lunch".
Caveat emptor.
If it sounds too good to be true....it probably is.
There's a sucker born every minute.
There.....I've just wasted 4 minutes of my life responding. 
so true! i thought i was going to read an interesting post (the bait) and it was cheater_1 (the switch). now i feel sick :(
good insight.
Sheesh, why dont you post about something that is actually interesting.
There has been some talk about ETHICS and what are good and what are bad business practices. I'd like to pose a few FICTITIOUS examples and then talk about my views.
BIG TOBACCO gives out 10 FREE cartons of cigarettes to every person on their 18th birthday. ARE YOU ALRIGHT WITH THAT? Good or Bad business practices? Of course, their motive is to introduce people to their product and then get them to PAY $$$$ for the rest of their lives. Pure Evil or Pure genius? Depends on your point of view.
Today, I will give 35 people a free car. It's 100% FREE!!!!!. Now, if you choose to take your free car, it will begin to run like PURE CRAP after 4 months, but for only $100 per month, I will make it run GREAT, but all the tires will go flat every 6 months. Don't like to get flat tires? Well then, pay me $300 month and it'll run great and NEVER get a flat tire, but it will be 100% covered in RUST after one year. But for only $500 a month it'll run great, no flats, no rust, but it will burst into flames after 1.5 years unless you purchase the No Burst Into Flames upgrade package for the one time fee of only $2300.88. Once again, pure evil or pure genius? Depends on your point of view. But it certainly AINT free.
I have been on the internet LONGER than most people have been ALIVE. I've been logging on since the 1970's before it was even called the World Wide Web. Bait and Switch is the rule of thumb on the internet. Plaster the word "FREE" in as many places as you can to drive people to whatever it is that you are SELLING. It is mostly true that the more times FREE is used in your website, the more expensive your product is.
Many companies tease you with a small percentage of their product for free but then make you pay to get all of it. It's unscrupulous business practices at its worst. It's like the proverbial clearing house giveaway winner that just won a 52 inch LCD tv; however, they have to pay only $799 Shipping and Handling to get it. It's like going to a FREE newspaper website only to get the first 3 lines of the article and being forced to become a member if you want to read the entire article.
Here's a little secret that only worldly people such as myself know. 90% percent of web based businesses get a SIGNIFICANT amount of revenue from their "FREE" members without them even knowing about it. Allow me to give you all a fictitious example with fictituous figures. The company "ABSOLUTELY 100% FREE GAMES" has 100,000 "free" members. All of these free members have had to create a membership with valid email accounts. Many companies don't allow potential members to use hotmail or Yahoo or other FREE accounts because they want REAL statistics. Your AOL email account is tied to your AOL account which has your REAL name, address, phone #, etc. "ABSOLUTELY 100% FREE GAMES" can sell these real and valid names, etc. to market research companies and make, for example, $100 for every 1,000 names. In this case, "ABSOLUTELY 100% FREE GAMES" will make $10,000 by selling your information.
Now, many simpletons don't care one iota that a company is making a significant amount of money by selling THEIR personal information. As long as they get their Absolutely 100% Free Games, they dont care. All the JUNK mail you get, All the telemarketers that call your house, all the knocks on your door from door to door salespeople are BECAUSE of the free subscriptions that you signed up for. Ethical? You be the judge.
I am the type of person that bases my actions NOT ONLY on what I will get or how I will benefit, but what the other party stands to benefit. For example, if I want a book, I'll pay $24.99 for it without even blinking an eye, but I would never ever ever send a donation of even $1 to some family that is down on their luck because a tornado destroyed their house-- cases like that usually end up netting so many $$$$ that the family can build a 25,000 square foot mansion and send all their kids to Harvard and buy them new cars for graduation presents when it's all over and done. Most people send the money because it makes them feel good. I, for one, am not in the business of making people rich or giving handouts.
There's not a lot of free things in this world. There is almost ALWAYS a catch. There is nothing we can do about it. I do know a bait and switch when I see it.