I'm fully expecting an angry mob after posting this. Wouldn't be surprised is this thread gets deleted or I get banned/slowly pushed out from the forum. I rather not, but it is what it is. Need to make one final attempt at bringing this place back in the direction of the great place that it was.
Hey @MJ DeMarco - just got out of work and have time to reply to any of the questions. Sorry for doing a "drive by". Let me hop into the details that everyone asked for. My intent wasn't to go at anyone, just to share my opinion that there's a problem that a lot of people see and the negative trajectory that the forum is going to as a community.
I don't know who you guys want me to write about by the way, so I'll keep it objective by sticking with the mods to make my point.
@MJ DeMarco - great guy.
@AllenCrawley - seems like a good guy.
@Andy Black
Last year I threw up a thread that was hard for me to write, about entrepreneurial depression: GOLD! - Let's Talk About Entrepreneurial Depression.
What spurned the thread was intense sadness dealing with a friend that was thinking of killing himself. I made the post because my intent was to help others understand that we all go through this and that the feelings we get are normal.
The majority of the responses were positive and encouraging for us as an entrepreneurial community. However, what rubbed me the wrong way was Andy's private message titled "Good for You".
After getting that message, I felt that it wasn't about helping the community as it was about getting gold threads. Why?
"Good for you?" That what? That I made a thread on the forum that got a lot of likes and turned gold? I could care less about the likes. Or is it good for me that I was able to get my mind right and help my friend out? Then why's it matter that I "beat you to it" if I helped others out on the forum.
Looking at the rest of Andy's content, it got me curious. So many threads with his name in them. Like what's the point? If it's of value then why's it matter if you brand it around yourself?
Now I'm not saying that below is what he's doing. I'm just saying his posts give off that impression, and I believe it's hurting the dialogue on the forum:
1. Make a bunch of threads. Get as many likes and traffic/branding as possible. A lot of them seem of little value to me.
2. Make courses or sell services.
Other things that confuse me: Anytime someone has a well developed signature of their other threads, I start wondering why would someone spend the time. Not saying there's something wrong with having a signature, just saying it's confusing to me.
Continuing with Andy, there's small gripes I have like preaching about "diesel and coffee", yet not meeting up when someone reaches out to him in Ireland. Makes me feel like he's not about the community as much as he is about the funnel.
Also have you received a pm from Andy? Because I remember getting the first one and wondering why someone was sending out cold messages. Maybe his intentions there are good, not my place to say. I'm just saying that things have gotten a little weird.
@Vigilante
I don't have any problems with you and don't know why you think I do. I don't think you're on here for any nefarious gains - the only thing I think you're on here for is the community and stroking your ego and that's the only gripe I have.
In the Covid thread, you deleted any post that made you look bad. Then went back and further deleted any post that disagreed with you.
I made a post pointing out that being a post-Nazi on the forum was bullshit if this forum was to be a forum. One of the posters you deleted is a doctor. He disagreed with your opinion, and after a few pages you made a fool out of yourself, so you went back and deleted your post and the post of countless other posters on here.
We shouldn't have to moderate the mods that are upset at their ego taking a hit.
When you're deleting the posts of 5-10+ people or however many, then chances are that they're not the ones in the wrong.
The radio show... I should've left that out. Wasn't really directed at you as nefarious or anything. Just got tossed in with the concept of "self-branding". You've provided value in a lot of forms and for that I'm thankful and a handful of others are too. Everyone respects that. You self-branding isn't a negative for anyone, however it does lop in with some others that I'm suspicious of.
@Fox
Let me start off by saying that @Fox seems like a genuine guy. I know a couple people that took his course and say that it was worth it.
If it wasn't for everyone putting me on the spot and him being a mod as well as the top ad post on this forum, then I wouldn't even be making this post. But to keep things fair with the mods, let's wrap it up.
Last year Fox made a thread that I considered extremely ambitious and extremely risky: WEB SCHOOL - Fox's 2019 Make $100k Starting Web Design from Scratch Challenge
The purpose of the thread was: "After the success of Lex DeVille's Upwork challenge, I decided to start one of my own... Start a completely new web design business in 2019, get it back to making over 100k+ a year, and document the whole thing."
Awesome idea for a thread. Props for taking the risk.
Thing is, that thread never went where it was supposed to. Jump to the end of the thread and you'll notice that the challenge faded out because "[whatever he wrote towards the end of the thread]".
A year later and he has a marketplace thread titled "Fox's Web Design Guide: Earn $100K This Year (Yes, 2020!) And Go Fastlane".
Not saying that there's anything nefarious there, but it is a head scratcher.
And I just want to state again - his course has positive reviews from people I know. I do believe that he's a good teacher - and might be one of the rare business mentors where his ability to teach exceeds his personal abilities. Nothing wrong with that - only issue I have is the approach.
In terms of other members outside of the mods, I won't get into details on any other active members here because that wasn't my intent. I never intended to start an entire thread of forum drama or to hurt anyone in public. My point was simply: self-branding on this forum is expediting and it's leading to a poorer experience as a forum member. In a lot of instances it throws up unnecessary red flags and leads to confusion on what is a valuable post and what isn't.
A huge issue I do have with the forum however is that it's unacceptable to call anyone out if they're established members. If you do, you get flack. Look at my original post: The "Self-Branding" on this forum is getting toxic..
There's guys baiting me to "slander" someone. For what purpose?
I'm not here to slander. I'm just here to point out that the forum experience is getting worse in my opinion.
You used to be able to hop on here and make threads by writing what they were. It's slowly evolved to doing copywriting for the subject lines so that it sticks out. Then when reading the threads, you have to figure out what's real and what's not. You question what the incentives are and it creates confusion on half the threads that you read. The experience is getting worse.
Now if you have a problem with someone, you're not even allowed to state your opinion. I made a thread on my lunch break after getting annoyed by a couple valueless threads, and what happened? The thread got flooded with everyone that sells services on here? Half the mod team jumped in on me since half of them are doing what I'm complaining about? And then when I didn't reply in a couple hours in the thread got shut down since it wasn't a flattering post?
In another thread months back when I pointed out that someone seemed suspicious and what happened? Half my posts got deleted. Meanwhile people like Vig were telling him to sue me. Yet months later I get a message from one of his "investors" saying that he saw my post before he invested since it went the direction I pointed out.
Another huge issue is the marketplace for services/coaching/courses/whatever.
The biggest issue is that there's no anonymous feedback system for people that used the product or service.
I ask friends what they thought of this or that? And it's not uncommon to hear that someone paid for something and weren't satisfied with what they bought. Ok. Cool. That's normal, that's business. Not everyone will be happy all the time. You bought it and didn't like it.
However, it is a problem when you look at the thread and that same person that's complaining in private is complimenting the guy peddling the product/service since it's socially taxing here to speak your mind. You speak your mind and you have everyone jump at you. If everyone doesn't jump at you then there's still other risks: losing friends, getting socially ostracized - whether on this forum or in real life since a good number of us have made personal relationships. So whenever you get asked for a review, what do you do? You leave a flattering one and let the cycle perpetuate. Without an anonymous feedback system this will continue.
I love this place, but sometimes it's tough to be on here. And yeah, I'm just one guy saying this, but it's not just me. There's countless of people that stopped interacting here because they decided it wasn't worth it for them. My hope is that less of those valuable people leave.
By the way, if you mods want to ban me, then please go ahead. If this place is getting away from being a platform of reasonable opinions, then I might as well get kicked out now and have this thread deleted. Might as well before everyone jumps in at me in the comments anyway.
Hey @MJ DeMarco - just got out of work and have time to reply to any of the questions. Sorry for doing a "drive by". Let me hop into the details that everyone asked for. My intent wasn't to go at anyone, just to share my opinion that there's a problem that a lot of people see and the negative trajectory that the forum is going to as a community.
I don't know who you guys want me to write about by the way, so I'll keep it objective by sticking with the mods to make my point.
@MJ DeMarco - great guy.
@AllenCrawley - seems like a good guy.
@Andy Black
Last year I threw up a thread that was hard for me to write, about entrepreneurial depression: GOLD! - Let's Talk About Entrepreneurial Depression.
What spurned the thread was intense sadness dealing with a friend that was thinking of killing himself. I made the post because my intent was to help others understand that we all go through this and that the feelings we get are normal.
The majority of the responses were positive and encouraging for us as an entrepreneurial community. However, what rubbed me the wrong way was Andy's private message titled "Good for You".
After getting that message, I felt that it wasn't about helping the community as it was about getting gold threads. Why?
"Good for you?" That what? That I made a thread on the forum that got a lot of likes and turned gold? I could care less about the likes. Or is it good for me that I was able to get my mind right and help my friend out? Then why's it matter that I "beat you to it" if I helped others out on the forum.
Looking at the rest of Andy's content, it got me curious. So many threads with his name in them. Like what's the point? If it's of value then why's it matter if you brand it around yourself?
Now I'm not saying that below is what he's doing. I'm just saying his posts give off that impression, and I believe it's hurting the dialogue on the forum:
1. Make a bunch of threads. Get as many likes and traffic/branding as possible. A lot of them seem of little value to me.
2. Make courses or sell services.
Other things that confuse me: Anytime someone has a well developed signature of their other threads, I start wondering why would someone spend the time. Not saying there's something wrong with having a signature, just saying it's confusing to me.
Continuing with Andy, there's small gripes I have like preaching about "diesel and coffee", yet not meeting up when someone reaches out to him in Ireland. Makes me feel like he's not about the community as much as he is about the funnel.
Also have you received a pm from Andy? Because I remember getting the first one and wondering why someone was sending out cold messages. Maybe his intentions there are good, not my place to say. I'm just saying that things have gotten a little weird.
@Vigilante
I don't have any problems with you and don't know why you think I do. I don't think you're on here for any nefarious gains - the only thing I think you're on here for is the community and stroking your ego and that's the only gripe I have.
In the Covid thread, you deleted any post that made you look bad. Then went back and further deleted any post that disagreed with you.
I made a post pointing out that being a post-Nazi on the forum was bullshit if this forum was to be a forum. One of the posters you deleted is a doctor. He disagreed with your opinion, and after a few pages you made a fool out of yourself, so you went back and deleted your post and the post of countless other posters on here.
We shouldn't have to moderate the mods that are upset at their ego taking a hit.
When you're deleting the posts of 5-10+ people or however many, then chances are that they're not the ones in the wrong.
The radio show... I should've left that out. Wasn't really directed at you as nefarious or anything. Just got tossed in with the concept of "self-branding". You've provided value in a lot of forms and for that I'm thankful and a handful of others are too. Everyone respects that. You self-branding isn't a negative for anyone, however it does lop in with some others that I'm suspicious of.
@Fox
Let me start off by saying that @Fox seems like a genuine guy. I know a couple people that took his course and say that it was worth it.
If it wasn't for everyone putting me on the spot and him being a mod as well as the top ad post on this forum, then I wouldn't even be making this post. But to keep things fair with the mods, let's wrap it up.
Last year Fox made a thread that I considered extremely ambitious and extremely risky: WEB SCHOOL - Fox's 2019 Make $100k Starting Web Design from Scratch Challenge
The purpose of the thread was: "After the success of Lex DeVille's Upwork challenge, I decided to start one of my own... Start a completely new web design business in 2019, get it back to making over 100k+ a year, and document the whole thing."
Awesome idea for a thread. Props for taking the risk.
Thing is, that thread never went where it was supposed to. Jump to the end of the thread and you'll notice that the challenge faded out because "[whatever he wrote towards the end of the thread]".
A year later and he has a marketplace thread titled "Fox's Web Design Guide: Earn $100K This Year (Yes, 2020!) And Go Fastlane".
Not saying that there's anything nefarious there, but it is a head scratcher.
And I just want to state again - his course has positive reviews from people I know. I do believe that he's a good teacher - and might be one of the rare business mentors where his ability to teach exceeds his personal abilities. Nothing wrong with that - only issue I have is the approach.
In terms of other members outside of the mods, I won't get into details on any other active members here because that wasn't my intent. I never intended to start an entire thread of forum drama or to hurt anyone in public. My point was simply: self-branding on this forum is expediting and it's leading to a poorer experience as a forum member. In a lot of instances it throws up unnecessary red flags and leads to confusion on what is a valuable post and what isn't.
A huge issue I do have with the forum however is that it's unacceptable to call anyone out if they're established members. If you do, you get flack. Look at my original post: The "Self-Branding" on this forum is getting toxic..
There's guys baiting me to "slander" someone. For what purpose?
I'm not here to slander. I'm just here to point out that the forum experience is getting worse in my opinion.
You used to be able to hop on here and make threads by writing what they were. It's slowly evolved to doing copywriting for the subject lines so that it sticks out. Then when reading the threads, you have to figure out what's real and what's not. You question what the incentives are and it creates confusion on half the threads that you read. The experience is getting worse.
Now if you have a problem with someone, you're not even allowed to state your opinion. I made a thread on my lunch break after getting annoyed by a couple valueless threads, and what happened? The thread got flooded with everyone that sells services on here? Half the mod team jumped in on me since half of them are doing what I'm complaining about? And then when I didn't reply in a couple hours in the thread got shut down since it wasn't a flattering post?
In another thread months back when I pointed out that someone seemed suspicious and what happened? Half my posts got deleted. Meanwhile people like Vig were telling him to sue me. Yet months later I get a message from one of his "investors" saying that he saw my post before he invested since it went the direction I pointed out.
Another huge issue is the marketplace for services/coaching/courses/whatever.
The biggest issue is that there's no anonymous feedback system for people that used the product or service.
I ask friends what they thought of this or that? And it's not uncommon to hear that someone paid for something and weren't satisfied with what they bought. Ok. Cool. That's normal, that's business. Not everyone will be happy all the time. You bought it and didn't like it.
However, it is a problem when you look at the thread and that same person that's complaining in private is complimenting the guy peddling the product/service since it's socially taxing here to speak your mind. You speak your mind and you have everyone jump at you. If everyone doesn't jump at you then there's still other risks: losing friends, getting socially ostracized - whether on this forum or in real life since a good number of us have made personal relationships. So whenever you get asked for a review, what do you do? You leave a flattering one and let the cycle perpetuate. Without an anonymous feedback system this will continue.
I love this place, but sometimes it's tough to be on here. And yeah, I'm just one guy saying this, but it's not just me. There's countless of people that stopped interacting here because they decided it wasn't worth it for them. My hope is that less of those valuable people leave.
By the way, if you mods want to ban me, then please go ahead. If this place is getting away from being a platform of reasonable opinions, then I might as well get kicked out now and have this thread deleted. Might as well before everyone jumps in at me in the comments anyway.
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
