This Morning's Advertisement for Tycoon + Markco's Response

Tozi · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:09 pm

Tozi wrote:

Post I'm talking about: http://www.justmytwocopper.org/2011/09/ ... addon.html

First of all, I come to JMTC every day to learn something new and interesting about gold making in wow and for the past few years, I've done that due to your generosity in providing such a useful resource for such tips. I even bought a premium membership to help support the site.

Over the past few months you've taken a lot of slack for being "just in it for the himself", "in it for the money", etc. For example, the comments of this thread: http://www.justmytwocopper.org/2011/08/ ... -gold.html and I have been on your side through all of this because you have a right to be able to at the very least cover your expenses and the main content is still free, you're just asking for payment if somebody wants to remove the ads / use the search feature / etc which is a completely fair way to go about it.

However, this morning I see this post and am beyond disappointed. You did anything but give an unbiased review of the addon which is instantly obvious. To top it all off, you end with "You may not make 30,000 gold per day like the addon is promising, but I'm sure that you could easily make 5,000-10,000 gold with very little effort." I've been making 15-20k a day with your other tips easily so why would I pay $40 for something that'll make me less gold than what I learned for free? Making a shallow, unsupported estimate like that for how much gold you'll make if you buy this software is unfortunately a huge turn-off for me as a reader. I want to know HOW I can make gold, not be told that "if only you pay this $40 you'll be rich beyond your wildest dreams." Statements like that are an insult to my personal gold making intelligence and have pushed me from being a die-hard fan of yours to being somebody writing an email to you in disappointment.

I'm not even going to go into the fact that charging for an addon is explicitly against blizzard's addon policy (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1021053914).

Thanks,
-Tozi

Markco wrote:

Hey bud, sorry this wasn't your cup of tea. There is a wide range of people following jmtc. Some refuse to follow tips but guess what, when they see the same tips in a guide that they paid for suddenly they pay attention. It's an amazing example of psychology. For someone like you this post doesn't help you at all, but a person who's looking to spend money for help, this is an ideal solution.

I can shout free stuff till I'm blue in the face, or I can sell them something and everyone will get the gold they desire.

The guide is legal; the addon is supposedly free but the support costs money (legal loop hole).

It's a business, even if I try to make it transparent and helpful for everyone, this is unfortunately the way jmtc has always operated.

Take care.

Sent from my iPhone

Tozi wrote:

Ok so why prevent people from commenting on it? Afraid people will take my stance and expose you for abusing your popularity? If your stance is that some people want to pay real money to make gold, why don't they just buy it? Or buy a botting software? And why wouldn't you just flat-out say that in the post and actually give a fair review of the product rather than shamelessly saying how "amazing" it is?

Markco wrote:

It's not supposed to be a discussion. It's an advertisement. I really don't want to police comments on the post or take away from the value of the product.

I'm not taking advantage of popularity, I'm voicing my opinion on my favorite gold making addon.

You make it sound like I'm trying to cheat you or something for not allowing comments!

Sent from my iPhone

Tozi wrote:

Let me add, hearing that "this is the way JMTC has always operated" makes me sad. I thought JMTC was founded on the basis of sharing gold making knowledge, not the basis of being a business to pad your pockets.

Tozi wrote:

Ok well I guess I'll stop coming to JMTC for a gold making discussion then since it's just an advertising site now.

Since Markco blocked comments on the post itself, the forums seem like a good place to discuss it.

-Extremely disappointed and disgusted long-time JMTC fan.

PS: Will update with future responses.

Sapu94 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:51 pm

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1021053914

Blizzard's Addon Policy wrote:

1) Add-ons must be free of charge.

All add-ons must be distributed free of charge. Developers may not create "premium" versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on.

Pretty explicit. Taking Markco's point that you're paying for the support not the addon, that would require there being an unsupport version (that would be free) and even so, any "paid support" would fall under the category of "charge for services related to the add-on" pretty clearly.

PS: I'm not saying / agreeing with anything regarding Markco personally, just pointing out what blizzard's official addon policy is.

demon55 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 3:51 pm

I tend to agree with Markco a bit more then the original poster. It is his site, he is more then welcome to post what he wants. I just don't agree with the addon itself, I personally am not going to use an addon which so blatantly violates the ToS. And it does. I opened a gm ticket to clarify, and when I get a response, I will screen shot it and post.

I spoke with a GM, who referred me to the legal team, which I am not going to do, because the paranoid person in me has drawn enough attention and doesn't want to be bothered by any kind of legal team. updating with a link to the screenshot of the GM conversation.

Personally, as awesome as an addon like this sounds, I think I will continue to plod along like I was before and use the tools on this site. Sorry Markco

http://s1089.photobucket.com/albums/i34 ... GMPost.png

Deepcut · **Posted:** Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:10 pm

Has Markco used the addon?

Pert · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:12 pm

Deepcut wrote:

Has Markco used the addon?

I'd assume so, but who knows? "It's an advertisement."

The addon is pretty clearly against Blizzard's ToU, as outlined by Sapu94.

Certainly Markco has the right advertise whatever product he wishes, but to extol the virtues of a product that violates Blizzard's addon policy is poor form. It's very unlikely that anyone would be punished for using the addon, but it's certainly possible that people shelling out 40 bucks on Markco's say-so will end up with an addon that is non-functional once Blizzard's attention is drawn to it.

Bodom · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:06 pm

Advertising illegal addons? I barely visit the site anymore and reading through the latest updates only makes me remember why I should delete it from my bookmarks already.

Fizwib47 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:00 pm

This site has turned to crap. Marko does not even get a crap about these forums anymore. Just anyway he can make a buck, including turning it into an advertising blog. I cannot blame someone for making money though. But this site is completely different from http://consortium.stormspire.net/forum.php which still has an active community.

Sweetiebird · **Posted:** Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:56 pm

Shaneless plug?

Sapu94 · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:13 am

Sweetiebird wrote:

Shaneless plug?

Definitely not. I would agree that The Consortium, in general, has a high quality of content for those who already know the basics. The Consortium isn't trying to sell anything and have a lot of very knowledgeable and active members who are more than willing to help out / share their ideas, successes, and failures. It's not like you have to pick between JMTC or The Consortium so why not encourage people to go check out something which is a good source of useful information?

If you really want to compare the two, right now JMTC has 28 users browsing the forums (4 registered) and The Consortium has 57 users browsing the forums (5 registered).

Whitewolf · **Posted:** Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:26 am

Fizwib47 wrote:

This site has turned to crap. Marko does not even get a crap about these forums anymore. Just anyway he can make a buck, including turning it into an advertising blog. I cannot blame someone for making money though. But this site is completely different from http://consortium.stormspire.net/forum.php which still has an active community.

A few points...

JMTC the Blog and the JMTC Forums are two distinct entities, both founded by Markco, but run pretty independently from one another. You're unclear about which one you feel has turned to crap. If you're referring to the blog, please go make your comments known there on that site as well as here. If you're referring to this set of forums, yes the place has slowed down in the last 3 months while the spammers have quadupled their postings. Many of the old members have reduced their participation. It's only as good as you people make it, people.

The Consortium and JMTC Forums aren't in competition and there's a large overlap between the two communities.

I'm going to delete the other topic you started 24 hours ago since it is almost a word-for-word copy of your comment here. (I'm still baffled why you felt it was so insightful that you felt you needed to bump it 12 hours later.....btw.....don't bump topics at these forums unless you actually have something to add to the topic.)

Personally, it doesn't bother me if Markco wants to use ~his own blog~ (JMTC) to promote some nebulous addon (that may or may not live up to the hype) for personal financial gain. I'm constantly bewildered why people are surprised in the least that a blog that self-promotes a gold making guide would "stoop" to cross-promoting a second product.

On the other hand, I'm also of the belief that charging for "addon support" won't escape Blizzard's notice for long and I expect that either the addon will be broken or the charges will be dropped in the near future.

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This Morning's Advertisement for Tycoon + Markco's Response

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