Horrifyingly off-topic note for The Tim:

Tim, I just had a browse of your site. I'm terribly slow about updating, but I believe you've got me beat. The dates suggest you haven't updated since 2002. No news fit to print since then???
Note: My op-ed page has been recently updated, but I'm afraid the rest is a tad ancient. I'll have to work on that.

Oh, yes. About this topic. I seem to remember once having invested a sum of money based on the idea that, even if I lost it, it wouldn't hurt that much. (Wrong, it hurt like a fury because nobody this side of Bill Gates can drop several hundred and not miss it.) These days, I've learned caution-- sometimes perhaps too cautious-- and overall it's served to keep me out of bad ideas posing as wonder moneymakers.

Here's a good general rule. If you get something that promises big money for little or no real work, ask "Ok, then what, exactly, are they paying me for??". The reason for this question is because no legitimate business is shelling out money to folk who are primarily sitting at home waiting for a paycheck. A similar question to ask: "Why is this company hiring all these people??". MLMs tend to lard up on people far in excess of any legitimate business need. There is simply no way the market is going to support a large company selling vitamins or health shakes or the latest thing to come across my email, namely those air purifiers. Especially if you have to sell at a large markup to feed an upline.

> The point of this forum is not to identify and promote 'business
> opportunities' with a 99 percent failure rate. I'm not personally
> interested in the minimizing losses part of the business equation so even
> if your variant on this scheme is 6 times as successful as the ones you
> mentioned, then 'only' 94 percent of the participants lose.

> I often fail to exhibit the proper enthusiasm for what I believe are bogus
> bizzops, and it's not because I'm saving it for my weekend golf game.
> Maybe it's a result of a hearsay-induced coma or perhaps YOUR expectations
> are a little too high? There are a lot of folks on this forum who are
> sensitive to online scams and xpecting gung ho sycophants on a scamboard
> is likely to induce such stress. Avoid it at all costs.

> I get accused of political flimflammery on this board with regularity.
> Some deserved, some not, but I've been posting around here for a few years
> and I challenge anyone to find a post where my business advice has been
> incorrect or self serving.