The answer to censorship = more censorship?
After DiscountSupplements.com pulled their advertising from RxMuscle.com, the membership finally had a chance to voice their open hatred of scammer-du-jour Brian Clapp.
So, predictably, when Clapp pulled out (as I predicted), the members saw the opportunity to speak their minds…
…and it was censored, and posts were deleted, and the thread was removed entirely – supposedly because Clapp posted some private emails between himself and John Romano & Dave Palumbo, the site’s owners. Look, if the emails were out of line, then delete them…but don’t stop the membership from voicing their opinion. I’ve saved screenshots of the thread (because I knew they’d be censoring it), and have already posted them on my blog. It’s a sad day when a so-called “no bullshit” and “uncensored” site becomes so prohibitive to free speech that I screenshot anything of interest, because I think it’s going to be removed (and….was…proven…right!). Honestly, it’s bad enough that it goes on, but the fact that it’s become so commonplace as to be easily predictable is shocking. I think enough of the membership from RxMuscle to not only save their posts and thoughts, but I think enough of them to publish them on my own site, unfiltered and unedited. What does that say?
And with John and Dave about to launch a magazine, who the f*ck would want to read it, if they’re going to bow down to advertisers like this? What I feel that they don’t realize, is that by working with disreputable people, and censoring their membership so heavily, they draw on the bank account that has been filled with their previous 20 years of credibility. Like it or not, their site represents the “John and Dave” brand…and launching a successful magazine while simultaneously destroying their personal brand is an untenable situation.
AND, of course, let’s not forget that they also run Species Nutrition. I have no idea if the products themselves are high-quality or not (I’ve never used any), but they are certainly not unique, i.e. you can get protein powder and fat-burners from anyone. There isn’t a single ingredient in a Species Nutrition product that isn’t available in another, similar product, elsewhere. If you buy Species Nutrition products, you probably buy them because you like Dave, because you trust him, respect him, or because you want to support a bodybuilder-run company, or whatever. You’re not buying them because you can’t get those kinds of formulas or ingredients elsewhere. Literally every single ingredient in a Species product has already been on the market, and none were unique introductions to the nutritional supplement field.
Think about it: No nutritional company is copying his ideas. Nobody is stealing his ingredients. There are no “clones” of his products. That, in a nutshell, means nobody in the industry thinks much of the products. Hence, the brand’s somewhat limited success is predicated on the Palumbo-name. Nothing is wrong with this, although is probably comes off as somewhat harsh – I’m not saying anything that’s not a known fact within the industry.
And this brand will also take a hit when the owners of the company work with dishonest people. That is also an undeniable fact.
The censorship pissed everyone off the first time, and this time around, it’s no more palatable. Even worse is that John and Dave were never given the chance to reply to their membership, which I think would have gone a long way to healing the wounds caused by taking on such a disreputable sponsor. The now-deleted thread ran literally 4 pages, and very little support (*none) was shown towards site owners John Romano and Dave Palumbo. Members make or break a site, and membership numbers give a site like theirs (*part of) the ability to charge what they do for advertising.
And the other thing that gives them the ability to charge what they do is their industry-recognition and their credibility. Frankly, based on sheer hit/visit numbers and SEO, the cost of their advertising is grossly overpriced compared to other bodybuilding sites. The credibility and recognition of working with John and Dave is what makes up for those numbers.
Having DiscountSupplements.com on the site has greatly reduced the value of sponsorship to every single other advertiser, because it tarnished the RxMuscle.com name. And now, the censorship continues, and because Brian is still dangling money over John and Dave’s heads (“…maybe we can work together in the future…”), they haven’t openly commented on the situation. I think they owe the membership as well as their current sponsors an explanation, and I think they need to come clean about this. When the money from Brian was flowing into their pockets, they found the time to post numerous “I buy all of my supplements from DiscountSupplements.com” threads. Now they should find the time to give their members and sponsors a much-deserved explanation (read: apology). And I’m not talking about a “we did nothing wrong” kind of post…I’m talking about the kind that puts some currency back into their credibility-account. They know they f*cked up, we know they f*cked up, and their whole site knows they f*cked up. They just need to admit it and move on.
When I’m wrong, I admit it. It’s not fun, but that’s the price of credibility. The people who read my blog know that I’m usually right, but they also know that when I’m wrong, I man up and admit it.
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