This is what happens when I get baited into a debate I should have never been in....

A while back, I got into a debate on which I am ill-prepared for about that very big company known as Alticor. Let's call my "opponent" DB.

DB believes all companies like Alticor are evil, and want them all to be outlawed. In fact, he considers all of them pyramid schemes, and the US FTC made a big mistake in legalizing a certain form of it, known today is multi-level marketing, or network marketing, back in 1970's.

I tried to point out that there are something even MORE evil, such as a pyramid scheme, esp. pyramid schemes that disguised itself as MLM. I've studied such a scam for a while on my other blog. For a week, things are rather cordial.

Then things start to turn sour when DB realized I won't join him in condemning Alticor. So he started calling me names. And we digressed into discussion on something I have NO experience on.

My MLM knowledge is on a scam which PRETENDS to be a legal MLM. A scam that pretends to be legitimate must be even MORE EVIL than a legal MLM, right? Despite several attempts to explain to DB that I won't pass judgment on Alticor because I have not studied it, DB had labelled me "opponent" and proceed to eviscerate me on his blog. Actually, it's not even his blog, though he blogs on it more than the owner.

(BTW, that blog is not a bad source for info, if you can get past DB's grandiose writing style)

I never claimed Alticor to be good business. I only recalled proclaiming it to be LEGAL. One of my defenses was citing an anti-MLM expert (who have indeed studied the subject extensively) who stated in one of his missives that most MLMs are pyramid schemes, but there are some legal and ethical ones out there.

So DB's response? He claimed to know the guy personally and thus he knew that this expert had yet to find a single ethical and profitable MLM company, and thus I had misrepresented this expert's position. Then he, in his typical gradiose verbal style, demands an apology from me to all the readers of that blog for my "intellectual dishonesty".

How was I supposed to know that the missive itself was not accurate, DB?

In any case, DB, if you want an apology, the apology you'll get is... I admit to being stupid enough to be sucked into a debate from which I am ill-prepared for, and should have never participated, though I still consider you a "friend" in the sense that we are both anti-scam.

You stick to your crusade, and I'll stick with mine.