Lushable.com lies to our faces, BUSTED!
Lushable.com claims to have about 1000+ feed subscribers to their blog according to their FeedCount displayed on their website. This is crazy considering they are a fairly new blog that just started in December according to Alexa. Is it possible to get 1000+ subsribers in less than a month? Maybe by placing an add on BCC.com it might be. After Affiliate Lounge did some fantastic snooping, it’s almost 100% clear that Jason Bates from Lushable is lying!
In my opinion: Surely if he got 1000 readers in a month, his feed count would be fluctuating? Of course it would! It’s been the same all day!
This was his response:
Just to clear this up, I don’t want it looking bad on my blog. We launched the site less than a week ago. We’re still working on the design and been building buzz around forums. The first few days we launched we were marketing heavily and we have been running contests for people to subscribe to the feed and to win a prize at the end. We ran the contest and it did very well and we will be doing more. Contests are perfectly accepted, we offered cash prizes and will be offering gadgets as prizes in the up and coming contests.
for other RSS contests, please look at:
Even the big boys Chow and Shoe
So look, we’re basically running contests since we launched a week ago.
All i can say is, thanks so much for the link bait.
What a load of krap! I don’t want to see Jeremy, Tyler or Johns competition posts, where is HIS COMPETITION POST AND PROOF?
Check this graph, notice the hits vs feed subscriptions – LMAO:
DO NOT ENTER LUSHABLE’S COMPETITIONS! SCAM SCAM SCAM!
Christopher is the founder of iMod - Most of his time is spent building websites and pushing the limits with Search Engine Optimization. You can follow him on Twitter @ChristopherM
Chris M has written: 4145 posts.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Isn’t it amazing how this guy keeps his cool with his “We run competitions – really!” and “not all users have firefox”
Come on!
Jan 10th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Haha, ya, I just love the way to links to Jermey/John/Tyler as proof that he’s doing something legit – rofl!
Jan 10th, 2008 at 2:25 am
Who’s saying the contest is a scam?
You have accused me of lying and scamming in the same day? Where is your proof that it is a scam?
Our next contest is to subscribe to the RSS feed and drop your entrecard and 3 winners will win a share of 25,000 entrecard credits. We also have an iPod as a prize too.
Lets see how our next couple of contests go before you start accusing me of scamming ok?
Jan 10th, 2008 at 2:32 am
Look Jason, I just find it really hard to believe what you are saying. If you can show me proper proof of your subscribers, I will admit that I was wrong, but until then I don’t believe it.
Sorry if I came off in a manner which has really upset you, perhaps I did react very actively towards you.
Show me the proof and all this will be cleared up :)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 2:54 am
You haven’t exactly upset me, I just like being called a scam.
Just its best to keep bloggers friends with each and not keep trying to own each other whatever they try do.
I know its just good link bait for you Chris, today i posted an article about a product which I slammed because the info that i got was wrong, looks like you have the same idea here.
Thing is i was saying, bloggers should stay friends for helping each other out. Anyway, maybe you thought “Oh look at Lushable, new site on the scene. Lets slam it since its a competitor to me”
Anyway, :)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 6:58 am
LOL, no way that was in his head when he started with it all. Unfortunately there is no proof at all and according to your figures with no hits there is no getting out of it.
So if you were legit and not trying to fool people this would never have happened.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hmm, Chris, I think that it’s easy to say that it’a amazing what a little marketing can do boet. Although – 1000 is a tad high.
However, imagine if we sent out a mail to one or two email databases, offering them some free $$ to simply “click here” and subscribe.
Not only is he getting hits from that RSS, but also is he building a fat database.
Honestly, if he’s not a lying sack of shit, my hat goes off to you Jason.
CJC
Jan 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Hehe, look, this whole thing started when it was made very clear that Lushable did not have 1000 RSS subscribers. We just wanted proof of this, but the response given was insufficient.
Jason – I agree that bloggers should stand together, but our gripe here is that we wouldn’t want to stand with someone who is scamming, that’s basically it.
Riply – with 1000 rss subscribers, a website would have way more hits than what the reports show, that’s why we arrived here basically.
I just want some proof :)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Ye, I was having a jerry at the graph.
The only conclusion that I could come to in his defence, was that his RSS hasn’t been updated to actually send out a mail/RSS feed in order to collect on those hits.
If he’s lying, fuck him ;) /me is a free-willed-richeous blogger haha
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Perhaps, but to show good proof isn’t that hard and it’s been carefully stepped around!
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Yes, all we want is proof! Cmon Jason, give us something?
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Some links to some forums these comps were hosted on perhaps?
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am
There was on on digital point Riply, but it certainly wasn’t enough proof for 1000 visitors. Another thing, if there’s been all this RSS movement, why on earth has the counter stuck at 1014 for over 24hrs now? LOL!
Check this:
http://imod.co.za/index.php/2008/01/10/imodcoza-takes-down-lushablecom/
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Eish, seems your grave’s getting deeper and deeper Jason.
Me thinks that you don’t know the ‘powers’ you’re messing around with hahaha! We’re not all 4-eyed n3rds locked away in cold dark rooms with nothing better to do than stream Asian porn and IRC our room-mate (in the next room)all day long.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Honestly, if he would admit that he stats aren’t correct or at least admit they are more than they should be, things would change fairly quickly, but it seems as though he’s going to the grave with this one, down down down!
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Well, i’m one of those guys that will give a bloke the benifit of the doubt.
Jason, are you lying?
Or get hold of Hostgator and warn them that the furious amount of CPU usage he’s going to be using of thiers on that reseller server..
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Hahahhahaha, poor old Hostgator :P~
Jan 10th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I think he is sleeping, cause I had no response yet. Well see if he gets back. Is his blog’s comments deactivated?
Jan 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Yip.
The only thing that i’m left to wonder is if they were always disabled..
Jan 10th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Hehe, my comments have always been activated. I just added a ajax script I made to ajaxify them :)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
They weren’t cause Chris went there to leave them a comment about the post I made. So it was on, lol
Jan 10th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Oh, thought you meant on my blog. When I posted the comment on his website, I can’t remember whether it required being approved or not :/
Jan 10th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Stumbled :)
Keep up the good work guys!
Jan 10th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
This is getting beyond a joke, whats with the pasting my address from the WHOIS and stuff?
They were not any contests on DigitalPoint since i dont even have an account there!!!
http://www.namepros.com/np-incentives/413099-subscribe-to-my-feed-earn-5np.html
Look above this is another contest on the same forum as we did it on.
http://www.namepros.com/np-incentives/412325-subsribe-to-my-rss-feed-5nps.html
Here is one of our contests
ect…..
Just seriously, Why do any of you care about this number on feedburner and stuff? You have proof it doesnt bring any traffic so whats with trying to own me???
Jan 10th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Yay for stumble, things are going to get more and more interesting! Thanks for the support haydndup
Jan 10th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Jason – I can’t see those threads as I am not a member and am not going to be signing up just to view that post.
I thought you were happy that we were sending you tons of traffic? Wasn’t that one of your cocky statements when this whole saga started? See below..
“All i can say is, thanks so much for the link bait.”
Via: http://www.affiliatelounge.co.za/articles/offbeat/feedburner-hacked-or-just-plain-cheating/#comment-101
Jan 10th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Lol isn’t it ironic that the feed count has now dropped to 511?
Kinda steep drop, don’t you think?
Jan 10th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Too steep, that’s the give away! There’s no way it would drop by 500 in literally the space of a few hours, unless Phillip and I have influenced everyone ;)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Yea, has someone maybe contacted feed burner? Maybe it would be possible for them to assist in defrauding this?
For instance, mass sign ups would be easy to find, especially considering they would have originated from the same IP address.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
That’s a good point haydndup, I’ll try pop them an email a little later on or tomorrow morning. Would be really great to find out from them! Nice idea!
Jan 10th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Yea, and because they are independent, chances of the logs/data being tampered with are minimal.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
@haydndup – Awesome idea, I just doubt Feedburner will give you anything, but let’s see.
@Chris – Let me know if you get anything
Jan 10th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Wow, I totally missed this whole saga!
What about paid bulk traffic or similar, could that influence feedburner stats but not other stats?
Very interested to see how this pans out, hmm.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Rox – It’s impossible to influence feedburner stats and not website stats. As you can see in my post http://www.affiliatelounge.co.za/articles/offbeat/feedburner-hacked-or-just-plain-cheating/ there site stats stays more or less the same. No spike like in their feedburner stats. I looked at all the angles and I don’t see any possible way except them registering with emails or something of the sort.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Oh well, I guessed it was a long shot but thought I’d throw it out there anyway. Another thing I wonder, surely it’s possible for him to just buy feedburner signups? But even then, surely he should realise that those stats would seem a bit off having done such a jump? The whole thing is wack, and it’s good that it’s getting a heads up.
Again, interested to see how Jason handles this, and how it all pans out.
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Honestly I think he’s got no way of explaining the figures. So it will probably just pass by…
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Hm, perhaps he will… but from his first few comments, he was trying to defend his tactics, so maybe he’ll still try and fight this.
On another note, Philip, your blog is great. To an online marketer like moi, who rarely sees much affiliate marketing stuff outside US client work, it’s great to know that there’s a good info source and channel this side of the world. :-)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
:blush: Thanks Rox!
I am going to focus a lot into affiliate marketing this year, cause I have not spent much time doing that so far.
I like your site, colors, header and all. Sweet, in a good way :)
Jan 10th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Aw, thanks Phillip! You’d never guess that behind all that pink and abs posts lies an online marketer hey, hehehe. :-)
Well, looking forward to seeing where Affiliate Lounge is going this year, looks like a good one ahead I think.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:57 am
iMod – connecting people :P~
Haha, great to see some more discussions going on here. Well, I’ve not headed over to Phillips blog yet to see if Jason has written back. If I were him, I would carry on stirring and trying to prove.
I don’t see us getting any decent proof, but let’s at least keep watching!
Jan 11th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Its not tonnes of traffic, in fact…. Very little!
You New Zealanders sure know how to link bait! hahahaha!
Thats all I can say to be honest, ;) Keep trying.
Jan 11th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Although Jason set up a thread at NamePros or whatever, I have viewed the thread, it has 31 replies with half of it by the thread starter (Jason himself) thanking those who subscribed.
Also, the thread was started on 30th of Dec which makes no sense if it could influence the big leap on 3rd and 4th of January since Feedburner did not report a single bug within this period.
31 replies make 500? I want to try that as well! Useless proof! Any other?
Jan 11th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Jason, I think that we in South Africa are all going club toghether and ship a nice “POES KLAP”, along with a big rock for you to hide under in shame!
OR maybe we should create a site and SEO the SHIT out of it, dedicated to this thread on Mill’s blog.. so that whenever any of your ‘advertisers’ (who would advertise on such a kak looking site in anycase?) google you – they will find the ‘real’ you..
@Wayne, nice digging bud!
Jan 11th, 2008 at 11:41 am
@Jason – We live in South Africa, not New Zealand
@Wayne – Nice info Wayne!
@Riply – Lol man! I don’t think he understands half of those words
Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
:)
Phill, we all know he’s fol kak. At least I’m not talking to him in ‘boer’..
Mills, go and find someone else to harrass! This’ fun!
I think we should form an underground mod :D
“FFISA”
“Fib Free Internet South Africa”
Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
mob*
Jan 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Ye, seems like we are not going to get anything from him to prove his case. Phillip – I think you have a point, I don’t think he quite understands what we are specifically asking for.
Wayne – That’s exactly our point bud. The time-lines don’t fit, the traffic doesn’t fit. It’s actually so silly that he won’t admit it.
Jason – Not a lot of traffic? HAHAHAHA, lying again are you? Phillip and I have seen massive traffic spikes since this started, and I bet that 90% of our combined traffic clicks through to lushable to see the site. How can you say you’re getting little traffic? Lol, based on the traffic you were getting in terms of hits, you must be 4x up at least!
Is this another lie? I’m ready to burst out laughing!
Mar 21st, 2008 at 7:16 am
Beware of Jason. He is a scammer. Obviously this post is just to get traffic for his site. I gave him a couple hundred dollars for adspace on his site. He says all he needs is a little more money. One month and barely any traffic. Now he hasn’t signed onto msn messenger. He took my adsense down. He scammed me. I am doing everything in my power to bring him down. Jason if you are reading this contact me before I really get you in trouble.
Apr 7th, 2008 at 1:42 am
i came here looking ,thought you wanted quality writers
I AM NOT INTERESTED IN CREDITS sricty sterling
Apr 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am
LOL, what are you on about cybersmith1?
Apr 7th, 2008 at 9:43 am
That is just not on Jason you naughty little boy – LOL! Faking is for losers.
/Hunter’s Mark (Rank 11)
/Aimed Shot (Rank 7)
/Kill Command
You are liking to dying!
Apr 7th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
jason doesn’t live at this address and don’t put this address on the web anymore!
Apr 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Jason does not live at the above address, he moved out and used it without my permission. He is currently living elsewhere.
Please remove my address from your website, I have nothing to do with your silly little internet games and do not want to be involved.
Jason is an unemployed teenager living in a 1 bedroom flat and he should be out looking for a bloody job instead of fucking about pretending to be an entrepreneur.
I am genuinely Jason’s Father. Take my address off please.
Apr 7th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I did not place the address on the website, it was captured from the domain registration company, which is easily available to all Internet users. This is something you need to bring up with Jason and not me unfortunately.
I can only do so much with regards to this, I think your problems lie with bringing your son up correctly (No disrespect).
I’ll see what I can do with regards to jobs, I’ve heavily connected in industry, perhaps he could send me a CV..
Apr 7th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Saying “Not(sic) disrespect” after blatantly disrespecting someone is a somewhat cowardly trick, especially since you have absolutely no idea of the circumstances of our lives.
I only requested that you remove my address from this website, something which I would think you’re able to do. I realise that it is elsewhere on the web thanks to Jason, and I am taking that up with him at the moment, but I ask again, could you please remove it from here? Thanks.
Apr 7th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
May i suggest slapping him around a bit dad? The good ol days when corporal punishment was allowed and we were allowed to slap our kids, they were dignified upright members of society.
Now, they are just spoilt, rude, corrupt minded liars. It will only get worse from here, before you know it, auditors will be looking for him for fraud cases and tax evasion.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 12:19 am
I shall remove the address from the website, where ever I can see it, but I cannot promise that another user will not come and paste it again, that is out of my hands. I will do what moderation I can do to assist you.
Doos.. Completely agree.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Thanks for removing it Chris.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Jason’s Dad, your son stole money from me. A couple hundred dollars. Tell him to contact Ian. He could potentially get into a lot of trouble and Jason if your reading, man up and speak to me.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Looks like this is going to get really interesting!
Apr 8th, 2008 at 1:04 am
No I didn’t steal from you, you hacked my site and put your advertising banners on and when I took them off you wanted me to pay you…. Thats not stealing.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 1:19 am
It seems there has been a major misunderstanding, it wasnt Jasons fault things went wrong it was Lisa and alex also it wasnt me who hacked the site, i spoke to lisa and i am waiting for jason to contact me about the subject, everything is allright
Apr 8th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Shit….. Ian it wasn’t you was it? I’m sorry man, I don’t work with either Alex Or Lisa-Jane no more which explains my absence over the last few months. I just sent you an email.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I definitely don’t think it’s Jason’s fault in this case, big misunderstanding!
Hope you guys sort it out :)
Apr 8th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Thanks for removing the address Chris. You are a gent.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Arg… all my snooping ;)
Jason’s dad, he didn’t really have a choise, the addy is required by law when registering a domain. However, you could buy him a POBOX and update the domain’s info from there…
OR pay your registrar a little more and have it made private. Shouldn’t be more than say $10
Apr 8th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Not a problem Jason’s Dad, my pleasure.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I know it was only really posted as a joke with the send him a postcard and ask him comment, my domain reg dont actually offer whois guard i dont think but yeah a PO box address would be a superb solution. By the way Chris it was great to speak to you last night and thanks for removing.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Great talking to you too bro!
Apr 8th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
aaaw so sweet… so Jason’s dad, are you gonna moer him?
Apr 12th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Jason, are you sure you sent me an email? First of all, I was told if i posted what I posted i would get my money back and ad space up on lushable until then. Now, lushable is down and i havent got my money, i havent recieved your email. send to iman999@msn.com
May 1st, 2008 at 2:30 am
JASON WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. CONTACT ME. You said you would contact me and give me my money back. It has been another month and i have gotten jack shit from you and you haven’t said a word to me in three months. At least man up and talk to me.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Hmmm, let’s hope he pops in and read this, otherwise I will try and alert him to it..
May 8th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
WELL, Jason finally goes online, everytime he has come online for the past two months he says, this is not jason this is jenny or mike or someone else, they jason is away, yesterday “Jenny” came online on Jason account, it was obviously Jason avoiding me, she said Jason is away, then signed off, my friend who has jason on his buddy list said he was still online, which means, he blocked me. Jason, what is wrong with you, anyone that can help me out please contact my msn messenger: iman999@msn.com
Feb 26th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Jason is broke? Are you serious? In 2007 when we talked he had purchased a website. Also, he spent over $1,000 with me in advertisement. I promote his partyscene or sceneparty i foget since its been a while.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Interesting!
Lol, you can’t have been promoting it very well if you don’t remember the actual name of it. Secondly, please don’t just come and drop links here mate, your forced spelling errors show your purpose of posting.
Thanks
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Yeah I met Jason on Dp he had over 120 itraders. He kept giving me money to promote his site I probably got him a few 100 sign ups. I was wondering where he went … last time i talked to him when are websites were on john chow last year during the summer.. haven’t seen him on msn since ..that guy had money.. i dont know where he got it. but he had a shit load.. sending 100s of dollars each time.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
WTF lol… ok so I read half of your comment on my cell phone. Posting links? Please do share those “links” I have posted. My grammar bites and I know this. This is funny you think your high and mighty with your little revenue…. please… jason was one of my 100s of customers back then. I’ve taken it over a grand from him for 30 minutes of work….
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
You are pathetic :D Also, i win.. you loose.. you don’t know me.. i make six figures a year…your poor im not… and all you have on me is your grammar…
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Ag, you wish, show me proof.
I removed the links you posted.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
haha I wish … hmm…. well if you would have googled me you know i’m spending 10 grand + to create a clone of autodesk software. Top of that… your first comment was rude… I was surprised when I read this.. I wondered why Jason had abandoned his msn,website, DP. He always acted like he had cash and always had the cash on hand.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Spending 10 grand is absolutely peanuts compared to a claim of turning 6 figures a month.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
actually said… 6 figures a year.. not months… 10 grand is still a lot of money to throw around…but its for the best.
Feb 26th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Ah, ok, a year, fair enough.
I’m poor? How on earth did you come to that assumption?
Feb 26th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Well to be honest.. i said that to be rude .. since you were rude to me.. for no reason… I don’t know how much you make. I do know you aren’t making 10grand a month from this site. Although like most Webmasters you probably have other online ventures.
Feb 27th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Ok, so anyway, now that that is out of the way, how you doing mate?
Where you from?
Feb 27th, 2009 at 12:06 am
I’m doing alright. Just been doing a lot of online projects. I’m from Las Vegas. I’m guessing your Aussie? Do you have an instant messenger…. I have 1000s of webmasters, seo specailists, marketers,ect on my list. So I can be very resourceful.
Feb 27th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Nah, I’m from South Africa bud :)
Feb 27th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Haha I should of looked at your url. Anyways if your ever wanting to do business or need something online add my instant messenger … its the email address that only you can see.. by editing my comment.
Feb 27th, 2009 at 12:13 am
For sure, I know how to grab the email ;)
Ya, it’s all good bud, I’m heavily connected here, any more resources and I’ll start getting lost! :)