Thought you’d like to know that you got mentioned on Australian TV program “Mediawatch”. See http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/ (the video and story should be on there later today.

Now I am really upset. After reading this post and the heated discussion in the comments, I am so angry I can just burst!

Will I never find out what mental linkbait is? Am I to continue living in this tormenting state?

Lyndon – please send me a copy of the post. I promise not to republish it.

Btw, there was a good question asked: if you publish fake stories, is hurting credibility more harmful, than the short-term traffic and links? Do you think there’s a line of going too far and losing more, than you get, with linkbait?

As for all the controversy, I think it’s actually good for your business. There are always going to be haters – the more you have the more successful it shows you are.

In the end, you’ve seen success and no one can take that away.

My only concern is that fake stories like that that get exposed are going to cause mainstream media to be more skeptical and cautious of bloggers in the future. Kinda like how Gizmodo pulled a prank at CES the first year bloggers were awarded press passes.

How can I care about what people say when they say linkbait is ineffective? There is no point in even trying to argue with someone as dense as that.

I dunno, maybe they are fans of Fox news and they are pissed they got jipped. Maybe they are the secret love child of Rupert Murdoch and Anne Coulter, lol.

I agree with the removal of the post and with hindsight [gawd, we all could do so much better with that] to write the infamous ‘Mental’ post was only a mistake in letting others have a peek into your workings, nothing else.

I can’t talk for those who have crusaded against you because I ain’t one of them. I salute you for a job well done and remember to keep that friggin cat in the bag. :)

It’s a shame as I love to get the “usual suspects” riled up, I think people like Shoemoney and Calacanis do it brilliantly and I aspire to that. Not that I agree with everything they say, but I love their couldn’t give a toss attitude.

I really don’t care what people think, I care more about making moolah.

I wrote the article so i could communicate the many points within it, that’s why most people write stuff. I kinda expect people understand that’s what happens on a blog, people write stuff.

I don’t really know what you are getting at, I think about stuff and then I write it, it’s not a big mystery.

So try holstering that hostility of yours. I might be blunt, but I’m not attacking you.

As a concession, I am the cautious kind you speak of. I like all my ducks in a row and rarely gamble.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t care why you blog. If it works for you, then fine.

But my question still stands — why even write this article?

I think the worst thing I can do is get distracted by the vocal minority who seem to have an awful lot of time on their hands. It may stop me in my quest to bring down the whole western media, muhahahah.

@wayne, dude, you read it wrong, I would do exactly the same thing in a flash, the only mistake I made was blogging about it.

If you can’t figure out why I blog, I doubt you will understand any answer I give.

If you have no time for either ethics or excuses, why bother writing this post?