The worst of these offers, notably the SMS ones, are scams by any definition and are only defended by people making money off of them or the typical forum "devil's advocate" that in his/her ignorance find these practices to somehow be defensible. The author gives very good examples in the article e.g. the IQ test. It is an affront to all that is ethical and fair in market practices that these kinds of businesses (the scam offers themselves) are even allowed to exist at all.

Fair points and perhaps I should have refrained from commenting until I had clearer understanding of the types of offers this article is referring to. The more I've read about some of the offers (sms in particular) in the article and in the HN comments, I realize I spoke too soon.

"Exploitative of people willing to cough up real money and sign up for questionable offers in order to earn completely intangible goods? Sure, but I don't know if that qualifies as a scam."

HUGE cognitive dissonance between sentences one and two there, man. When the only accurate way to describe something is "exploitative," step back and realize that something's rotten.

For what it's worth, he didn't say nothing was wrong with it. He just said he doesn't really consider it to be a scam. Similarly, I doubt he would consider it to be murder (even though murder is presumably also wrong).

If something isn't quite a scam, it's not a scam. That said, there's definitely room to contest the notion that this isn't one.

Fair point, though I suppose I've made it clear what side of the definitional fence I'm on for this issue. If looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and there's hidden hooks in the contract designed specifically to unwittingly lighten a person's metaphorical wallet, it's a duck with a bright, neon "SCAM" sign.

Exploit: - take advantage of somebody: to take selfish or unfair advantage of a person or situation, usually for personal gain - use something for benefit: to use or develop something in order to gain a benefit

Scam: - dishonest scheme: a scheme for making money by dishonest means - trick somebody: to obtain money or other goods from somebody by dishonest means

I was contending that I felt like the tactics being used in these games were shady and questionable? Yes. Dishonest? No.

However, as I pointed out above, I've changed my tune a little bit after delving deeper into the article and the HN comments. Without question, I should've done that before commenting in the first place.