I don't feel guilty about anything here, Patron. I don't have anything to hide in my world either. Why should I? I may feel bad that someone had to spend money on something they already knew, but why do you pay a contractor to paint your house if you really can do that yourself? Think about it! It's been said in other ways already in this thread.

And why does the mere fact I tend to explain things in long format automatically make me seem instantly guilty of anything? Why would that thinking apply to anyone? that is very weird.

My website describes a process which many who have endured the HUGE thread of gift cards have been grateful for. IT's FREE FOR YOU TO ACCESS TOO! It will remain as such.

I suspect Kirt was trying to make a different or maybe even better version of that information and sell it. Maybe it was worse, I dunno. How he markets it is up to him. Good for him. Take a piece of the pie, man!

My main goal is miles. I figure that in terms of any money on this scheme, mine will just come to me, as it did in the case of Kirt. I did not look for Kirt, he came to me. Similarly, the site I made is just sitting there. It has nothing on it except GC info right now and it's there for the taking. It describes how to do the scheme in a way that works rather nicely. It can be used for free, as I said earlier, and you may learn a thing or two about the way I think if you read it. Suggesting that people be friendly or patient with bankers or pre-filling out that postal form when buying more than $3,000 worth of money orders... things like that. Niceties (unlike many of the blasts in this thread) I had to scan that postal form by the way. No biggie, but how much would you pay your graphic designer to make the PDF? Just curious.)

So I guess the ING bank referral idea is my only crime here. Yep, I am guilty of suggesting that people use that bank in their gift card world and this is outlined on my site. But I'll tell ya what, if YOU wish me to refer you to ING, I will NOT do so. Kindly go get your own. I don't want your $10 referral money. I want it only from people who remain grateful and do not point fingers or cast blame because they are worried ONE person can actually bring down an entire deal. No, my ING referrals are reserved for those who wish to take on the task of helping others over helping themselves. I believe I have done this in 99.9% of my entire FT existence. I plan to continue being me.

Like any web URL, that site cost me money to own but I require nothing for people to visit it. I shall not either. So those referrals is how I "made money on the fellow community members" as you suggest in a sort of ill form above. Yet these fellow community members have collectively made more on me and my info in the end! Guess what: I am happy with that and we have all earned many many miles because of it. Seems to me the pie we take from here has no boundaries so we can continue until it ends on its own. No kirt or MM is going to be the terminator here.

I made my miles because the original poster showed the FT this GC gig! Many here started out using that post and some used my info. Most did not though, I think. That poster put the post, 'Earn miles by buying gift cards? Did FT miss this?' on this forum and it started going from there.

Wow, aren't WE glad that happened? Gee, we should all give money to the Wall Street Journal for showing us the gig, right? ...and we should give something to the original poster for posting it! Or maybe not. Just let it flow as it does and we all get what we get or spend what we spend. Be glad someone like kirt or MM found a way to make his money, don't be mad at it! Hey, I'm glad the WSJ reporter probably got paid to write his story and I'm glad banks are updating their policies to make systems more seemless or workable and that credit cards have rewards but happen to cost money to own.

We all know the GC gig is complex and things to know about it often require posts with more than 4 lines of text. My site became a useful tool that someone lik eKirt saw as valuable and that's because the site happens to more clearly explain the GC process in a one-stop-shop format rather than in a long thread full of tiny posts. Gee, I guess I should be really sorry I made it easier for all the new members out there who are now flying for free. (Oh, and I do say in my site that I got much of the info from places like FT, so I doubt I did anything bad there either.)

Personally, I find making miles or money off "the system" a lot more Ft-able and likeable than making it off of individuals, but to each his own, I guess. But the if gift card scheme is so complex then it does require a long ramp up process to learn. Therefore, to his credit, I suspect that's partly why Kirt felt he could charge $97 for his version of it. The GC knowledge has inherent value from the get go, and I gather he read thru those long thread in FT as well and found posts containing words like these:

"can anyone give me the details in a clearer or shorter way than having to read this entire thread?"

or

"can anyone outline the steps to make it easier for a newbie to understand?..."

Posts like these are interwoven throughout 3 ongoing threads (this one being the 4th) on the GC subject. I did a site, it got picked up by whomever, and yeah, it got picked up by Kirt too. As I said, I hardly even thought about that til first reading this thread yesterday morning before going to the beach! I really didnt think it was that important and to be completely honest with ya, I didnt think Kirt could pull off the selling of this stuff anyway!

Geesh! If a finger pointing session is what a moterator thinks is good, then we are all in trouble! I think that is detracting us all from the goal, which is to get miles from our ongoing, widely known gift card purchases and other elaborate shcemes like ebay/AA, etc. Would warning anyone about Kirt's site have helped? I don't think that's my place since that is too much like stomping on the competition. That's not what I'm about and I didnt ever see him as competition anyway. I think the feild should be open to anyone who can try it.

I get the feeling that you think I owe you or someone something here. Wrong! Although I will never ask anyone in here, you personally could always help pay for the cost of my owning a URL, hosting a page or taking extra time out to write up the GC thing in a way that has helped many. If you wish to contribute, just send a check as a sort of peace offering and pipe down. In return, I will pay FT to be in here as will everybody else. But the content will need to remain in lawyer land. We dont want this do we? No.

My point is this: Those who are too upset about this stuff and this thread should just get over it. Go get your 5,000 or 10,000 miles a month, get some of your own ING referrals and have fun, ok? Get creative in new ideas, not by blasting the ones that already exist. Maybe you too will have someone willing to give you a few bucks for them. Oh, but don't share anything on how you managed to do it... That might ruin it for "everybody..."



can we go back ot earning MYLEZ now?

MM