I’m not even sure how to start this entry, other than saying that this past weekend catered to an interesting digital theft scenario not in my backyard, but more like my bedroom…

While doing a part of my daily geeking session - msn pops open with a message “Hey - “LINK” << Your product is being shared” or something or other - I click - and sure enough - I come to a blackhat forum where I am actually a member (for various reasons, and this being one of them), and see one of the members actually posting my download page - not only that - but I notice a TON of products that are jacked/cracked/shared via 3rd parties, etc., and everyone gets repped/thanked/etc. for finding the new gold, the new gems, the expensive programs, the stuff these scavengers will goob all over and download like crazy…

So - I sit back in my seat, and I think to myself “When I signed up here, I wondered if I was going to see my own stuff someday, and here I am, here it is, time to react”… I’ll tell you now - most publishers would probably do this

*Email the forum owner to remove the thread and add this to their ‘do not share’ list.
*Change the location of everything, perhaps put the files onto a totally different server.
*Perhaps expose this incident to the appropriate authorities (if there are any).
*Seek some type of compensation and immediate damage control.
*Perhaps document everything tightly for a week quietly, and then litigate the forum owner.
*Stay quiet about it and never say a word to preserve their pride and ‘unhackable claims’
**Insert other reaction here_______________

So I really thought to myself, you know - there probably IS another way to handle this without having to do any of the above, and to have karma work on my side here. It didn’t take much thought before simply changed a few things around on my server, but not enough to realllllly deprive that community of having it, just to make them work for it a little bit if they really want it. So here is what I did, and here is what happened…

*I post a quick hello and “hey this is my product, I’m flattered that a BH forum thinks my stuff is good enough to steal…”, and introduce/plant a little seed to cause a good buzz here - I wanted to have fun with this - I know I’m not bulletproof, if these guys are going stop at nothing to get my goods, I will at least take the good karma that comes from it, I’ll educate these cats on what and how good karma works, and I’ll flip this whole thread around into a promo for me by the time we’re done with it…
*A member advises that I ask the mod to put my product on the ‘do not share’ list, which I still might do, but for now - this little thread and theft is actually NOTHING MORE to me than some bandwidth… so I point out that since the thread was made, I am noticing a bump in my affiliates, an affiliate sale was recently generated, my site is getting more traffic, and without having to go against the skewed TOS, I successfully managed to now turn this into a full on recruitment tactic and networking opportunity - you can’t BUY the kind of publicity and attention this OP just gave me… so I gave him rep for it instead of freaking out on him for jacking my product. I also mention that people are free to PM me and I might be happy to just give them the link/product anyway… Perhaps to challenge them and myself, and to see if in fact any of them would PM me (within 48 hours - 4 PM’s - 29 jacked downloads as I left the location of the files the same and kinda liked watching my traffic logs to see the various creative ways these guys are getting to my page - taught me a lil’ here and there - thanks boyz).

*Next day - wake up to see many of the members leaving really heartfelt messages regarding all my programs i.e. “I love your sales pages”, “I second that”, “Hey great graphics”, “next compliment here”… Perfect, this is working already - so I express my gratitude and continue to disregard my option to notify the admin to add this to the ‘do not share’ list…

Instead I’m now milking all the marketers from that forum into joining my operation - and since then many have befriended me, approached me, offered partnerships on future projects with me, and for it being a blackhat forum, well, the scavengers are indeed there but so are quite a few elite and highly respected names. I have nothing to hide by being a member there, and want you all to know that right now - I LIKE being a member of a place like that so I can see what is possible, how and where the weaknesses lie within the various systems I support/need/work with, etc. And in turn, this knowledge has made me a much stronger white hat marketer. My clients are too sensitive, the projects I touch are too sensitive, and for me to try BH techniques would/could result in huge losses so I simply poke my head in, read what/where i can, have a few ‘AHA!’ moments, and take the knowledge with me on my way out…

The paradox of the thread is this: For all the community knows, along with the forum admins, this whole thing could have been a setup

For all the community knows, I paid the OP to post this in order to plant this seed and buzz campaign.

For all the community knows, I paid the admins to allow me to operate like this - after all its a black hat forum right?

For all the community knows, I AM the op, behind a set of proxies with multiple marketing identities and accounts.

For all the community knows, this black hat world could have just been hacked white hat style and gotten away with it - after all it’s marketing, influence, and perception not a creed of code of ethics among theives that the truly successful manage to attain.

And - for all the community knows, this was indeed all natural including all reactions including my own - but who will EVER know the real truth? I’ll take this one to the grave with me… As I’ve stated in a previous BH post - it’s a black hat world - after all.