⚠️ Rip-Off Alert ⚠️ @jerrybanfield Is At It Again To Rip People Off
View this post on Hive: ⚠️ Rip-Off Alert ⚠️ @jerrybanfield Is At It Again To Rip People Off
View this post on Hive: ⚠️ Rip-Off Alert ⚠️ @jerrybanfield Is At It Again To Rip People Off
Thank you for writing an entire post about me! What a compliment!
Did you just find this post from 2 weeks ago? I suggest you also read the comments.
Yes! While I was reading @timcliff's most recent witness report just a few minutes ago to find new witnesses to vote for, I noticed right below my update was your post about me.
Your https://steemian.info/witnesses is very helpful to see a complete witness list below 100 rank especially!
Oh I see. Well I'll let you read the comments, it was a very heated thread.
https://steemian.info/witnesses has the most hits on my website, people find it very useful.
You'll need a few more popcorn buckets for the rest of us.
Pretty much, but also yes, to @drakos as well. sigh
You deserve a lot more like Sr haha.
I just got my popcorn out the microwave. Let's Go!!!
Awesome post ...keep it up and win the world👍😊...and @neoxian i follow u so plz follow me...and comment back or rply plzz and vote me 😃
"Money does not change people, it reveals them" Henry Ford.
I live my life by this code because you can very easily see who is genuine and who is not.
One thing I look for is the "replies" or "no replies" to comments given or NOT given by those who have a big following or are whales.
Often you can see that, if a so called "important" steemian makes a comment on their post , then a reply is given back. But when a newbie or a minnow makes a comment, then no reply is given back.
For me this is revealing for it says; "I only give attention to those whom I see as "important"."
And what exactly is "important". Well either you have a lot of money/steem power, or you have a big following. In other words the message is; "If you are small you dont exist in my eyes so contact me again when you are big".
This is a form of elitism and is actually a psychopathic trait. The idea that some are deservedly more important than another just because of wealth.
Our actions and non actions reveal our intentions.
I am not making any judgements about Mr Banfield and will keep my opinon to myself. I merely tell this so that people can quickly discover for themselves if Mr Banfield is or is not genuine by looking at his replies or non replies. To whom does he reply to and whom does he not. Does he reply to only "important" steemians or does he also reply to non-important steemians... and how often.
I will give an opinion on this post however. I think it was a very brave action to bring to light something you feel was immoral or dishonest and for this you must be congratulated.
It is such things that are in the spirit of fairness in which is steemit was built for. At least that is my belief, and why I joined steemit in the first place. We either want steemit to have a reputation for making money in an honesty way or a reputation for making money for the sake of making money at all cost. The latter is the way the world is already. I thought we were all here to try to make a better world in our small way.
Either way, history shows that greed always kills the golden goose.
I guess Steemit is still in beta and we are all part of a great social experiment to see how a society would or could function if the economy were based on the blockchain.
"Money does not change people, it reveals them" - Henry Ford. I'll have to remember that quote.
All the points you make are valid. Nevertheless, when someone like jerry has 15k followers on Steemit, it's not that easy to answer everyone's comment. You can see by the amount of comments he gets on his posts. I'm not trying to defend him here, this is a general result of being popular. If we look at celebrities for example, the same applies; a rising star has the time to read and reply to the little fan mail they get, but once they reach a higher level of celebrity, there's no more time to read the exponentially growing fan mail.
Ahh that's it. You put Jerry on YOUR pedestal, but then Jerry didn't live up to your expectations.
Could you be a sour fanboy? Jerry is not a celebrity.
Perhaps the person he has hired to write his posts can answer the comments too?
Well said @arthuradamson!
Well said!
I think your overreacting to a guy who is working. He spent the first half of his post telling you other ways to get signed up. He spent the time and is providing a service. Bringing up the other $180 service he tried is a moot point.
I don't really like him, but I don't hate him for trying. And he isn't trying to hurt anyone is he? Was he deceptive? No quite up front about it.
I have followed him because he was talking about signups taking long times for friends and family getting onboarded to steemit.
I think there are 100 other topics worth discussion. Maybe your post says more about you then Jerry. Someone I never thought I would be defending.
"Someone I never thought I would be defending."
It gets tough being drafted (pressed) into a regular devil's advocate, doesn't it?
(pressed)?
I realize he loves your work; and, can understand why you're taking the high-road on the matter; but when playing the devil's advocate; be careful to not get burned.
He's got an innocent presence that could sell manure as ice cream.
Everybody can't be wrong. In a court of law only 12 people would decide guilt or innocence. By the looks of this comment section, in this case he'd fare on the side of the former.
Peace.
"(pressed)?"
It's a synonym for drafted, sort of an old-timey, naval term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressment
Big issue for the war of 1812.
"but when playing the devil's advocate; be careful to not get burned."
Good advice. I'm only advocating for evidence for any claims people make, that is all. A fair trial, if you will.
"Everybody can't be wrong."
Eh...not so sure about that one...
"By the looks of this comment section, in this case he'd fare on the side of the former."
That's why we need someone willing to ask for a fair hearing. 99% of people didn't even realize I wrote the witness posts when they assembled this pitchfork mob (exaggerated for comedic effect).
pitchfork mob
That's exactly what that felt like last week; and, I walked right into the thick of it by not looking at the writing on the tape covering my camera MYOB!
"Everybody can't be wrong."
Eh...not so sure about that one...
For sure you're a million% right on that one. How many have been falsely accused when things were taken at face value?
i.e. Yes, I might have icing on my chin; but it doesn't prove I ate the last slice of cake. I may have just frosted a new one...
Poor analogy on my part; but, to keep things light, I get it.
While, I'm glad the conversation caught fire, it let me know that eyes are watching. But, I couldn't help but feel in the middle of it, that some will have a beef with him, no matter what he does; halo or horns.
So, on that note, peace and love is my choice for the day. Everything else is tooooooo tiring for my spirit.
Peace!
" I couldn't help but feel in the middle of it, that some will have a beef with him, no matter what he does; halo or horns."
I think you might be right there!
The saga continues:
https://steemit.com/happierpeople/@jerrybanfield/assuming-positive-intent-178
I don't agree, particularly, with what is going on here:
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@laurabanfield/hi-steemit-here-s-to-new-beginnings
Yes, I saw the thumbnails for these links; and will definitely give them a look when I get caught up with the drafts.
Praising God, things are flowing glitch-free for the now.
One thing I've learned from successful people is they don't hover underneath a dark cloud. They are always in forward progression, moving towards sunny, blue skies.
The recent links serve as a great way to take the light off last week's firestorm; and, start anew.
Positivity has no room for the negative.
Peace.
"Positivity has no room for the negative."
Well, it seems to work out ok on batteries and magnets!
thats mean
Indeed.
Did you read the other people's comments on this post and Jerry's two recent posts? Are they over-reacting too?
I deal with stuck accounts on a daily basis, go to the #help channel on steemit.chat and see what goes on there, how many frustrated users show up daily and how we deal with them by giving them the best affordable advice we can, in public and in private messages. Ask any of them, how has @drakos or @timcliff helped you recently.
So when I saw that $50 flashing in my face, I had to react accordingly, because it's an insult to my and other helping volunteers efforts, and it's an insult to the community.
"Did you read the other people's comments on this post and Jerry's two recent posts? Are they over-reacting too?"
Yeah, kinda. Nobody is giving the stupidity explanation due consideration.
Frankly, the fact that I had to go on MSP Waves to get people to realize that I write all the witness posts and I don't think Jerry even reads them (because I also proof-read them) was just staggering.
Nobody around here is developing an informed, dispassionate opinion based on the facts...except, like, me (harhar).
But again, I apparently am the only person who read the posts where it states over and over again the posts are my words.
"So when I saw that $50 flashing in my face, I had to react accordingly, because it's an insult to my and other helping volunteers efforts, and it's an insult to the community."
Are Rolex's watches an insult to Timex's watches?
If you prefer something more comparable...
Is Whole Foods' milk an insult to Wal-Mart's milk?
If I negotiate a contract for pay twice that of a similar coworker, is my job an insult to theirs?
Why are you guys so pissed off at a self-admitted reformed alcoholic who keeps going to AA not knowing some shit about the Steemit platform? Of course a guy like that is going to make some dumb mistakes, especially given we ALL do.
Is it not obvious what Jerry's value here would be (sign-ups?)
timex kind of an insult to rolex actually...
So you do speak?!!!
I thought you are a shadow bot!
Glad to know you are human
yea but i dont really like to
LOL!
That's ok if its good with you.
Thanks for the upvotes :)
Hah, a fair point, but in this case we're talking about totally different levels of quality and aesthetics. It's a poor analogy, to be fair.
I really don't care if he's AA or not, I wasn't even aware of it, and it's not even part of the issue. His personal life is his own, I'm not debating that. We all have our own sad stories, and it's not the key to redemption when someone messes up repeatedly. So throwing his AA story to get pity doesn't work on me. Marketers can manipulate people into selling their mother's soul if they wanted to.
Oh look, cute eyes, let's forgive him... NO!
"So throwing his AA story to get pity doesn't work on me."
It's not about pity. You brought that up, not me. It's about a rational explanation for what has happened leading to a determination of what he can offer the community.
"Marketers can manipulate people into selling their mother's soul if they wanted to."
Yes, the idea is Jerry might be able to do that for Steem in a way that increases adoption.
Do you see how he has pros and cons?
The only rational explanation I can see from this who thing, is that he is not a person to depend on when it comes to quality or trust!
What type of adoption he is increasing? More people to vote him and give him more money?
More spammers?
Even if you don't like to admit that he is scamming people out of their money (and its probably the fault of those people that are stupid enough or rich enough to get scammed). It is obvious that he is not doing things for steemit.
We all want to make money, but to go that far to make money is kinda sickening, especially when there are many other people who write better materials and are more honest, but they don't get the attention they deserve because of practices like this.
I am kinda awed by this whole thing. Never knew it turned out this way!
guess not...
Thanks a lot for your warning! Removing my vote.
I love your killer whale image. Cute killer whale LOL
Thank you so much :) I have more in my blog. I am drawing them by myself.
Wow amazing. I love the minnow fish here LOL
Haha :) Thanks :)
I too removed my vote. This is BS.
me too
Interesting, will save this and wait for Jerry's response. I personally find his posts obnoxious, but voted for him as a witness because he's super active, seems to help people on the site, and advertises more than anyone else I've seen, but I haven't seen all the things you've pointed out. Will wait to see how this plays out before removing witness vote.
Me too. I really like jerry and he has helped me personally as well as some good minnow posts I recommended to his upvotable posts. I think he cares about the little guys which is important in this place. But this does not sound good and hopefully he will re-think or explain.
I set my account here up for free and I am a technical idiot. Then my son set his up for free too. Why are people paying to get accounts here to jerry or anyone? I had no idea this was going on and now this is another barrier to entry.
I don't know when I will ever start inviting my connections at this rate. It's 4 months now and I still have not started recruiting...
I think the short answer is that most people here are not good enough marketers of Steem and their products, while Jerry is a marketing pro.
The level of marketing knowledge here is extremely low - I will give you that. He's found an opening for sure.
Professional liars and manipulators generally do well in this world. Good for them! They've found their place in this comedy.
I already have the awareness to catch one from a mile away and the backbone to spit in their deceitful eyes. I'm just waiting for humanity to collectively evolve towards joining me. But, until then, the "charming" will own the world.
If you can't beat 'em, ...
fuck off! You're weak and I don't want your energy near me.
That last part was mostly a joke, but I'm in a bad mood so I somewhat mean it.
I am not sure I can say confidently I have that, but I can sense something off. and since I know myself as being a strong believer in the good in all humans, when I sense that off I stay away. I did this with Jerry and everyday I am proven that my gut feeling was right.
Would like to learn from you the best way to identify it though. Care to teach me? ;)
X2
That seems like a lot of money to have an account created. Wouldn't that put people off Steemit? Surprised people would actually pay for that! On the other hand, he does spend a lot of money on Facebook ads promoting Steemit. Maybe he doesn't see what he's doing as a rip off? Who knows, I could swear he's already making a packet though? Hmmm
Not many users are aware of the alternatives ways to create accounts, he's capitalizing on that to swindle them.
"he's capitalizing on that to swindle them."
You are assuming intent. He could've just done something rather ignorant.
Does the prosecution have evidence to offer?
He 'capitalized' on the fact that top 20 witnesses 'make money', so he could sell his $180 courses, and he pushed on that a lot in the past, in posts and youtube videos. I see he was trying the exact same thing here, but he got caught very early this time, and I felt it must be stopped.
I can't argue that this was also a dumb plan. Maybe it was malicious. I can't really speak to that one.
I think it's a different situation however.
You could also say he's simply a better marketer. He's filling market demand, either created by himself or by a network that's doing a lousy job at closing deals.
Sure, 50 bucks is... pricey... But if that means one more satisfied customer, maybe it's not as bad as it could be.
Let's hope Steemit Inc and others here learn the lesson instead so we can get the products to customer better.
I agree with this, as long as he mentions the fact that there are other cheaper alternatives. Then people can choose what they want. If some, fully informed are willing to pay that much for this service, then ... why not ?
Many people are not technically inclined. The people he is suckering is your grandfather for example. Do you think this is morally correct, even if your argument is sound logically
"Then people can choose what they want. If some, fully informed are willing to pay that much for this service"
Well...
"Do you think this is morally correct"
Yes. Could it be any more obvious that it is?
(Doesn't make it not stupid, fyi.)
So this is moral and the grandpa is stupid. The not tech-savvy are ignorant, not stupid. Taking advantage of someone because of their ignorance is morally wrong in my opinion.
Lets make a more clear cut example. Ripping an old person off by charging him 5x the market price of medicine because he does not know any better, he can't 'google'
You're being disingenuous.
He can't be both:
" the grandpa, not tech-savvy are ignorant "
and
"fully informed"
Do you see the problem?
I said I think FULLY INFORMED customers are willing to pay that much, then it is not immoral.
I don't think this service would have had (hardly?) any fully informed customers. So it was a dumb plan.
" because he does not know any better, he can't 'google'"
This person would not qualify as "fully-informed", and thus, has no bearing on my comment or on this discussion.
PS - Again, I think this service was a very dumb idea. But not a scam. Just dumb and a PR nightmare.
Thank you @boontjie. "FULLY INFORMED customers" would never pay $50 for something they could get for free!
yep
How "satisfied" would they have been when they found out they had been ripped-off?
You mean once they realized they paid above the average market price for the product? It would depend on how highly they valued access to the network.
If someone does really well at marketing it, I don't think a higher price is necessarily a bad thing. In the long run of course, that's probably not gonna work to bring in ordinary users. In other words, it would be a short term strategy in the case of Steem.
In this particular case, Jerry is obviously doing a lot for the network already and without selling accounts on the side. Apparently he thinks this is still worth it and once he realized how high above others he had priced his product he even decided that it would be best to withdraw it entirely.
What I wish he would do now is to consider partnering up with those already existing services, or if he has better ideas, pursuit those.
Mrs. Banfield?
He thought he could rip people off before they were any the wiser - period!
Once he was told to, he withdrew the product. I don't care either way. It's not as bad as you are trying to make it sound. It wouldn't be even if his reason for withdrawing it was false, which would obviously still be bad.
That speaks volumes for me. However, it was the fact that he knew beforehand that it was possible to get an account created for nearly free, or TOTALLY free (as I did). I also suspect that if the money was rolling in at $50 a pop for account creation, he'd be gladly accepting it. That's extremely sleazy, but that's just my opinion, of course. We all have a different set of values. Some call it marketing, I call it being a con-man.
If you watched his 'apology video,' he laughed when he started naming all the sites that he's banned from. There's just something shady there. Again, just my opinion.
This is definitely one of those, 'agree to disagree' situations.
Have a good one.
@the-ego-is-you his marketing is just like the dollar vigilante's: "look at me, I made $X,000 on my first day/week on steemit" "don't you want to too?!"
What is implied is that you, jane/joe ordinary, can just blog and get rich on steemit. This is disengenuous.
It may draw in 10,000's, but I think leaves 9,000 leaving with a bad taste in their mouth.
It would be better to get 500 or 2000 realist to join and stick it out, than 10,000 that will mostly leave.
And steemit.inc doesnt get it either...with their "Steemit=Money" banner right now. But I digress
I came to Steemit via YouTube after seeing bothe thedollarvielante and jerry's videos. 2 days after arriving at steemit I have not once read another of their Posts or watched their youtube videos because I found their marketing to be misleading and harmful. Just my 2c
To that extent, I do agree that these are not good methods. I've said it before myself, many times. I'd like to see someone else try their hand at it though.
There's a sucker born every minute and Jerry is smiling about it.
yes I have found him to be very annoying. He definitely uses steem like a business and creates posts that really don’t help me as a minnow. But he is turning more into a whale and zombies just follow.
"uses steem like a business"
The horror. We should arrest this vile man.
"creates posts that really don’t help me as a minnow."
If only he realized his mandate was specifically to assist bearbear613, perhaps we could have averted this disaster!
lol smartass
Yes. Yes I am.
Indeed. LOL
He always came off as greasy to me. I don't follow him nor would I vote for him as witness, I always wondered why so many do? I cringe when I see resteems in my feed of him with that stupid graduation cap. Slimey smile, slimey actions..this isn't the type of individual that should be tasked with looking after this site, he's only here to make a profit and clearly will stoop pretty low to make a few bucks. Kinda gross, thx for having the jam to call him out. Resteemed this puppy to spread the word
Hey GA, I agree with you on the greasy, dumb grin cap wearing cringing feel. And maybe the fact that he is a witness makes it worse then I understand, but isn't everyone being a bit harsh and ganging up on a guy that really just was offering a service for a price? He was honest in pitching his service. Told you not to try it first.
Is steemit not a site where people are here BECAUSE they can make money? Isn't this a tad hypocritical?
The only reason I followed him was because he was posting on how hard it is to get signed up. I was having friends waiting weeks to get approved. I think a nerd is getting picked on for no reason here, and someone has to defend this guy. I respect your view so I hope you reply. I could be totally wrong here but lets not get a man killed for making a buck.
I respect your opinion, I was just sharing mine. I opened a second account a month ago for free. I feel he uses his stature just to prey on ppl and he got caught so you're seeing him trying to act apologetic. Imagine the feeling a new user would have getting ripped and paying for a service that's free or at the most $6? Pretending to help the site is a guise to pocket more money for JB. Being a witness to many is a privalege but imo it's just a way to rake in more for this guy. He won't get my vote ever, I save them for ppl I feel deserve it. A few people rightfully called him out and saved newer users from getting preyed on, if not he'd still be offering an overpaid service and damaging Steemit's reputation..he's a big face here and should respect the position he has. I don't feel bad for him but I would feel bad if he were able to take advantage of others.. like he tried to. He said he was sorry, I have to take that at face value but I still won't be following him because I wasn't before. There's so many others that deserve those votes, I personally seen huge accounts actually helping others and not just pretending to to make more $. Those are the people I want to associate with but to each their own.
Totally cool. I agree he is weaselly.I wasn't trying to defend his actions,I was trying to break up a lynching IMO. I'd have respect for him if he stood his ground. I think it could have been handled differently on all sides. I just thought it was overkill for something that has been identified as a problem and he provided his own solution. If the idea was so bad free market would kill it. And the guy did offer other services to try before you used his. The witness thing is a huge tangle that I'm glad not to be a part of. I just couldn't stand by a watch a guy get lynched for a miscalculation or trying to provide a service where there was no misleading or misinformation and he didn't hurt anyone. Maybe misguided and goofy but not deserving of banishment. So I tried to make folks think before joining in.
I don't have any friends on steem, and I don't have anything invested in it, beside the time I'd be reading,researching on the net.
I just hope guys like you that are cool and fun, and on here approaching fulltime, don't get caught up in any negative crap that is just a huge time waste. Last minute I spend on this topic.
I appreciate what you're trying to do. You've always been good to me and if u called me a friend i'd be grateful. I've seen you doing good on here and you have been supportive of me in the past so there's no hard feelings. Sticking up for Banfield is just a testament to your good qualities and compassion. Hope I still see you around!
I like the cut of your jib.