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The questions started just a few hours after I emailed my list about Jason Fladlien’s brilliant blog post.

“Why don’t you write blog posts like that?”

I thought about it. There are many reasons I don’t often point the spotlight on these issues, like Jeremy Kelsall did in a passionate rant lately. Here are some.

1. People hear without listening

Most of the time, folks behave like the Simon and Garfunkel song says. They hear (or read) the words. But they don’t take in the meaning. That’s why directing them away from a scam is usually a waste of time and energy.

2. The school of hard knocks

Life teaches us best through personal experience. Yes, sometimes these ‘Rocky Lessons‘ hurt… badly. But the more the pain, the quicker the learning – and the longer those memories last.

3. One man’s bread is another’s poison

It’s possible to let one’s opinion cloud one’s judgment. I may sincerely believe a particular product, concept or strategy is wrong. Someone else may take it, put it to work, and completely revolutionize his or her level of success. Criticizing roundly and in an opinionated fashion may actually be doing someone a disfavor.

4. Influence bears great responsibility

The same advice, actions and behavior are much more impactful when they come from influential people. So when influential people behave without responsibility, the level of damage can be extensive. That needs more aggressive exposing than others, which even if worse in nature, are less ‘dangerous’ because they aren’t as widely copied or modelled.

5. Positivity beats negativity

Though I take my responsibility in guiding people who trust me away from dangers in the marketplace I’m involved in, there’s much to be said for positivity and hanging around people who inspire, lead and empower. My short list of favorites include people like Terry Dean, Ryan Healy, Randy Smith, and some ‘over-looked’ and under-rated quiet geniuses like Bertil Jenner.

6. Fan boys!

Every unethical scammer who manages to pull off a sizable con builds a crowd of groupies around him. (In time, some of these groupies develop passionate fans of their own, too! ) And these starry-eyed fan boys are quick to rush to the defense of their hero whenever they see bad things said about them – never mind that they are true!. They’ve got all the time in the world to debate and argue. I don’t.

7. I pick my battles carefully

When you rant and rave against everything you find unfair or wrong with the world, you’re soon perceived as a cranky crack-pot! And quickly lose influence.

Far better to stand for a few things, but be relevant for them.

I usually pick broad issues that deal with mindset, belief and confidence – traits that entrepreneurs need in abundance, but are easily weakened by ‘brain toxins’ in the form of negative thoughts and feelings.

I do come down hard and heavy when I see them as particularly damaging.

Like when Tony Blake once questioned if I was even a real heart surgeon and compared me to an infamous scammer in the I.M. niche from many years ago – a line of musing that could have seriously hurt my reputation and impacted my credibility, which therefore I addressed forcefully and immediately.

Like when John Reese appeared ghastly on a video, and proudly attributed it to having worked non-stop for 36 hours on a project – unwittingly sending out the message that this is a requisite for success. (I rebutted this so strongly and harshly, John commented that I had “thrown him under a bus” – that post has since been deleted, because John is one of the few I still respect for what he’s achieved).

Like when Joel Comm stuck a clause that would auto-register buyers of his ebook to a forced continuity rebilling arrangement… into the last line of the third bonus! Joel’s a gentleman. Very soon after the clamor around it began, he took down that page, and modifed his sales letter to CLEARLY state the rebilling feature upfront.

Like when Rich Schefren released his famous manifesto – and implied that the days were over for the “little guy” who was running his online business as a hobby. I don’t accept anyone’s right to destroy another’s hopes and dreams, and was really frank in my response to that one. (I just checked, but unfortunately seem to have accidentally deleted that blog post too!)

But barring these rare occasions, my commentary on the sorry scenes and events that tarnish the Internet marketing space is limited to a more abstract remark or reflective blog post, like the one about “Internet Marketing Influence” or “Working In Your Business“.

But I’ll always look out for other interesting commentary – and point them out to you… just in case you like to keep up with that kind of stuff.

Far better though to focus on growing your business!

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