To All New Members of and Visitors to the MLM Survivors Club:

First of all, WELCOME to the group.  We (myself and the members of the group) hope that the MLM Survivors Club will be useful to you and that it will be what you need it to be as you cope with whatever impact MLM has had on your life.


These guidelines are VERY important, and failure to read and understand them can and probably will lead to unpleasant consequences.  PLEASE read them and submit questions to me if you find something you do not understand.


The MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) Survivors Club was begun as a forum for survivors of MLM to have a place to talk, compare experiences, and generally be supportive of one another.  Most of the MLM opportunities we have encountered have been abusive of those who got involved with them, hence the term “survivor.”

Before stating the specific rules, we need to inform you that POSTS BY NEW MEMBERS WILL BE MODERATED. That means that if you are new to the club, your posts may not appear on the board immediately. This policy is for the protection of the members, so please be patient. As long as your posts comply with the rules, they will be approved and posted.

After several incidents in which pro-MLMers joined and became abusive to the survivors, we have had to reformulate our Club guidelines.

First, some basic rules, which have not changed:

   1. NO recruiting or promoting of MLM opportunities, companies or products.  This does not mean you cannot mention names of companies, motivational organizations or the products/services they sell.  It does mean that you may not try to support such organizations or products unless you have SPECIFIC AND INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIABLE evidence to provide.

   2. Keep it civilized. Remember that there's a live human being behind every post.


IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY A MEMBER OF AN MLM:

As far as this club is concerned, you fall into the "pro-MLMer" category. Here are some items and issues that you should be aware of before you post to this Club:

   1. You are here as guests in our home. Rudeness, abusiveness, name-calling and the like will not be tolerated.  You will also need to be patient with the response you get from the survivors.  Remember, they were involved in an MLM that harmed them in some way.  Your support of the MLM industry represents support for an industry that has taken something away from them – money, possessions, time, and/or a personal relationship.  Expect rough treatment if you are going to be pro-MLM here.

   2. Be aware that if you make statements or claims, you'll be asked to back them up with verifiable, quantifiable information. This is not a group that will accept what you have to say at face value, so be prepared. Do we have a double standard for what we will tolerate in posts from pro-MLMers vs. posts from Survivors? You bet!

   3. Promoting your own particular MLM will not be tolerated.  Period.

WHAT IS AN MLM SURVIVOR?

As far as this Club is concerned, an MLM Survivor is a person who has in the past been a member of an MLM, or who has been impacted by MLM through the involvement of a spouse, family member or close friend. You are welcome here, and this is your "home." You should feel comfortable here. If at any time you feel uncomfortable due to the behaviour of any pro-MLMer, please let me know. You can email me at the link below.

WHAT IS AN MLM?

For purposes of discussion in this Club, we will adopt the following definition of MLM, which comes from the FTC v Equinox lawsuit. Similar language appears in many other suits:

    FTC et al v Equinox International Corp et al "Multi-level marketing program" means any marketing program in which participants pay money to the program promoter in return for which the participants obtain the right to:

       1. Recruit additional participants, or have additional participants placed by the promoter or any other person into the program participant's downline, tree, cooperative, income centre, or other similar grouping;
       2. Sell goods or services; and
       3. Receive payment or other compensation, in whole or in part, based upon the sales of those in the participant's downline, tree, cooperative, income centre or similar program grouping.

Any messages dealing with whether a program is really an MLM/CDM/Network Marketing/buzzword of the week will be deleted.
This is not productive discussion and simply wastes everyone's time.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

Effective immediately, this Club will have a zero tolerance policy toward pro-MLMers who overstep the guidelines. There will be no warnings, no suggestions that you might be behaving badly.

You'll just be gone.

It took a very long time to reach this conclusion. I'm very much in favor of letting people have their say, and very reluctant to play policeman. But it has become obvious that, in order to maintain the purpose for which this Club was founded, this is a necessary step.

Again, if you have any questions at all about these guidelines, please email me.


PW
paine_wwweb_r@comcast.net