William: "Ugh. I was really excited you’d found something that entrepreneurs could do to bring value to the world. But this guy’s taken the basics somebody could get from any $20 parrot book, added a heap of the sort of dubious marketing that fills the low-grade tabloids, thrown in a web forum they could get for free, and charged $80 for it. From an economic perspective — which is something we clearly could use more of — this business adds little or no value to the world. All it does is extract money from people who aren’t smart enough to find the right parrot book through Amazon or their local pet store. It moves money around, but it makes us net poorer, as it consumes more value than it creates. I’m sure it’s great for the guy running it, but don’t fool yourself into thinking this does anything good for our economy at all."
Mike Gamerland: "Following this model, you would suggest we all pick a niche market, identify ourselves as someone we are not, with experience and expertise we don’t have and sell products to people who, by the very nature of the market – would find it difficult if not impossible to know the truth... So - instead of identifying expertise and raising it above the clatter of the girl 'who would love to talk to me now' and the 'banker from Africa – who can make me millions,' I am stuck with more liars working to get money from me."