The Internet Explorer

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1. nicevil - July 28, 2006

Laura Moncur :

He provides inspirational articles for free. I’ve never had to pay a
dime for his weblog entries, so I’m hard pressed to see how it’s a
“scam”.

Nicevil :

Yes, but you have to consider the other millions that are paying subconciously.

Have you clicked on an ad ? The websites are full of cpc ads, which
are cost-per-click ads.

Every article begins with a fat advertisement on the side.

Every article ends with an “ask for donation”.

It’s a scam.

You may think it truly helps, reading some articles from a person who
you interpret as successful.

But have you really improved ? Not in the sense that you improved your
knowledge, I’m talking about your goals.

And to think that he has the nerve to post articles about his blog
saving some guy who was about to commit suicide. He said that while
the guy was trying to find ways to commit suicide, he found his blog.
And then the guy decided not to kill himself.

Now, tell me, is personal development a way to commit suicide ?
How did the guy find his website ?

And what other reason would he write that article besides the fact
that he is trying to implement the message that “HIS BLOG SAVES LIFE”.

It’s a big fat lie. In addition, he does not present any proof whatsoever of his claims.

I only ask that before you start worshipping stevepavlina as a saint who write articles that can solve all your problems, take a step back and analyze his true intentions. Look at his website.

It’s a big fat scam.

2. Atariboy - July 28, 2006

I love your article, just the kind of thing I was getting at with my post about his blog.

V. nice

3. Nicevil - July 28, 2006

Thanks.

It’s nice to see that there are others who realizes the true nature of stevepavlina.com.

4. Vincent - July 29, 2006

Props, interesting read indeed.
I have to admit, I do like Steve Pavlina’s blog. Thing is, I don’t like EVERYTHING on his blog (the psychic development bit is a little out there), but there are things that are of value to me, namely the making money from blogs bit. I agree that the suicide thing is too much, too. I wouldn’t have published that. I guess it’s a trade off between the reader’s time and the preceived value he or she is getting.

It’s up to the readers to find what they like and what they don’t like, and if they believe everything they see/hear/read, they’re already beyond anybody’s help.

5. Anonymous - September 2, 2006

It is funny because his blog is being criticized… by another blogger. You are calling him a scam when he posts nothing but the truth about what happened and how he got there. His blog is not only more successful than yours, and not only do people feel value in his text that they donate (you don’t have to donate whatsoever, he says he will always have articles for free), but.. he’s also been more successful than you even before he started sharing advice!

Steve Pavlina started a casual games company in 1995 after graduating from college in 3 semesters. He spent many years writing one game, as well as finding 10 other shareware games to publish on his site. He stopped adding titles in 2001 and since then it has all been cash from that web site.

His whole point is that unlike other people, he offers his experience and motivational thinking for free. Yes, he has random ads of whatever google has, but he doesn’t endorse any product and its up to google what ads they put there. He used to (and still does) have about 10 free articles to help other people develop their own games company, and a lot of the games you see on RealArcade for example have been inspired from his lessons (though the games are different.) So, he didn’t make money or have ads on those articles. He even started a forum that is still running and is the most popular one for casual game development. He stopped reading it and gave away control of it because he couldn’t stand reading the ignorant negativity of people. Please explain to me how having free articles on his site, starting a forum, then noticing after a couple of years of that that people ask him the same questions, but which are mostly centered around how to resolve fear in people to start their own (games or whatever ) company or how to tackle anything in life. So he switched over to starting a site and posting articles there, with ads, so he could reach more people and not just game developers. If you’ve played Atlantis or Betty’s Beer Bar or Fairies or many other casual games, their developers were inspired by Steve and would not be here today. In fact one of the developers who improved so much and gained confidence and lessons from Steve’s forums and advice started such a successful company that he was bought out by BigFishGames and now is their European branch, a company worth millions. I have started a company myself a year ago, and I am so happy I did. I would have never in my life done it without Steve’s advice. See, you don’t have to donate anything. You can just pass the word on. If you feel so guilty that you can’t read the advice without feeling that you must donate, then that’s something in you. His articles are free forever.

6. Anonymous - September 2, 2006

And I would like to add that he was the volunteer President of the leading, biggest, and original industry association for developers of software. There as well the most often asked question was how do I sell my games and how do I get the courage to leave my boring job (aside from questions like what type of game do people like to play.) So it is no wonder that he decided that he should have a blog as well. Remember he was independent before writing the blog.

7. Anonymous - September 2, 2006

Last thing - Did you know that the Developer of this FORUM THEME and COLORS and STYLE that you use, as I just noticed below, “Regulus by Binary Moon” is a theme entirely created by Binary Moon who is a big contributor to Steve Pavlina’s forums? (The game developer ones.) Case closed. See, Steve is in every part of YOUR life!

8. Anonymous No.2 - September 5, 2006

I think Nicevil was just annoyed by the many advertisements in stevepavlina’s articles. His blog seems to give the idea that it can solve everybody’s problems. But then again, the articles are indeed helpful. Steve is definitely a good writer.

People should not rely on stevepavlina too much, I’ve been there, reading articles after articles again and again, believing that it would solve all my problems.

Nicevil does state a good point.

Having the will and determination to do the things you want to do is most important.

9. nicevil - September 6, 2006

Okay, so you say, steve made some games and used websites to popularize them. And later on created forums that helped fellow game makers. And then he was a volunteer President of the leading, biggest, and original industry association for developers of software. And the dude who created the theme for my blog is a BIG FAT ASS contributor to steve’s forums.

What is the relationship of these facts to the points I was trying to make ? He’s still a scammer, writing bullshit articles weekly, feeding the desire’s of people and flooding the blog with ads to generate income.

And somehow all this leads to the conclusion (case closed?) that Steve is in every part of my life ? I am in awe of your logic and reasoning skills.

Anonymous, you sound like a very insecure person. I mean, you didn’t even provide a name. What’s up with the fake website ?
You have the idea that Steve is in every part of your life…. wow I am amazed. How dependent can one person be to a bunch of brainwash-articles that really just wants you to click on ads ?
The number of bullshit articles there is staggering.

HOW TO WAKE UP EARLY ?
SUCCESS IN 30 DAYS ??
10 REASONS YOU SHOULD NEVER GET A JOB ???
THE MEANING OF LIFE ??????

Two words. BULL-SHIT.

10. YourMom - September 7, 2006

LoL, haha I smell jelousy… Write about something pro-active…

11. Thomas - September 8, 2006

I have found the how to wake up early article to be very helpful.

12. Nicevil - September 12, 2006

In response to stevepavlina’s article.. howtowakeupearly….

“Go to bed only when you’re too sleepy to stay up, and get up at a fixed time every morning.”

Go to bed when I am sleepy, and get up at every morning at a fixed time.
As if school and work doesn’t already force us to do so.

It’s freakin common sense.

Oh, oh, wait. I have my own “how to shit-early.”

“Eat only when you’re too hungry to cry, and beat your ass with a big wooden stick repeatedly.”

This would be very helpful if you accidently sat on a golfball. Or any other occasion where your asshole is somehow stuck.

Somebody please tell me “I have found how to shit-early article to be very helpful”. I’ll be laughing along with steve.

13. Patrik N - October 12, 2006

Haha! Who stole YOUR cookie? =)

Mr. Niceevil,
That could be the most hilarious attempt to bash and downrate somebody I’ve heard for months.

I don’t mean to bash you in return for bashing Steve or whatnot. It’s not like I’m defending the guy, I’m writing this for another reason, which I will explain later.

So calm down one cent and maybe let me inform you what you accomplished by writing what you did, because it seems you’re not quite aware of it.

Reading this blog entry was ten minutes invested of my life to listen to somebody complaining. That’s what it was. Do you realise that? It doesn’t matter what the complaining was about, really, but reading about somebody complaining just sucked and didn’t make my life very much better. In fact it actually damaged this great day of mine, so I decided to do something about it and write this.

But even more hilarious, you chose to mindlessly complain about something which is clearly not a bad thing. I mean, if you just feel like complaining about something, then go choose something purposeful to complain about. Like a bad thing, for instance.

I mean… wow. Good thing you posted that entry in the category “bullshit”. Anybody who says something like that automatically puts a stamp on him/herself forehead saying “I’m disappointed with my life”. Was that what you were shooting for?

Steve have been around on the internet for ages, so it’s really easy to trackback what he have done for real. The stuff he says are cincere, mate. He is actually just a freakingly positive guy. And he just wants to inspire other people. And that’s what his site is about. Simple!

That thing you said in the beginning;
“if you have to remind yourself a certain fact a zillion times, it probably isn’t true.”

Do you REALLY think he writes his own success-stories in his blog to remind himself of it? No not really, huh? It’s there as a means to INSPIRE people.

Failed game-developer? Dude, he made a decent profit from all those games. Even for years after he stopped making them. Bought a house with it. In Vegas. That’s not really a failure is it?

You also say:
“If stevepavlina truly was successful due to PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, he wouldn’t be scamming people with ads and donations today.”

Haha…! You’re funny.

When a professional speaker is hired by a company to deliver an inspiring speech to its employees, and he charges money for it… do you call that a scam too? How exactly DO you mean one should make money from personal development? It’s not like the actual act renders any income, now does it? He puts ads next to his articles, and deliver all the stuff for free instead. Others charge money for the same thing, or writes books which they sell. So CLEARLY Steve Pavlina is a really evil chap! CLEARLY he is not at all successful due to his personal development skills, but rather due to his evil scamming plot! …………..right?

His donation links actually say: “If you found this article helpful, then please consider making a donation”. So if you feel it didn’t help, then DON’T DONATE! Hell, most of the people who actually FEEL helped by the article clearly doesn’t donate a dime!

So what’s left of your arguments now? Nothing much really. You might argue that the people who feel helped by the articles are just stupid and BELIEVE that they’re helped, when Steve just brainwashed them. In real life they still have their problems.

You don’t think very highly of ‘Other People’, do you? You seem to think most people are really quite stupid. Well, your loss. I hope you have very understanding friends. Good luck having a fun life.

The deal is - the articles… very many of them anyway… ARE truly helpful. Perhaps not to everybody, but to A GREAT MANY PEOPLE.

But I know you’re just going to dismiss what I’m saying without giving it any thought. Maybe even attempt to flame me. I didn’t write this to bash you. I didn’t write this to defend Steve. I didn’t write this because I thought I would convert you to a ‘better person’.

I wrote this very lenghty reply because people will come to this page after me, and read this. I wrote it for all the people who will read your words, and have their day damaged by it as well. I wrote it to make a POSITIVE impact on the days of the other readers.

—————————————
So! Let me tell you a (true) story:
—————————————

The most inexperienced geek, scared of everything, leaves highschool. I do a first attempt at life and end up being the most decorated squadleader in four platoons, having a social net few experience and excellent grades from everything I’ve ever done… It was a step up from where I had been before, but I was still a rookie. The circumstances of my life, which I felt I couldn’t control, quickly afterwards spun me into a powerless and depressed state over a period of two years after the military service. I found myself slaving in a warehouse in complete apathy. But when the day was up I didn’t want to leave the hellhole job because then I would have to go back to the rest of my life, which was a complete disaster.

Then I found his articles. I didn’t pay Steve a dime, but he made me feel I had the power to change things. So I changed what seemed unchangeable, and my energy surged. It’s less than a year now, and my life is greater than it have ever been. I have a great job where my boss loves me and my mentor (girl) might have a crush on me. While at the same time studying the most difficult program at my countrys equivalent to MIT, or Berkeley if you wish. I’m half-way through learning japanese and I’ve gotten into great physical shape. I’ve taken a pilots licence for paragliders, went snowboarding in mountains, went backpacking all over Europe for a month with a random girl I didn’t know! My gang of friends have changed from petty criminals to ambitious entrepreneurs. I’m learning to play he guitar and dance salsa. Girls sigh as I walk past, for crying out loud! Now that’s pretty damn cool for a guy like me! =)

Each little step along the way, my confidence and energy have been continually reinforced by things Steve Pavlina have written.

Strangely, when I started changing my closest friends started changing their lives as well. Positiveness and ambitiousness is contageous, it seems. One now pulls in exess of $2000 a month while studying full time. The other… $16.000 a month. And they’re doing weird things, like exercising and learning to play instruments! =)

And all of this is in less than a year. I found lots of new great things about living life, that I was previously unaware of. Can’t wait to live the rest of it! So yeah, Steve Pavlinas articles aren’t bullshit. They do affect people. Not all, I admit, but they’re written out of sincerity. Not in an attempt to scam people.

Steve have helped me immensly, and yet… I HAVEN’T PAID HIM A DIME! And I don’t plan to either. But you know what? If he comes here on vacation, I’ll happily give him a tour of my city and probably buy him a beer or two.

Cheers.

14. NicEvil - November 14, 2006

Then again… what is the limit of the helpful articles ?
There is no doubt some of his articles is helpful. I’m sure, in the begining, his writings were pure and thoughtful.
(without the MONEH factor)
With all the pressure to generate income every month, and provide sustainable reading material, one must, definitely, bullshit at one point.
You see proof of this everywhere at stevepavlina.com.
Oh, the attack and insult on people’s brains. Think about the minds of readers, for example. Imagine reading bullshit thinking it’s good for you. Oh, wait, you don’t need to imagine it, just read stevepavlina.com.
My point is, some of his articles are indeed helpful. But a lot are pure bullshit articles written to generate income. So we must try to use our brains for once and distinguish the bullshit from the goodshit.
Do you know how painful it is to see a fellow friend reading all that bullshit, and not do a thing to improve his own life ? Believing that it will solve all of his problems ?
No shit, my ass hurts.

15. Anna - November 17, 2006

Good points you have there. Improvement depends only on willpower. If you have that, you don’t need a guide to get you where you’re going. Reading a good book is a far more useful activity then reading bullshit advice that you’re already aware of, yet lack the will to implement.

16. Mario A - November 22, 2006

Hi. I post here to maybe get some basics that I’ve gotten’ out of reading and finding out about Steve Pavlina.

1. The guy is a good writer. There’s no denying it. He can sell the ethos and the logos. He can talk about a guy about to commit suicide and CONVINCE you that it was only because the guy found stevepavlina.com. I mean, when it comes to writing - hats off. There’s no denying it.

2. Everything in stevepavlina.com is free. Yes, completely free, forever. And he will probably never EVER charge for any of the articles. EVER.

3. I’m a strong believer in the fact that the Internet culture is very giving. And so there are three ways to give ONLINE:
a. Donate. Pavlina asks you to donate if you feel his articles are worth it.
b. Buy. Pavlina doesn’t sell anything, so there is nothing to buy..
AND
c. Pay-per-click ads, and click once or twice as “hats off” to Steve Pavlina. Click on the ad, give Steve some ten or twenty cents out of it, and feel that you contributed.

To diverge a little, with a point, of course - Brookers (which I’m sure many of you know who she is, if not, look her up *YouTube*), is widely known for her DONATION link that she put up on her MySpace account not too long ago. She didn’t make more than $12,000. And she’s very, very famous, and she has pleased many, many people, just like Steve. But she couldn’t make a living out of it. My belief is that a lot of people are not willing to DONATE that easily. It’s a good way to make extra money, but not a lot of money.

So my belief, my strong belief, is that Steve probably makes most of his money from GoogleAdsense ads (which he mentions often, by the way. It reminds me of Anthony Robbins and his constant, constant, constant pluggings of his other courses/programs/videos/etc).

Anybody who wants to help Steve goes, “Hey, I liked it. What? GoogleAdsense ads? Oh, yeah, you keep them in your website. You told me about them, by the way. Really? They pay you for them? Okay, here’s a couple of cents for you, dear Steve.”

And I don’t like this for the very basics of ppc ads. Somebody is losing money. And it’s not like the visitor WANTED to find out more about the ads, it’s just that it’s an easier way for paying Steve. It’s a click away, that’s all. And so it’s easy to do and people do it. Google doesn’t mind. They’re winning. But the ones losing money are the advertisers.

This is why 25% of all adsense clicks are not legitimate. They are driven by very unaware surfers. So it all depends on how aware a surfer is that makes stevepavlina.com be successful.

I ask around the office, for example, and NOBODY even knows what google adsense ads are. It’s amazing.

And that’s why Google is doing so well. I believe it was Newsweek that wrote a story about this very phenomenon. Since there is no incentive for Google to stop fraudulent clicks, they dont. They’ll say they do, but anybody who understands the online community, and how it works, and how people communicate with one another, and how each of us pay each other, how we send this, that, and share, KNOWS that Adsense is easily exploitable.

And Pavlina, of course, knows this very well.

And what do people want? Money. And what do people need? Love. And what do people dream about? Not working.

He tapped into the emotional aspect of people, put up FREE content (which he is happy to reminds us is FREE), and plugged a big chunk of an ad for any unaware to “pay” him easily.

It works for Pavlina. But I think he’s ripping people off. Not the visitors. But the Adsense advertisers.

He offers a great deal of content, yes, and a good portion of it is good, yes. But he’s not really being a good sport to Adsense advertisers.

Now you say: that could happen in any website. It’s true. In fact, there are websites about studying Adsense positioning for improved click-through. Lots of them.

And you’re also saying: But, what if a visitor IS INTERESTED in the ad. Well, each add has a hyperlink. They can type it themselves. This way they avoid spending advertiser dollars, they avoid paying Steve, and they keep the whole thing honest.

But Steve, in my opionion, is relying on the unawares - those people who don’t really know the implications of clicking in those ads, and who click freely because they’re newbies.

Steve loves newbies. That’s what I think.

Shouldn’t we all? Not if you want to keep things honest.
But how would we make money? Let’s try it the old-fashioned way. This way, at least we’ll know who is not only a good writer, but also a hard-working writer, and I’m not talking about just writing the damn article. I’m talking about having the guts to go out there and talk to publishers, get people together, and make things happen. About taking a risk.

Steve Pavlina has done things, yes. But I think that most of it has been done by expecting newbies to do the wrong thing. And that’s why he looks shady for some.

It would be very easy to replicate what Steve has done, is what I’m trying to say. I’m not impressed at all.

***a lot of you will say, why don’t you do it if it’s so easy?****

Please, for that, study a little bit about Adsense ads. They’re a little bit of a hoax. And poor advertisers just don’t know it.

17. Brainwashed Reader ! - November 23, 2006

Nothing is free in this world.

I’m a regular reader of stevepavlina.com.

After reading this post, I realized most of what I read was common sense I already knew, and I wasted hours reading instead of doing the things I needed to do.

Free articles ? That’s the scam right there. People are suckers for free things.

Notice the number and length of those articles.

I think I’ve wasted hundreds of hours…… my god I didn’t realize it at all.

Like you said, I was brainwashed !!

Thanks for waking me up.

18. NicEvil - November 23, 2006

Good points, Mario.
So you say Steve Pavlina love newbies ? Hell yeah.
Especially weak minded idiots who can’t resist clicking ads splattered all over his articles which was specifically written to satisfy your desires.
I agree with you that Steve Pavlina’s advertisers might be hurt.
I mean, if you’re that type of person who is so easily wooed into reading articles that are written solely to satisfy your emotional desires, ads will literally be irresistible to click.
I really do think that people are read Steve Pavlina are heavily brainwashed. Unaware, basically.
What ?
You’re disagree ? You’re not brainwashed at all ?
You’re telling me that after seeing Steve’s front page “PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SMART PEOPLE” and reading his articles, you don’t feel a little smarter ?
The proof is my own experience.
I think I hear his evil weird laughter. It’s on his podcast actually. In fact, it was at that exact moment I woke up from my comfortable dependency on his articles.
Yes, the impact of his laughter was that immense. It was that kind of sick, wheezing laugh from a person almost dead in a hospital.
It went something like…..
“Ah ha ha Hee hee, *snort*, hee hee heeez.. heeeeezzz…heh”
Immediately the image of my “savior from all troubles” was broken.
Thank god. I think I wasted enough time. If only more people would realize that.

19. Radical - December 14, 2006

Before knocking the credibility of others, perhaps you should work on your own!

Also, you’re clearly in need of some personal development, since your article is littered with bad grammer.

20. Matt - December 17, 2006

His treatise on his theory of Subjective Reality was an enlightening one that got me, and many others mind you, to reassess how this world works and could work and instilled in me amazing mental clarity and reason that followed me throughout my life. The Law of Attraction is an interesting concept that has improved my life allowing me to become a more moral person. He elaborated on his Personal Development for SMART People on his biography page as well, explaining that it is for smart people because it is _free_ and demonstrated his writing ability and sense of humor. You cannot effectively deem his work bad because it has helped many without costing them a dime. Sure he makes money from donations, but where is the harm in making cash from doing a helpful thing for thousands? This entire argument was irreparably flawed from the beginning and somewhat laughable. Steve is a successful person who helped others in their lives, and there is absolutely no denying that.

21. Matt - December 17, 2006

As for Pavlina-readers being completely brainwashed, have you ever considered, just for a minute, that you have been brainwashed and stripped of your true potential due to your ego and the media imposing fictitious limits on what you can achieve, and you believing them without question? The primary/secondary school system seems to be successful in keeping us all narrow-minded and taking away the clarity of the universe that we began life with and turning us into workers content with a fool’s pay thanks to taxes and heartless capitalistic overseers. Humankind could be so much further along than it is now if we were rid of corrupt politicians in favor of Anarchy, equally alloting resources amongst humans and in effect creating paradise where we can follow our passions and automating jobs. With widespread happiness and equality there would be no reason for violence or greed. To quote a milestone piece of artistry, “Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy’s first law of Equivalent Trade. In those days, we really believed that to be the world’s one, and only, truth. But the world isn’t perfect, and the law is incomplete. Equivalent Exchange doesn’t encompass everything that goes on here, but I still choose to believe in its principle, that all things do come at a price, that there’s an ebb and a flow, a cycle.”

22. nicevil - December 17, 2006

To Radical :

You spelled “grammar” wrong and you want to pick on my english ?
Hell, go ahead. I’ve never boasted about having good grammar, but I do have a good shit.

To Matt :

Congratulations. You’ve become one of those smart asses here that decides to argue against bullshit. It’s just good BULLSHIT that make you laugh at my brains. Great points though, it’s appreciated. Where else in the world can you find honest opinions about stevepavlina.com ?

23. Matt - December 17, 2006

lol I had nothing to do… =)

24. Radical - January 10, 2007

@nicevil: Thanks for correcting my misspelling of ‘grammar’. Sorry to be so scathing - I was suckered in by Steve’s sanctimonious Mr nice guy persona.

However, I have since changed my mind of Mr ‘nice guy’ Pavlina. He is not the person he makes out. He is self-righteous, big-headed, and utterly nauseating. He banned me from his forum for merely expressing skepticism of his ridiculous claims. Did you know that Steve Pavlina considers a belief in time no more rational than a belief in supernatural entities from another dimension? He is clearly delusional and most probably insane. How the heck can we take this loon seriously when he is rambling on about his encounters with dead people? His psychic wife is probably more grounded in reality than him, and that is saying something!

He also proudly proclaims that his site is “The most visited personal development site in the world.” - what an egotistical bastard.

25. Radical - January 10, 2007

PS don’t you think his catchphrase ‘live consciously’ is sanctimonious, condescending and extremely infantile. I mean… duh! That’s what I’ve been doing wrong all these years, I wondered why I wasn’t getting anything done - it all makes sense now. I’ve been living unconsciously, that’s it, but hey… I thought I was conscious? But Steve says ‘live consciously’, therefore I must have been living unconsciously like my comatose friend here. What’s that Bob? Oh, that’s right… you’re in a coma; well perhaps you should ‘live consciously’ like Steve says.

Steve and his ‘consciousness’ bashing bandwagon can kiss my unconscious ass.

26. Radical - January 11, 2007

I’d love to run my fist through Steve’s nerdy smug face, then lets see how f-ing ‘conscious’ he is! And the best thing is, by Steve’s own concession, it would be his own fault - as his precious ‘law of attraction’ states that his thoughts would be responsible for attracting my fist to his face. Or maybe I could claim my fist to be just a figment of his (exceptionally wild) imagination, since according to his preposterous ‘subjective reality’, I don’t even exist. Lol - what a joke!

27. nicevil - January 11, 2007

Oh, the abuse of power. I knew Steve was really concerned about his own self-image, but, banning others from a forum for disagreeing with his views ? Man. Guess that’s why he doesn’t allow comments on his site.

Steve can’t take the criticism. His beautiful perfect personal development world with his LongParagraph of self-promotion is in danger if he even allows one unhypnotized/unbrainwashed/unbrainfucked individual to comment on his site.

Congratulations, Radical, you’re one of many previous-stevepavlina readers nowadays who are, truly, CONSCIOUS. I’m telling ya some of us are finally realizing that the beautiful sunflower-like-steve-articles are just pure stinking BULLSHIT.

But then again. You commented 3 times, each even more hilarious and bashing, that shows that you must be pretty pissed off.

How did you “merely express skepticism of his ridiculous claims.” ?
No need to be in detail. I just need to know if there’s some sort of “FUCKYOUASSHOLE!!!” in it.

Was Steve’s banning justified ? Calm down and ask yourself this question truthfully. Emotions affect logic and reasoning. >

28. Hombre - January 13, 2007

It looks like Steve Pavlina is reading your site. He just posted a blog entry: “5 Wealth Lessons From 20 Percent of a Millionaire.” Steve MUST be VERY concerned about the negative feedback that he is receiving from this site for him to react so quickly (he posted this article the next day). You should read this… this is hilarious. He defends his money making goals by redefining them as now for the betterment of mankind! Oh how nice! Or to quote from him, “Eventually I realized that becoming a millionaire could dramatically enhance my ability to help others.” Gee, thanks, Steve, and to think you are doing it all for me!

Radical - he makes mention of you - he calls you and the others he censors as “financial trolls” (i.e. people who question him or disagree with him which may cause his house of cards to fall and cost him big bucks).

29. Radical - January 14, 2007

Yes, I must have been one of Steve’s so called ‘financial trolls’ that he decided to show no mercy.

Steve tries to make out that his motives are purely altruistic, but I soon discovered Steve’s true nature. He banned me from his forum without warning. I even sent Steve an e-mail saying that there are no hard feelings and I hope he has a good life. However, he sent me a cold response, which basically said: I don’t give a shit about you or your opinions. I banned you from my forum because you were propagating ideas that could potentially harm my credibility. Go and spread your skepticism elsewhere, because you are not welcome here! - Boy was I disillusioned.

I would strongly advise people not to waste their time on Steve’s site. It is basically a con that plays of people’s weaknesses and lack of direction, making them feel inadequate. The con is basically this: You mere mortals need me to show you the light. The only way out of the dilemma you are presumably in, is to waste your precious time regularly reading my articles (i.e. accidentally clicking a few advertisements to make me rich, MUHAHAHAHA). Only then will you be able to escape the perils of a ‘normal life’.

Well Steve, you might be the the self-proclaimed messiah of the ‘consciousness’ revolution, with a level of ‘consciousness’ far surpassing that of us mere mortals, however, what if us mere mortals are happy leading a normal life? What if we like getting drunk, having a laugh, and occaisionly commiting the cardinal sin of… watching TV? - the horror! Why belittle people who don’t want to trade in their current life of occasional self-indulgence for a life of servitude to the ‘greater good’? Steve even professes in one of his articles how he derives pleasure from belittling people he considers to be at a lower level of ‘consciousness’ than him.

Quote from the article: “It’s time to wake up. The bright light will hurt your eyes at first, even make your eyes water, but you’ll get used to it. And then you’ll receive your own high-powered awareness flashlight. And I have to tell you that it’s oodles of fun shining that thing in people’s eyes when they least suspect it… for kicks and giggles, you know.”

Steve’s holier-than-thou attitude is incredibly nauseating.

30. Sesha, aka, Mister Reasonable - January 23, 2007

Well, I’ve been through this entire long thread on Steve Pavlina. I have also scanned Steve’s site over the past week. I was keen to overcome a lifelong habit of being a late riser and I stumbled across one of his articles, ‘How to become an early riser’.

But before I begin, let me say upfront that I have pretty sharp built-in shyster detectors. I have also been on the planet 15 years longer than Steve has. I believe that you can always teach a smart old dog new tricks, if the dog is keen to learn. I’m also familiar with the merchandise of a plethora of self-help gurus, in whom I had an academic interest. Most of them operate on the premise that there’s a sucker born every minute, and they are right – otherwise the self-help business could not be a $9 billion per annum industry.

But there are gurus and gurus and the savvy thing to do is to able to differentiate between them. Top of the list of sucker-masters is Rah-Rah Robbins, followed by odious Mickey Mouse characters like Mark Victor Hansen, Kevin Trudeau, Werner Erhard, and a long list of other pure bullshitting mercenaries. Plenty has been written about them by wiser folks than me, so I won’t repeat them.

So I stumble across Steve’s site. I cast a critical eye on the material, and the author’s ethos and the logos. Here are my thoughts.

Let me say straightaway that Steve can’t be bracketed with the above shysters. C’mon, how can his click-per-pay revenue generator compare with Tony Robbins $6000 per seminar and multi-product merchandising scam? The guy has to live, right? And he has clearly stated that money is not his driving motive and there’s good reason to believe that.

Another thing I learned is that being a skeptic should not translate into a Jihadi. Indeed, at this stage, I’m skeptical about skepticism itself, which is yet another totalitarian tyranny foisted on yet another type gullible googles. There’s got to be a sense of perspective and fair mindedness in critique; otherwise we risk coming across as equally, if not more so, brainwashed folks than those who are the target of our critique, in this case StevePavlina and his readers.

Folks have written about how Steve’s stuff has helped them – some of them tremendously. A dude who obviously has a good head on his shoulders (Patrick above) has gone to some length to share how he has personally benefited from Steve’s writings. Huge turnaround in his life. (But the obvious Scrooge opted to take it all for a free. Well, some folks are natural born takers. Others, like Steve, are givers. But the latter will ultimately have a far more rewarding life.)

Steve has vowed to keep churning out his stuff for free. He has made a public commitment. This is praiseworthy in a society that worships Mammon.

A lot of his material is good, some outstanding. Yes, much of this stuff falls within the domain of eternal verities, that is to say, mankind’s ancient treasure trove of wisdom. Many contemporary gurus make a living out of repackaging this stuff, some of them adding their own ‘discoveries’, success formulas and spin, selling them to a market with a voracious appetite for self improvement information products. The triggers or needs are standard; Maslow got it more or less right. It’s what humans most desire: health, wealth, happiness and their sub-category needs, wants and desires. But Steve’s special gift is his ability to package and present them better and more authentically than many.

I will reserve my comments on the metaphysical stuff because I don’t want to be arrogant and unreasonable enough to dismiss phenomena and states of being about which I’m no authority.

His request for a donation is not hard-sell at all. There’s no emotional manipulation, no engineered guilt trips, no compulsion. On the contrary, the way he asks is rather endearing. And you can just say ‘no’. No fuss. There’s no question of try-before-you-buy either – a standard tactic these days among many sellers of information and shareware products sold on the Internet.

Another trick the coterie of self-help gurus deploys is to sell each other, in a you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours operation, cross-selling each other so that they all go laughing all the way to the bank. Steve does not do that. He does not endorse other people’s offerings. On the rare occasion, he mentions someone who has benefited him. Indeed I was taken by surprise to see his critique of Tony Robbins (who advertises his gigs and products on Steve’s site) and ilk, bravely mentioning these folks by name! He is also balanced about folks from whom he has learnt, like Brian Tracy (another hard-sell self-development superstar), but he does not go overboard; in fact, he critiques them, describing their pros and cons.

Steve’s authentic ethos comes through. I believe the guy is what he says he is and that he’s a guy who walks his talk. He is also endearingly transparent. Catch the mega-buck self help superstars spreading their income sheet on the Internet for all to see.

Many people obviously find his material useful. Otherwise, why does his site attract so many visitors? He is also the rare exception to the rule in the personal development field, which is fuelled by excessive greed, greed fed, but never satiated by human gullibility.

I think the best way to taste Steve is through his writing. His PODs could turn some people off. But he’s damn good writer.

I hereby give Steve Pavlina my vote of confidence and I wish him well.

In conclusion: some people make an effort to make a positive difference in the world; others get their kicks gunning them down! The former are life’s winners, the latter losers.

P.S. I am working on rising early, although I have the luxury of sleeping late if I want.

31. CamiKay - February 5, 2007

to the original writer of this article:
chill. So what if he’s making money. People CHOOSE to pay him. He even offers his product for free. People pay him because they feel that he is offering them something of value.
The problem I see with your logic is that you seem to see the general populace as stupid. People aren’t stupid, and if they choose to part with their money for something, so be it. good for them. They earned their money, they get to spend it on what they want.
And he write some good stuff! He dedicates his energy to something positive!

32. nicevil - February 23, 2007

Sesha :

Thanks for your comment, it was very insightful. Steve really does mean well, that I know. Like I said… this is just a bullshit article made just for fun. Don’t take it so seriouslyyyyyyy.

There’s this evil part of me that conflicts with my good side every now and then.

Oh, you too are trying to rise up early ? Did you follow Steve’s advice ?
I don’t know if it really works, since I’ve never tried it before.

I am an expert on rising early. With my method, you can adjust any time you wish to wake up easily. And it will definitely wake you up, as it is a hundred times more alarming than an alarm clock. No biological clock adjustment needed !

Here it is….

PEEALARM GUIDE.

“Drink a medium amount of water, and the pissing urge will wake you up in a set number of hours. However, this method varies from one individual to the other. For example, it takes me about 7 hours to process my pee. Just enough sleep time. Also, the amount of water should jusssst be enough, or else you might risk a leak. Do note that you must be a fast sleeper, if not, peealarm backfires, and you will pee too soon and spoil the whole peealarm system. But it should be back itself up soon though. Yes, PEEALARM IS LIFE GUARANTEED !

WARNING : Long term effects of peealarm has never been tested. TRY PEEALARM AT YOUR OWN RISK.”

33. nicevil - February 23, 2007

Camikay :

The article itself was never meant to be considered seriously… I labeled it “BULLSHIT” after all.

I admit, my writings do tend to insult the reader’s intelligence.

But considering Steve’s “Personal Development for Smart People”, would that compliment your intelligence ? I mean, if you’re so smart, why do you need personal development from a bunch of articles written daily to sustain personal income ?

Just a food for thought….

34. Nina - February 26, 2007

Hi -

Just a thought.
Why do you expect this guy to give you all this stuff for free? Doesn’t he need to live too? And aren’t you reading his site so you can make money? So why is it right for you to make money and wrong for him to?
Nobody forced you to read his site. And if you get nothing from it, move on. Who appointed you God’s deputy to check on who gets to write what ?

If you think he isn’t spiritual enough, buy a Gideon’s Bible and read it. Pretty inspirational and free.

One man’s spirit is another man’s bullshit.
I see Steve making money honestly. I hear most of you whining.

35. Patrick - March 2, 2007

Hey it’s me again, the Patrick who wrote the lengthy reply further up. I suddenly remembered this blog, and decided to find it again to see what others had commented on it.

From reading more of what you’ve written I am now much closer to understanding what you meant. In that light, I apologize for calling your entry bullshit. I said some things you didn’t quite deserve and you don’t seem so foolish after all. Although you had written it QUITE provocatively. =)

I would also like to mention, much like my view of you have changed, my view of Steve Pavlina have also changed. Mainly because he has changed. To tell the truth, I had stopped reading his entries like five months prior to writing the above reply, simply because I didn’t need them anymore.

Later on, my view of him changed. This is my idea summary of what have happened to Steve Pavlina.

Originally, he questioned the correctness of everything, and encouraged everyone else to also become sceptics. He also had a very optimistic attitude thanks to some extreme things which had happened to him earlier, and from that he had clear strategies on how to improve ones life. He wrote about these things in a very well-written and often humoristic way. This made lots of people connect to what he said, and thus started liking him. He received alot of positive feedback from this, which encouraged him to devote more energy to it. This was the pinnacle situation. After that, he started doing things differently.

With time, he recieved insane amounts of fan-mail thanking him for his help. Also his income from this began to soar. This made him so over-confident that he stopped being the humoristic sceptic that people originally started liking him for. Without noticing it himself.

Maybe he is correct in all that he writes, maybe he is not. That doesn’t really matter. He is no longer the person that people started to like, and soon his web traffic will reflect this. He has become sortof dogmatic, making arguments based on what he himself had written before, to prove what he had written before. That sortof reminds you of fanaticism. It sounds really harsh, but fanaticism is the correct word for it.

He has a way of presenting himself which gives you a very good impression of him. A good writer indeed. This makes you tend to accept more of what he says as true, without questioning it. As you said, this image of him was broken for you when you heard his maniacal laugh. I agree that laugh was a pretty close call for me =), but what really drove it home was when he started advertising products. At that moment he lost all credibility he ever had. From starting out writing for smart people, he had become one of those who make profit on stupid people. But he didn’t notice that himself, so he left the “for smart people” slogan ontop.

He had become http://www.becomeamillionaire.com
“Pay me $800 and I’ll tell you how to make $900!!!! OMG! What a great deal!”
He had become Rah-Rah Robbins. Professional brainwasher.

My hat off to Steves original attitude. Those first things he wrote were EXCELLENT and helped me immensly. My hat on to Steves recent attitude. Now he only writes for his herd of followers, and doesn’t aquire new followers anymore. Yet he still thinks he writes for smart people in general. Sad how things turn out.

So yeah, I pretty much agree with you, in a not-quite-so-harsh manner. But still, NicEvil… complaining is not a virtue

Oh! Ah! Oh!
He has given us a sign!
Oh!
He has given us… His shoe!
The shoe is the sign. Let us follow His example.
Let us, like Him, hold up one shoe and let the other be upon our foot, for this is His sign, that all who follow Him shall do likewise.
Screw the shoes! Follow the Gourd!
No! Let us gather shoes together!
Follow the Gourd! The Holy Gourd of Jerusalem!

36. Ballbags Babushka - April 16, 2007

Jesus Christ, this article is the funniest thing i have read in ages.

Next time i meet a man who wants to commit suicide i will make sure i send him here.

Dr. Ballbags.

37. SengAun Ong - April 17, 2007

The things that I personally do not like in Steve’s website is boasting, vegetarianism and the stuff on contacting unknown spirit. That’s surely not part of the personal development. About the vegetarianism I think that human being should not avoid eating meat. Of course plant-based food must be our main diet and it is bad to always eat meat but it is still OK to have meat occasionally especially for people who are skinny.

I wonder how Steve could have from 0 visitor on 1 Oct 2004 to 80,000 visitors on 1 Mar 2005 (five months)? Is that achievable for others too?

38. nicevil - April 30, 2007

Nina : Great points. But please, do tell me. How is begging for donations in every single damn article in every single damn page in a website filled with ads designed to trick you into clicking it an HONEST EARNING ? Do beggars earn a honest living ?

The point is not mostly about the money. It’s how I think his articles are just plain bullshit. But hey, another man’s bullshit is an inspirational educational medium for others.

Patrick : Great points. Nice to see that you stopped being a stevepavlina zombie. Oh, there’s no need to apologize for calling my article bullshit. I mean, I labelled it BULLSHIT. And fuck you very much, I do not complain, I express my humble opinion. *laughs*

Ballbags : Thank you. You are supposed to laugh at bullshit like this fine gentlemen here ! Although I have no idea why his name would include balls, still he is a fine example of how a reader should be ! Enjoy !

SengAunOng : There are only so much idiots in the world. It would be hard to attract those idiots to a new website, a.k.a. traffic, because idiots tend to stick with the same thing over and over. Afraid of change. So.. no… I think you’t can achieve what Steve has done. Unless you have even better brainwashing writing abilities.

39. Samantha - June 4, 2007

dear ( there is no such things as nice evil)…..this is stupidity at its finest. I have to hand it to you for being so negative and very persuasive about being negative. Why do you waste your energy trying to prove you are such an idiot and was not the one who came up with the idea that steve came up with first?…You have insulted people reading your blogs because you have given an opinion that you are the only one who has the intelligence to see through things…..well..you got the attention you want….too bad it did not get the rating you needed….good luck

40. Sleeping Dude - June 26, 2007

I think contribution of Steve Pavlina to the area of personal development is enormous. We can have different opinions about his points of view, but we should agree he’s done for the comunity way more than some people who consider themself experts in this field

41. JohnC - June 27, 2007

Well, that’s an interesting analysis. Without a bit of envy, though

http://daggerandcloak.blogspot.com/
http://politicalbritain.blogspot.com/

42. Gil - June 27, 2007

I guess Steve forgot to include his credits at UC Berkeley when counting his 3 semesters to graduate from college.
What everyone fails to understand is that Steve is an exceptionally good car salesman. He can sell you anything. He can sell you something for free and still take $100 from you. Get it?

43. Crystal - July 21, 2007

I think it took me just as long to read these comments as a stevepavlina.com article. Steve is very “New Agey” (is that a word?), so a lot of his stuff is a little strange, although, like one of the previous commenters noted, I’m no expert in that realm. In actuality, I’m pretty open minded, and I think we mere humans (even Steve) can’t even fathom what is beyond this “unconcious” reality(?) Ha! Anyway, the bit about AdSense and bullshit, there is a very fine line…and advertising is advertising, it all sucks, we all know that, and some of the little fries actually get sales that they wouldn’t have gotten before. If they don’t get enough then it’s easy to stop the campaign. There are many sides to everything, and we all have to keep that in mind.

44. Crystal - July 21, 2007

p.s. I think your blog made me laugh out loud more than Steve’s

45. Kishgia - July 27, 2007

Truth can be found in between lines of fallacies and fallacies can be found in between lines of truth.

46. Kevin - August 19, 2007

NICE!

47. Sal - October 10, 2007

I was a Stevepavina lover for over an year. He was my godfather until I noticed that his articles were ripoffs. He steals ideas from other self help books.

Not all the visitors of his site have read or will ever read the less popular self help books by some ancient self help gurus. Steve has read them of course. Hell he even steal ideas from most popular self help books too. And if you read those books you will see the ripoffs too. Some are quite obvious yet some he hides by changing little details. Not even a single article is original. Let me say this again. NOT EVEN A SINGLE ARTICLE IS ORIGINAL.

He’s done exactly what every other self help guru has been doing for ages. He repackaged the material. The only difference is he provided the material for free AND he had the power of internet on his hands which the old gurus didn’t have. So when new readers find his website they are left in awe and go WOW! What a great article! because they haven’t seen the original source of that article. After I saw most of the sources I lost all my faith in Steve. What broke my heart was his attitude that his knowledge is first-hand, his wisdom is original. Yet that is not the case. He rips ideas from the same self help gurus he bashes and then very cleverly present the same ideas pretending it to be his very own.

Go visit your local library’s self-help section. You’ll see where most of his ideas come from.

If I knew one day I would be writing all this about him I would have made a list of all the books he has ripped ideas from and provide the list here for all to see.

What he does is read a self-help book, steal the idea, write it in his own words-words that are much better than the words in the original article and post it on his blog. And BAM! A brand new article.

Lately I’ve seen and I’m sure many have noticed that he seems to be under constant pressure of publishing articles. The spirit of goodwill has died from his writing. Seems like he has to keep writing for the old readers’ sake because if he doesn’t, readers would stop visiting his website. The mistake he made was by providing everything for free and reminding everyone of it by continuously talking about it. The other self help gurus have it safe because they don’t have to write anything every week. They publish new books every 2 or 3 years and in the meantime they enjoy their lives too. But with Steve that is not the case anymore. He has to keep providing articles week after week or his readership would decline and so will his income.

His next move is of course becoming a self help public speaker like the rest of speakers he bashes and warns his readers against. He will become one of them very soon. Oh Wait, HE HAS BECOME ONE OF THEM. He was never original anyway. You will realize this when you read major self help books he has ripped the ideas from so ruthlessly and keeps proclaiming to be his own. He has never credited any of those authors.

Anyway, for me it was very hard to keep reading his material knowing it wasn’t his own. So I stopped visiting his website altogether and will never return.

Another thing; the way he gradually and very cunningly promoted his wife and her website was genius at its peak. All the while proclaiming himself to be different from the rest of the wolves he became one of them too. I always thought, look, there is one person Steve who is different and genuinely interested in the good of his fellow beings but that image was shattered when I discovered his reality.

One problem with his kind of people is they think they are above the rest of us common folks. Just because he doesn’t eat meat he is more ethical than us. I don’t eat meat either but I don’t think those who eat meat are any less ethical than me. Its just a personal choice.

He also thinks that most of the sheep like us is sleeping or following the herd blindly and are not living a proactive life for the good of all. Well guess what! Not everyone has the same life purpose as you Steve. Not everyone wants to be a self-help guru like you. Not everyone wants to promote his/her wife/husband. NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO RIP OFF IDEAS FROM OTHER BOOKS LIKE YOU DO.

To me, a person cleaning the gutters is also helping the world because he is cleaning the gutters. To me a person teaching children is also doing his purpose by teaching children. To me a person NOT TALKING TO SPIRITS JUST BECAUSE YOU DO is as respectable as those who talks to spirits. It all comes down to what you want to believe in life. But Steve has an attitude thing going on where anyone and I mean ANYONE who doesn’t think like him, believe like him, believe in him, or believe what he says is IGNORANT, UNCONSCIOUS FOOL AND A SHEEP IN NEED OF STEVE-THE-SHEPHERD SO HE COULD SAVE HIM.

What I’ve learned from 20 years of my life(Yes I’m 20) is that WE DONT NEED A SAVIOUR. WE ARE ENOUGH FOR US. PEOPLE WILL COME WANTING TO SAVE US FROM OTHERS AND OURSELVES NOT BECAUSE THEY KNOW BETTER THAN US BUT BECAUSE “THEY THINK” THEY KNOW BETTER THAN US.

And in Steve’s case, all he knows better than us or most other writers is more powerful English words; words that strike right at your heart at the perfect angle.

Thats his secret of success. He doesn’t KNOW better than others. He only WRITES better than others.

Thats it folks!

48. Aryavansh Shukla - November 18, 2007

Uhhh…This just occured to me…A lonely, patheric blogger who has no life, and neither the required skillset to generate interest in his blog, COULD pick up something people perceive as NICE, and then blow it to bits. You see, the entries on this page, all the comments, COULD be by the very same person. Just a thought, but if that’s what this place is, someone pls GIVE HIM A HUG!

49. JD - November 25, 2007

While I’m definitely not what you would call a devote I do read his blog frequently. Just I as do several others.

I do find his listing of google ads at the top center of his blog irritating but that doesn’t distract from the content to any great degree. It doesn’t take 60 seconds to scan the article and see if it’s something I want to read in depth.

Running ads and affiliate links on a blog is what pays the bills. If you merely want a hobby or a forum to state your views and thoughts and can afford the costs without ads fine. However, not everyone wants another hobby and even a lot of hobbyists want their hobby to pay its own way.

Quote; “NOT EVEN A SINGLE ARTICLE IS ORIGINAL.”….”Go visit your local library’s self-help section. You’ll see where most of his ideas come from.”, unquote. I’d challenge anyone to find any personal success information from any author over the last 50 or 60 years that is orginal. Actually, a person would be hard pressed to find an orgianl thought from anyone over the last 1,000 years.

All of the writers have borrowed from others, who borrowed from others, and so on. There are no NEW SECRETS for personal success. Additionally, knowing all of the rules and principles means nothing until a person gets off thir rear and starts doing something with what they know.

50. Jonas - January 16, 2008

After reading all this….staying up so late for the matter, I think Nicevil is a really SHITHEAD as he TALKS SHIT and ABOUT SHIT all the time.

I applaud the negativity and energy he has for condemning another fellow human being when he does not demonstrate the intelligence nor the sensibility in comparison to the person he criticizes.

I can’t help but feel he is the lesser human being indeed.

51. namehere05 - January 18, 2008

Hi, I agree, steve pavlina is a scam.
but its controversial, cuz he does one good thing but he does it “ethical” wrong. In my opinion his articles fall in 3 different categories:

good: the ones that give good advice (these ones makes difficult to say steves pavlina is a scam, cuz these probably indeed help some people out)

useless or totally common-sense: this ones have been alleged before, good examples are the “quit smoking/coffee articles”

scam: In these pavlina uses dirty tricks, fools people, and egolatres himself to keep people fooled: You know these, the “I make so much money”, “his bio”, and a lot of idiosyncrasies(pseudo advices).

In conclusion the last one is what makes stevepavlina a scam.
Cuz he tries to brainwash people, and in the end he makes big money, how?? advertiser, donations, referals (he reaches a lot of people and plays with numbers ), check the agloco article (he has 600,000+ referals, (now you’re working for him) ) and still you might say where’s the scam??, that’s each one own conclusion, but I’ll help saying, if you aint told everything and you’re being manipulated (yes, he uses your drive to be better) by someone that makes you think he’s altruist so you can’t see how it all fits in, that’s a scam.

52. Jason - February 1, 2008

Nicevil, you’re the scam.

53. Dad of 5 - February 9, 2008

Folks, isn’t this is a free country to say what we want? Nicevil has done his research and documented his findings/feelings - not to berate someone else (believe it or not)…and no, I’m not nicevil This blog is merely to help you, the reader, not to contribute to someone he feels is taking your monies. Maybe the ones most upset are the ones that have contributed - buyers/donators remorse maybe?

Fine - you don’t like me either. Who cares? One thing is for sure, I’m not donating to stevepavlina. Better things to spend my money on. Look at my signon name

54. Anonymous - February 13, 2008

> Now, tell me, is personal development a way to commit suicide ?
> How did the guy find his website ?

I’m suicidal and I found this blog by typing ‘No light at the end of the tunnel’ in google. I don’t know whether this blog will help me or not, anyway if it does or doesn’t it won’t be its merit/demerit. It might be that, as someone, said that I’m beyond any help.

55. Mitch - February 27, 2008

Steve Pavlina a scam?! Say it ain’t so!

I used to be a member of Steve Pavlina’s forum years ago when his claims were still plausible. Then he went off the deep end and started making all sorts of bizarre claims about being a lightworker, only sleeping 4 hours per night, running 3 back-to-back marathons, finishing a 4 year degree in just 3 semesters, etc. Anyone who questioned these claims was immediately banned from the Steve Pavlina forum.

Personally, I think he’s a pathological liar and nothing more. I feel sorry for the suckers who still believe in him.

56. hjggh - March 7, 2008

Not a scam, just exploiting a weak spot on us man apes. A lot like any guru or hey church. You don’t have to make a donation but the plate is put in your face and other man apes are watching,whispering.

They sell a product much like religion, you are unhappy…come here we will make you happy. This is how you can be happy, you are special,unique,I understand, it is god’s plan,etc…

The only vile thing I see in it is so many people being so weak as to fall for it (always expect a few empty nuts but it seems there are quite more than one would think). I applaud him for finding/exploiting the opportunity. The weak will always be oppressed (bad word for this case) by the stronger/more clever because they allow themselves to.

The cause of a disease is not for the lack of a cure. Also you can learn and find truth from a sewer,a child molesting priest,sesame street,whatever if you look hard enough and are able to trim the fat. Cripes I’m sleepy,going to sleep now absorb what is useful reject everything else 1234lolzboob!

57. francescobellafante - March 9, 2008

I’m not saying this it “true” but you sound like a “hater” or rather maybe someone out to rain on someone’s parade.

Be careful about raining on parades, you may be the one who ends up having to clean up the wet horse poo, you know?

To suggest that Steve Pavlina is “scamming” people by writing his thoughts on line and selling advertising space because of his success seems to be an unsubstantiated claim to me.

58. Alex Shalman - March 9, 2008

Thanks for commenting on my blog and letting me know about this article. I have personally read Steve’s blog for over a year and a half now. I’ve enjoyed it, got a lot out of his writing, and can say I’ve seen substantial results from some of his advice. There were some articles I completely skipped, such as ‘how to find your career’ path, because it was of no personal interest.

I went ahead and met with Steve in New York City when he was visiting on vacation. I’ve exchanged a few e-mails with him. Steve has some awesome ideas about life, productivity and creativity that serve to help thousands of people. If he wants to be compensated for it, I do NOT feel that is a problem. It’s his right. I would do, and am doing the same thing.

59. nicevil - March 10, 2008

Update : This has long stopped being about just ME. Read the other comments, and you will see that I am not alone in regard to my negative opinions about Stevepavlina.

The article’s purpose was to trigger any negative opinions one may have about Stevepavlina. I really wanted to know for sure, if Steve is really the great person he is. I used to be an avid supporter.

If he was, then everyone would definitely hate me and support Steve.
Somehow, there were a surprisingly large number of people who had some negative views about Steve.

More importantly, if Stevepavlina himself was truly the great man he is, he would’ve acknowledged this article and responded calmly to why I am wrong. Surely he knows about this. It’s ranked 3rd on the google ranking page if you google “stevepavlina”.

Instead, all he has done is hide and ignore it like the coward he is. It really shows how much he wants to preserve his well written “online image”.

Whether Stevepavlina is truly a saint or a scammer with great brainwashing writing abilities hungering for $$MONEH, it is ultimately up to you readers, to decide.

60. Erin Pavlina - March 10, 2008

At first I thought steve was great. Now I realize he is a greedy a**hole that is only in it for the $

61. Steve Pavlina bash-sites - Personal Development for Smart People Forums - March 11, 2008

[...] because they are trying to judge Steve from claims which are entirely of their own persepctives. Stevepavlina.com � The Internet Explorer This site is the most prominent (IMO) of the anti-steve pavlina groups. These people basically [...]

62. John P - March 11, 2008

Why in the world would Steve come to your site and respond to your article? Should he spend all of his time scouring the interwebs looking for people that disagree with him? And then try to convince them that he’s an OK guy?

Here’s the difference between you and Steve. You have spent a great deal of time writing this article and responding to the comments. But… why? What’s your purpose in doing this? If Steve suddenly realized that he was actually a pretentious arsehole and decided to delete his site and stop blogging forever… what would you have accomplished? Nothing. You would still be in the exact same place you are now. Your life would be exactly the same, except there would be a little less Steve in it. What’s the point in that?

Steve, on the other hand, focuses his efforts and energy on positive things. That’s why he hasn’t come to your site to respond to your article. That’s why he’s making $500,000+ from his site, and has 2 million readers each month.

And here’s the great irony in what you’ve done. By focusing your efforts on bashing Steve, you’re ensuring that he will stick around. You’re sending him traffic, increasing his page rank, and fostering discussion about his site, all in this one article.

Here’s a tip. I don’t expect you to be able to understand it now, but maybe later in life you will grasp it. If something annoys you, irritates you, or makes you angry, ignore it. Ignore it, and it will go away. Focus on it and you will only strengthen it.

63. ellie - March 11, 2008

Gee some people have nothing better to do than complain.

If you don’t like something then don’t listen to it. Simple as that. Or learn from the bits that you like and leave the rest for others.

64. Shaniqua Black girl - March 11, 2008

I hate Steve! He’s too perfect!

lawd hammercy!

65. Jason - March 11, 2008

Hmmmm is john p stevepavlina ? feels like him. How do u know his website gets 2 million readers each month ? Donations reached $500,000 !!!??? are you kidding me ! :O

66. Shaniqua Black girl - March 11, 2008

http://www.sharolaid.com is best

67. Ariff - March 11, 2008

yes, steve is a jackass! That money grubbing evil fiend! Writing motivating ads that just makes people stop sitting on their butts and do something. I hate him!

68. Ariff - March 11, 2008

uh did I say ads, I mean ad filled articles.

69. Irrevenoid - March 12, 2008

re: boasting: There’s a thing called “Self Image”.

If you see yourself as a loser are likely to do what’s necessary to succeed? What if you saw yourself as a winner?

What if you know a lot about self-development and want to start a blog? Would you go into it with the half-assed “I’m a person, here’s some stuff” attitude or would you throw yourself into it with the attitude “I know some valuable stuff and am constantly growing”?

BTW I’m not sure where you got the idea that Steve said you “will be able to be successful in whatever you want to accomplish”. From the homepage: “Personal development is hard work. If you’re looking for shallow quick fixes, you’ll need to look elsewhere.”

P.S. re: comments, he allows them, they’re just made on the forum rather than the blog. And he doesn’t cull critical ones either as far as I can see - I’ve disagreed with him on multiple occasions and I’m still there.

70. Kekoa - March 12, 2008

Excellent advice, John P. Resisting something only gives it strength.

All in all, I find it rather ironic that you seem to consider the idea of ad-supported content an evil. You mean we’ve never seen ad-supported content before? Hello? TV, Radio, Magazines, and now websites. Wow, this is sooo evil!

And I’m not sure where you read about 3 marathons back to back. As for graduating in 3 semesters, do you really thing this is impossible? For someone as focused as Steve, I see this as being very possible.

Your beliefs limit you, (nice?) Evil-dude.

71. Impersonator - March 12, 2008

Oh and look at me! I’m an impersonator!

72. selfhelpjunkie - March 13, 2008

I get a lot of entertainment value from Steve’s site. I guess I’m one of those suckers who gets a kick out of reading a new selfhelp article/book. Though lately his articles have lost the “punch” they used to have. (wtf - raw diet?)

Now that it’s mentioned, I guess there IS a soft of “elitist” attitude to some selfhelps. I’ve only read a few selfhelp books lately (7 Habits and Tony’s books come to mind). There _was_ this attitude that “this book is better than the rest because…”. In the 7habits case, its because he went back to the Character Ethic. In Tony’s case, it’s because he uses NLP and is thus more “hi-tech”/advanced. Now, Steve’s coming up with a book with “core principles” that can derive those other principles.

As for all this Steve bashing… I read on his forums that his server started slowing down because of lurkers. Haha! And I think the anti-Steve’s had something to do with that.

While this article appears as Steve-bashing, it’s nice to see the other side of the coin for a change. (I remember there’s this need for certainty/uncertainty thing… :P)

73. Natsu - March 14, 2008

I am not a native English speaker, but you wrote:

“Now, what idiot would be taking advice from a person who have read a bunch of personal development books ”

You should have written:

“Now, what idiot would be taking advice from a person who HAS read a bunch of personal development books ”

Your argumentation, besides lacking correctness, is flawed from the point of view of logics:

“If stevepavlina truly was successful due to PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, he wouldn’t be scamming people with ads and donations today.”
What has one thing to do with the other? That’s the same thing as saying that if John Hurt was a good actor, he wouldn’t charge movie makers for his work. That’s saying that if the baker really made good bread, he wouldn’t ask money for it. People need money, and it doesn’t grow on the trees. Few people can afford to give their work for free and then expect people to voluntarily click or donate. Criticising Steve because of his way of monetizing his site is the worst choice of argument you could possibly make. On that point and towards his readers, Steve reaches more people and asks for less. I may remind you that people don’t pay him if they don’t want to. If you can try the full product first and not pay for it, that’s as far from scamming as it can get.

You also wrote:

“Note : Every article’s introduction comes with big fat advertisement beside it. Since when was advertisements part of personal development ?”
This argument is fallacious: premise B has nothing to do with premise A. Since when does advertisement confront, fight, impede, stop, damage or hurt personal development at anything? What has the fact that the site is ad-supported have to do with personal development? This is ridiculous. It would be like criticising a tv channel for putting ads in “Lost”, because, since when was advertisements part of a planewreck history? Ads are not part of personal development. They are part of Steve’s way of making a living. Which is why he tells his readers, so they know that they pay him if they click in the ads. I don’t because I think it’s dishonest to click on an adsense link unless I’m genuinely interested in the product advertised. And I’m never interested because I never pay attention to the ads. In any site.

You go as far as to write:

“Nice on the outside, EVIL MONEY MAKING MACHINE on the inside.”
There’s people who smuggle weapons. I’d call them evil money making machines. There’s horrible people who kidnap girls in poor countries and force them to prostitute themselves. Those are evil money making machines. There are CEOs who pollute lakes and provoke the burning of forest, just to make money. They are evil money making machines. There are company owners who rise the prices of subsistence products, such as houses, eggs or milk. They are evil money making machines.

There is a guy, who asks for donations and gives the rest of his work for free. I’d say “money making”. To be a “machine” he’d have to get more than the million dollars a year.

74. moi - March 14, 2008

Dude you’re writing sucks, the only thing that is holding this blog together are the comments.

75. SB - March 16, 2008

Your writing skills are so poor I couldn’t get 1/4 through your rant.

76. Arni - March 17, 2008

Hi NiceEvel,

I really see your point. Of course it could be perceived greedy (all the advertising). But, believe me, I’m feeling deep gratitude that I found SP’s site 1.5 years ago. Through his work he has helped me more than anybody else so far in my life (except probably my parents :-). I think he offers a more than fair deal (I would even say it’s outragesly generous).
I wish you all the best on your path to PD and I hope you’ll find other resources that resonate better with you.

77. nicevil - March 19, 2008

Taken from the Forum:

StevePavlina: “In practice that’s exactly what happens. The people who bash you just end up doing your marketing for you.

Even so, if you read some of the negative stuff written about you with the idea of raising your own awareness, it can actually be helpful. I’m certainly not perfect and have plenty of learning and growing to do. Sometimes reading an exaggerated version of what others believe are my shortcomings helps me see myself from a different perspective.”

——————————————————-

OH MY GOD THE GREAT ONE DID READ MY BULLSHIT ARTICLE !

It’s amazing how one evil person can bring out the goodness and faith of so many people. Thank you, thanks, you guys, for all the love. Couldn’t have done it without ya……….. sniff*

78. Sel - March 31, 2008

You my friend are the biggest loser on the planet! And your followers are even worse!

Just because you dumbasses wasted hours on steves website, your complaining! Havent you got anything better to do with yourselfs? Your still wasting time to complain u idiots!

This is such low level thinking, i dont have to throw any insults this, as it is a joke in itself!!

Nobody produces 100% useful articles that applies to everyone!!! Name one person who does? Everyone is different, steve says this repeadity on his site.

Only idiots that think they get brainwashed, are too dumb to even understand the content of the site in the first place!

79. anonymous - April 3, 2008

I really don’t think there is any point in this page actually existing. It seems like you are using it as a means to an end, an odd one at that.

80. Angela - April 9, 2008

There will always be critics!

The website is absolutely beautiful! The content offers the highest value. It offers people many solutions to their problems and its FREE! Steve obviously understands the Principle of Giving and obviously you don’t! Steve does not pitch for money! He empowers people by allowing them to CHOOSE to give if they so desire. There is no scam in that!

This man definitely has a GIFT and recognize that a GIFT is valuable! Ones’ GIFT is unique, original and compelling. It has very high Demand, Low Supply (of course) and has super high Profitability! and when you share it with the World you will receive good measure back! Thats the law of Giving and Receiving.

I have come to understand much about life from reading and studying Steve’s website and have gone on to discover my own unique self expression.

In the end Results count!

81. Not a Doctor - April 20, 2008

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV-R), the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.”[1]

DSM Criteria

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:[1]

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is “special” and unique
4. requires excessive admiration
5. has a sense of entitlement
6. is interpersonally exploitative
7. lacks empathy
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

82. Not a Doctor - April 20, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder

83. Dd - April 22, 2008

Ads and donations are pretty harmless. Sure he does it for money. But lots of sites have those while still allowing you to view the content for free. Scam? I dunno, a lot of people actually get a lot out of the site. His ideas aren’t new, they come from a conglomeration of sources, many of which are actually helpful, even if they are not his ideas. But he’s just offering ideas, for free, under the assumption that a low % of viewers will click ads, that’s the plan for anyone who wants to make money from a blog. It’s not too invasive though, if he can make money from people who somehow get value from the content, fine. It’s not like he’s selling anything harmful, just a some ideas that may have a positive effect, or a placebo effect, it doesn’t matter.

84. anonym - April 27, 2008

To the author of this blog:

My friend, i can assure you with 100% that you are a BIG RETARD IDIOT.

I do not usually leave comments on blogs, but you are so stupid that i can not help myself.

85. Let Down - April 30, 2008

I say Scam, Claiming the forums to be for “Smart People” to voice “their” opinion. Never SO wrong. It is STEVES OPINION or NOTHING. If you don’t agree with Steve your post is removed. Don’t agree with Steve a few times and your account is banned. Mention something outside of his marketing scheme (SBI) will get the mentioned links black listed and post removed from the forum.

The young ignorant seem to be his strongest followers hanging on every post and word like it came from the heavens. I’m not for organized religion but, kids if you want to believe in something that bad then go to church your odds are higher. lol

Currently with Steve’s recent blog posts he is on a very slipper slope and won’t be long before he shoots himself in the foot.

86. howfutile - May 1, 2008

Good call, Aryavansh Shukla. I was thinking much the same thing. ALL of the comments are clearly not by the same person. But I certainly smell Mr. Nicevil (and his style, which he’ll probably change even more now, lol) quite a few of them to say the least.

I also find it quite interesting that a couple of avid supporters of Steve, and especially those whose lives have been greatly helped, would do such an about face as we’ve seen above. Oh, I’m sorry. I just had a revelation. Steve’s not that great after all. Please.

…as “objectively” as some of them try to appear to be written. The nicevil philosophy still leaks through. What a pitiful attempt at self-vindication.

87. Angela - May 2, 2008

Are you Steve lovers idiots? Get your touchy feely feelings hurt?

The point of the article is to make YOU aware it’s a scam. Not to make the author feel better about himself. Aren’t you Steve lovers supposed to be “Smart People”?

It is quite humorous to watch “Smart People” ask Steve questions about his theory posts like it’s scientific truth. When in reality it’s probably just some stuff he thought about while taking a mean crap.

Why is it so hard to understand that there are ACTUAL smart people out there smart enough to see through Steve’s facade and warn people about it? It may take longer for others to see the scam, but it happens.

88. The Skeptic - July 1, 2008

LOL. Steve Pavlina! What a joke this guy is nothing more than a typical scammer, conman, or whatever category you want to fit him in.

You’ll notice he states not that he graduated in 3 semesters with just one degree but two! It might be believable if it was just one Liberal Arts degree and you took CLEP exams and such, but how does one complete a computer science degree and a mathematics degree in 3 semesters? Of course, he will never post anything validating this claim.

Steve Pavlina is no fool, he knows how to get them. Of course, he started out offering content, maybe some original content or just taken from someone else and rewritten. I still remembered my first time visiting his site, I would occasionally speed click without paying attention to what I thought were his navigation links, but they were really Google Adsense ads. That was a tricky way to fool people into clicking them and earning him money. You’ll notice he doesn’t have that up anymore, either Google contacted him or he had a change of heart. I assume it’s more of the former than the latter. He probably also receives a nice amount of money from selling space for links too.

Another tricked he is using is affiliate marketing. Build up that trust with those articles and then pitch a product to them. Then the suckers who trust him will buy the product thinking, “Well Steve Pavlina likes it, so it must be good.” Then Pavlina will get a cut of the sale. You’ll notice he has stuff from paraliminals, books, sitebuild it, and of course “THE SECRET!!”

Anyone else find it ironic that in his book recommendations list, under the fiction section, his first book listed is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand?

This “New Age” or “New Thought,” theory is dangerous stuff. It’s nothing more than brainwashing people and achieving a cult.

The new religion is here it’s not Scientology, it’s “New Thought.”

89. Gustaf - July 5, 2008

LOL! Bunch of loosers over here. I’m sorry you don’t make any money and hate people, who do. Maybe some day things will work out for you… Or maybe they never will.