Kimkins Notice – Opt Out Option
Filed under: Diet, Legal Stuff, kimkins, paid memberships
The following notice is presented for those who may need information on how to not participate in the Class Action Lawsuit against Kimkins.
Why would you want to do this?
Well, for one thing, maybe you like taking diet advice from someone who lied about their weight and used fake pictures from Russian Brides sites to promote her site.
A better reason might be that you did suffer some serious physical consequences and you will need to sue Heidi personally. Just know, if this would be your reason I am truly sorry for ailments you have faced and hope you are well or getting well.
Ok, so here is the information if you wish to duck out the back door:
NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION
TO: EVERYONE WHO PURCHASED A MEMBERSHIP TO KIMKINS.COM THROUGH THE KIMKINS.COM WEB SITE (www.kimkins.com) FROM JANUARY 1, 2006 TO OCTOBER 15, 2007
PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT THAT IS CURRENTLY PENDING IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, IN RIVERSIDE, CALILFORNIA.
INTRODUCTION
1. On May 20, 2009, the Riverside County Superior Court, located in Riverside, California, issued an order certifying this case to proceed as a class action.
2. The plaintiffs are six individuals who bought memberships to kimkins.com through the kimkins.com Website (www.kimkins.com) from January 1, 2006 to October 15, 2007. The defendants are Heidi Diaz, an individual, and Kimkins (also known as Kimkins.com), a business entity that conducts business in Corona, California.
3. The plaintiffs contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com induced them into buying memberships for kimkins.com through false and misleading information provided on the Kimkins.com Web site. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants violated California Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq., which authorizes courts to provide relief from unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices. The plaintiffs also contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com violated common law prohibitions against fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
4. This notice provides you with information regarding the litigation, including the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants and the current status of the litigation. This notice also provides you with information regarding the court’s class-certification order.
THE LITIGATION
The Plaintiffs’ Claims
5. This lawsuit is based on the plaintiffs’ claims that Diaz and Kimkins used unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices to induce them into buying memberships to Kimkins.com. This lawsuit is also based on the plaintiffs’ claims that the false and misleading information contained on the kimkins.com Web site constituted fraud or negligent misrepresentation by Diaz and Kimkins.
6. Here’s a list of the kinds of misconduct that the plaintiffs have alleged:
• that Diaz and Kimkins concocted a false persona, “Kim Drake” or “Kimmer” to sell memberships to Kimkins.com
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that “Kim Drake” was real by using photos of real women and then falsely claiming that the photos depicted “Drake”
• that Diaz and Kimkins posted lied about “Drake’s” purported weight loss
• that Diaz and Kimkins provided false or misleading information to Women’s World magazine
• that Diaz and Kimkins fabricated 41 “success stories” and published on the Kimkins.com Web
• that Diaz and Kimkins made up celebrity endorsements
• that Diaz and Kimkins misused labels and metatags to steer Internet traffic to the Kimkins.com Website, in violation of the law
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that they were buying lifetime memberships, when in fact Diaz and Kimkins.com terminated memberships at their whim
• that Diaz and Kimkins intended to mislead potential members and assumed that potential members would rely on her misrepresentations.
The Defendants’ Position
7. Diaz and Kimkins have denied all allegations of wrongdoing and liability, and they continue to deny that they have done anything wrong. Diaz and Kimkins also have asserted various affirmative defenses to the plaintiffs’ claims.
THE COURT’S CLASS-CERTIFICATION ORDER
8. In an order filed May 20, 2009, the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. The Court certified for class treatment the plaintiffs’ claims for equitable relief, including disgorgement of the subscription fees paid to Diaz and Kimkins by the plaintiffs and the members of the class.
9. The certified class is defined as all individuals who purchased the Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007.
THE COURT HAS NOT EXPRESSED ANY OPINIONS
REGARDING THE MERITS OF THE PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS
10. The Court ordered that this notice be provided to advise class members that this case is pending and that the Court has certified the case to proceed as a class action. You should not consider this notice or its mailing to be a statement by the Court that the plaintiffs are right or that their claims will prevail.
INSTRUCTIONS TO CLASS MEMBERS
11. You do not need to do anything to remain a member of the class. If you bought a Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007—including either of those dates—you are automatically included in the class. Your rights will be represented by the plaintiffs and their attorneys. You will not be personally responsible for any attorney fees or for the any of the costs of this litigation.
OPT OUT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
12. You have the opportunity to opt out of the class action lawsuit as detailed herein. If you incurred a personal injury as a result of using the Kimkins.com aka Kimkins Diet, you have a right to opt out. Notices to opt must be sent to jtiedt@tiedtlaw.com or mailed to Tiedt & Hurd at 980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209, Corona, California 92879.
WHERE TO GO & WHOM TO CONTACT
SHOULD YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION
13. This notice provides only a brief summary of this litigation. For further details, you should take one or both of the following steps:
• Review the documents in the Court’s file for this lawsuit. Many of these documents may be viewed or obtained on-line at the following URL: http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/ . You also may review the Court’s file in person by going to the Office of the Clerk of the Court for the Riverside Superior Court, during regular business hours. The Clerk’s office is located at 4050 Main Street, Riverside, California 92501.
• Write a letter to the attorneys who are representing the plaintiffs and whom the Court has appointed to represent the class. Here are their names and their contact information:
John E. Tiedt & Marc S. Hurd
Tiedt & Hurd
980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209
Corona, California 92879
Michael L. Cohen
Michael L. Cohen, a PLC
707 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4100
Los Angeles, California 90017
Ray Moore
Moore Winter McLennan LLP
701 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 200
Glendale, California 92103-4232
If you decide to contact one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, please do so in writing. To make it easier for them or one of their staff members to respond, however, your letter should include both your e-mail address and your telephone number.
There are estimated to be as many as 40,000 members in the class. So please, DO NOT CALL THE COURT OR ATTEMPT TO CONTACT THE COURT BY E-MAIL.
DATE: ___________________________, 2009
____________________________________
Hon. _________________________,
Presiding Judge
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Email Address May Tip You Off To A Scam or Phishing
Do you use a free email address or one that is associated with mass emailing services? What can that do to your business?
I recently had a member who had received an email, his name has been removed to protect his identity. Here is how it read:
Attn:(insert name here)
I am the personal/sole executor to the late Mr.Robert Schroeter hereinafter referred to as my client who worked as an independent oil magnate in my country.He died in a car crash with his immediate family in East London on November 5, 2002..
Mr Robert had Left behind a deposit of 6.8 Million British Pounds Sterling only with a trust company After his death,the Trust company contacted me being his attorney to provide who is right heir to his fortune and this according to them is their policy in sure circumstances.Directors of the company just adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his right heir for the release of the fund within a very limited time or forfeit the fund as an abandoned funds.your last name is similar making it easier.
It is unprofitable for his funds to be submitted to the government of this country or some financial institution.Like I said, I require solemn confidentiality on this. Please get in touch with me by my alternative email (hammwrkrichard@hotmail.com) 44-701 113 9692 for better confidentiality and send to me your telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further on this transaction. Thanks for your understanding.
Richard Hamm.
solicitor at law.
44-701 113 9692
hammwrkrichard@hotmail.com
What? A “solicitor at law” is using a hotmail account? This was my first tip off that this was an unprofessional email.
I mean, come on. Who would use a free email account for such “private” information? Surely an attorney would know better. Or would he?
Here’s another email I received just today that had me even more puzzled. This is what appears to be an official type email directed to me, and again the user is using AOL. I know there is a paid version of AOL as well, heck I used to pay the 20 or 25 bucks a month for AOL when they first started – but I know better now. When you get your own website, you can easily create your own private email addresses which give you a more professional look IMO (IMO means “In my opinion” which by the way my opinions are covered I believe by the first amendment 
.
Without further adeau here is that letter:
THE PEABODY LAW FIRM
620 Newport Centre Drive, Ste 1100
Newport Beach, California 92660
E-Mail: peabodylaw@aol.com
Telephone:(949) 200-4610
Facsimile:(949)200-4611
May 29, 2009
Ms. Jill Carpenter
Groton, Massachusetts
Re: Blog: First Request for Address to Effect Service of Process: Demand to Cease and Desist:
Dear Ms. Carpenter:
This office represents the interests of Heidi Diaz and Kimkins. In light of the contents of your recent blogs and web pages, it is apparent that you are familiar with my client(s) as well. My office is preparing litigation which involves your recent willful conduct and activities aimed at harming or interfering with my client and my client’s ongoing business interests.
As such, demand is hereby made that you immediately cease and desist from making any further derogatory or untoward comments on your blog(s) regarding my client and her business interests. In the event you fail to comply with this demand immediately, my client has instructed my office to vigorously pursue all avenues of relief for her damages via a court of appropriate jurisdiction. I further request that you provide your address or an address of your legal counsel authorized to accept service of legal process on your behalf.
In the event you fail to do so, I will promptly issue a subpoena to obtain your personal information from your internet provider.
Please feel free to contact me at your convenience to discuss this matter or in the event you have any questions or comments.
Sincerely,
THE LAW OFFICE OF TIMOTHY P. PEABODY, ESQ.
By:
Timothy P. Peabody, Esq.
Attorney for: HEIDI DIAZ dba KIMKINS
kks/TPP
cc: Client File
What is up with an aol email? And even more puzzling and unprofessional, what if I told you this email was not sent to my personal direct email address from the initial sender? It was sent to another party who forwarded it to me! How messed up is that?
Mr. Peabody may as well have just posted it in the comments area here on my blog. Since it had already been shared with another party, there is obviously no reason for me to hide it. Apparently Mr. Peabody didn’t think it was anything to really keep private, so why should I?
Let’s address the rest of this letter while I’m at it. Hold on while I pour myself a drink.
Yum. Ok.
Dear Ms. Carpenter:
Yes, that would be me.
This office represents the interests of Heidi Diaz and Kimkins.
Why? Er I mean, you poor thing. I guess someone has to though. Honestly, I’m happy my good tax dollars are not going to pay for that defense. So thank you Mr. Peabody for offering to take her money and defend her – which by the way if you didn’t know, some of that money she is paying you was probably generated by myself during the time of the Womans World promotion. So in effect my past efforts have been paying you in a round about way. Just think, there wouldn’t be funds to pay you if it weren’t for the marketing efforts of myself and some other affiliates.
In light of the contents of your recent blogs and web pages, it is apparent that you are familiar with my client(s) as well.
You could say I’m a tad bit familiar with the case. Yes, I may have invested a year or so doing my best to help uncover FRAUD. That is what a good citizen does. Not just uncovering the fraud, but making sure others are well aware of it. IMO.
My office is preparing litigation which involves your recent willful conduct and activities aimed at harming or interfering with my client and my client’s ongoing business interests.
Oh! Exciting! An Investigation of some sort? You will need to investigate to prepare for your litigation I’m guessing? Will Kojak and Jessica Lansbury be there? How about that other guy with the trench coat – you know, oh gosh, I forgot his name. Perhaps my commenters will remind me. It’s on the tip of my tongue with some vodka right now so please forgive me.
“willful conduct and activities aimed at harming or interfering with my client and my client’s ongoing business interests.”
Now just hold on a minute there Mr. Peabody – you got it all wrong. My goal here at this blog is to expose online scams. If your client has done nothing wrong then honestly she has nothing to fear. What can little old me do here in Groton Mass? ROFLMBO Ok, I just had to look it up and it does appear that such a place exists. I can tell you with all honesty on both of my grandmothers graves I have not lived there and that is not where I am. But thank you for letting me discover a new place on google maps.
“my client’s ongoing business interests.“
Sorry, but I just had to break that up a bit more. Now Mr. Peabody, how the heck would I know what your clients ongoing business interests are? I don’t live in her house. I don’t even live in the same state. Geeze, if I had that information I would be one powerful person. I guess I’m flattered at the credit you give me.
As such, demand is hereby made that you immediately cease and desist from making any further derogatory or untoward comments on your blog(s) regarding my client and her business interests.
Hmm. So if I say Heidi Diaz did not lose 198 lbs in 11 months and was not the woman in the lawn chair, nor the woman in the red dress, I should be ok, right? But I don’t get why what you’re alluding to is that I can not say something like “she is also the founder of simplechoicesdiet.com” because that might be a business interest? That information is public knowledge. Why am I not allowed to say something like that? Is she wanting to keep that information private for some reason? Because honestly she didn’t do a very good job of it. That information practically landed in my lap – like she was flaunting it. Yes, I can’t tell you how right now for obvious reasons – but that information is avalable all over the web. Heidi Diaz owns simple choices diet, Heidi Diaz owns simple choices diet, Heidi Diaz owns simple choices diet. There. I said it. Big Whoop.
In the event you fail to comply with this demand immediately, my client has instructed my office to vigorously pursue all avenues of relief for her damages via a court of appropriate jurisdiction.
Damages? What? What about my hair falling out? What about my business going down the toilet for promoting a diet where she gave me materials to promote with that she had no right to be sharing – IE Russian bride pictures on banners? What about her false story that she told me I could use – along with anything on the Kimkins site to promote her diet? You want to talk damages? What about the mental anguish I faced when realizing I was promoting a diet that was based on fraud? That I believed that woman had lost weight and kept it off, only to find out it was all a lie? Do you have any clue about my damages? I have been VERY kind to not even address them in full at this time, but if you think I am going to sit here and take your threatening letter, you’d better think again.
I further request that you provide your address or an address of your legal counsel authorized to accept service of legal process on your behalf.
Request all you want Mr. Peabody. Perhaps I will request to get your computer and email correspondence as for all I know you sent this email to a thousand people. An email that should have been sent directly to me as a private and confidential matter. That you sir had knowledge of my websites, and could have simply sent me an email though the proper channels, but chose to send it to a random person who now knows about this.
In the event you fail to do so, I will promptly issue a subpoena to obtain your personal information from your internet provider.
I’ll tell you what. You give me your information, and I’ll give you mine. Maybe.
Please feel free to contact me at your convenience to discuss this matter or in the event you have any questions or comments.
Here’s a tip to you Mr. Peabody – if that is your real name. Get yourself a real email address to reply to other than that AOL thing you put on your letter. That just doesn’t cut it for me – as you can see from the first scam mail at the top of this post.
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Class Certification GRANTED! Expert Kimmer REMOVED! Woohoo
Finally, as we approach the 2 year anniversery of the Kimkins scam, today was a big victory for the ducks as Class Certification has been granted. In addition, Live Person – a site dedicated to providing live expert advice has removed Heidi Diaz from their list of experts.
What now?
There are still some more details that need to be hashed out at the Riverside court house, but if nothing else we have proven we have a real case and a certified class.
Members on the list of 40,000 will all need to be contacted, meaning someone will be requested to offer up some information we have been unable to access.
The current state of assets of Kimkins.con are unclear at this time. While a summary judgement request is expected we can only wonder if the amount can really be covered. Of course, there are other tactics that will probably be considered by the defendant – but these will only further exhaust what ever funds may be left. If someone is smart, they will cut their losses now and get while the gettin is good.
There is a saying from anyone who has worked for the government. “Hurry up and wait.”
The next court case hearing appointment that is currently scheduled is for June 8th. While I’m anxious to see things moving again, at least we can now be certain they are moving in the right direction.
Share this Post[?] Bankruptcy Case Filed By Heidi Diaz is Dismissed
Things have been quiet for a while on the home front of the case against Kimkins.con.
Just when it looked like we were making progress, and we got permission to go forward with the lawsuit, Heidi Diaz aka Kimmer filed for bankruptcy. This particular act put a hold on our case, and pretty much put things at a dead stop. A thread that was buzzing daily with updates and activity all but fell off the web. The ghosts in the morgue were louder than the Fascination at LCF.
This was not the first time Ms. Diaz has filed for bankruptcy, and I have a feeling it won’t be the last. The only difference this time was her inability to stake her claim. It will be another 6 months before she can try the claim again.
The reason behind the choice to dismiss this particular filing is unclear at this time, but one could speculate that Kimmer was not ready to really reveal the truth behind all her assets. It could also be speculated that this is not be the first time Kimmer tried hiding her assets. Of course, I come to this idea from the past attempts for Heidi Diaz to hide her true identity.
I will be anxious to see the schedule of up and coming events. I would like to ask the Riverside Court house in California to please install the Red Bat Phone, and call John Tiedt with any cancellations or openings so we can just get back to business.
A special thank you to John Tiedt and Scott Clarkson for their persistence and dedication to justice.
Share this Post[?] Class Certification Granted!
Who’s gonna sue a little old house wife from Corona California? A bunch of lied to members of her defunct diet website – that’s who.
An appointment on Wednesday January 14th 2009 was attended and Class Certification was granted, despite the recent filing of bankruptcy by Heidi Diaz, owner of the Kimkins.com diet membership site.
Who said it couldn’t be done? I believe that would have been Kimmer herself. Prudentia has the latest and hottest information regarding this and the details of bankruptcy as well.
Can the sound of quacking ducks make your ears bleed? We may find out soon.
Share this Post[?] Goodbye Mr. Cottle?
I awoke to some news this morning. Looks like Mr. Cottle has been removed from representing Heidi Diaz in the Class Action Lawsuit against Kimkins.con. It is unclear at this time if Cottle left on his own accord, or if he was perhaps fired. I’d love to hear his side of the story. I really would.
I’m not sure what the rules are as far as attourney client priviledges, but I’m guessing he will be unable to reveal any insight or secrets he has. Unfortunately for Mr. Cottle, he is still responsible for any court actions he accrued while in the employ of Kimmer. Anything he filed that may be considered a waste of the courts time is not beyond scrutiny just because he is no longer involved. His past may come back to haunt him.
So, the big question now is what will Heidi do? Will she seek out new representation? Will anyone take the case? Will she try to defend herself? Can a simple housewife from Corona California handle John Tiedt and save her defunct diet site that was built on fraud?
It is my current understanding that because of the type of case this is, no one is required to represent Ms. Diaz. I’m anxious to see where all of this goes, and perhaps we will get some answers in January during the next appointment.
Share this Post[?] Kimkins – The Black Bart of the Internets Wild West Years
Papers have been filed for the Motion for Class Certification of the Kimkins case.
Mariasol has written an outstanding post on the subject.
One of the things that strikes me most was the use of some very black hat tactics including the use of tags for things that have nothing to do with a diet site.
For example, Heidi Diaz took a popular Internet topic such as the “Geico Caveman” which generated a lot of Internet activity at the time. Heidi Diaz placed the labels: “Caveman, Geico, Kimkins” together so that when “Geico” and “Caveman” would be searched, the Kimkins advertisement would appear. Heidi Diaz admitted that she prepared the graphic and text without the permission of the Geico Insurance Company. Heidi Diaz admitted that labels were also used as tags and that if a search were conducted with respect to the terms “Geico” or “Caveman,” the subject advertisement would show up in a ranking!’
Like Black Bart, Kimkins seems to have a similar MO. Black Bart was living in San Francisco under the name Charles E. Bolton when he was finally caught. Upon being booked he gave the name T. Z. Spalding – although his real name was Charles E. Boles. See any resemblances to Heidi Diaz?
The beginning legend of Black Bart tells a story of a stage coach driver who was approached by a man with a sack over his head holding a double barrel shotgun. Hiding behind the man appeared to be a back up possie revealing only their guns as they hid behind boulders. Bart told the posse “If he dares shoot give him a solid volley, boys.” Fearful for his life and the life of his 5 passengers, the driver delivered the goods on board and followed the direction of the hooded man, taking off when directed to do so. He rode off a ways, and then stopped the stage and looked back. He walked back to the scene of the incident and upon arrival realized the posse to be motionless. Upon further investigation it was revealed those guns were just some sticks pointed at him from behind the boulders.
While it appeared that Bart had supporters, they weren’t real. The same can be said for many of the exposed fake members of the Kimkins diet.
Bart never fired a real shot in his robberies. Although he never killed anyone, he did go to prison for his actions.
I hope our story about Kimkins taking place in the virtual wild west has a similar outcome.
Share this Post[?] Don Fleece and Traffic Mysteries?
Who is Don Fleece? And what is Traffic Mysteries?
I bring this up today after trying to put out some fires last night. I’m going to go off topic for a bit, but you will find it is all relevant information.
I’m going to dive back into Kimkins for this post. For those who may be seeing this blog for the first time, please to check out my “about” page. Basically, I was taken in by an internet fraud. We have been actively involved in a class action lawsuit, counter suits have been filed, and it is all about a woman Heidi Diaz aka Kimmer who used pictures stolen from a Russian brides website to portray herself and her false claims of losing 198 lbs in 11 months and then charging members to join her made up diet site only to ban them when the gig was up. Not a low carb mouthful;) She even made over a million dollars in a month last year when the diet graced the cover of Womans World magazine. WW was given pictures of a Russian bride as well and never sent anyone out personally to verify the story.
In my journeys last night I was directed to a blog were a marketer was promoting the Kimkins diet. It was quite apparent to me that this marketer was grossly uninformed. She was under the impression that Kimmer had lost weight. As we all know know thanks most recently to AmyB this is not the case. We knew it when we got the PI footage of our so called diet guru last year. We now know from court papers that Heidi Diaz has told many lies.
I am concerned for this marketer. I am actually seriously concerned. When I went to promote the Kimkins diet there was virtually no information on “Kimmer” other than the information that came from other affiliate websites which at the time was all pro Kimkins. Now, if you just google Kimkins there is the Kimkins site at the top followed by an endless stream of sites exposing the fraud in an effort to save potential buyers from falling into the trap. Did the marketer I visit not check this out? It is of the utmost importance one take the time to investigate a product and it’s creator before promoting. And after a product has been out for a couple of years this can take litterally minutes. Checking sites like the better business bureau, doing some general search engine searches, looking over at scam.com for instance. Why would anyone want to promote a woman who is a fraud is completely beyond me.
I am hopeful right now that this marketer just didn’t do a proper investigation. Otherwise it sends me the message that this marketer is willing to promote a fraud just to get 20 bucks a head.
So now I come full circle and back to my post today. Who is Don Fleece? And just what is this Traffic Mysteries? There is an increasing buzz on the internet over the past few days.
Apparently Don Fleece is a man who has been behind the scenes in internet marketing. He appears to be grossly unheard of yet there is a forum with members and everything for a pre-launch of Traffic Mysteries. Could all those people be for real?
Here is a prime example of a product one should be extremely hesitant to jump on as a marketer. So what would I do?
Here’s a simple run down list of some investigative tips to find out what you can before promoting a person and their product.
- Google Search. Take a moment to google Don Fleece and Traffic Mysteries. Look for sites discussing the product and the man and read as much as you can.
- Do a domain name check. See if the owner of the site is willing to put their name on the WHOIS. I have actually been able to call product owners in the past and get some more information. If the site is listed all as private you should be skeptical. Although I have to add even if there is convincing information provided, don’t completely fall for it. Look further into addresses and other information provided.
- Backlink check. Throw the site into a backlink checker to see if their are any articles or sites pointing to the promotional site. Look to see how old the blogs and sites are that are promoting the product. If it is a one or two page blog that is only a few weeks old, it is not necessarily a reputable source.
- Don’t just “believe” celebrity or guru endorsements. If you see a name you recognize endorsing the product you should email or contact that person and verify with them that that is them.
- Check reputable forums and just keep digging.
There are more steps you can take, but that list is a good start.
I know all too well from the case of Kimkins how easy it is to start a forum and create sockpuppets. Unscrupulous methods were used in the creation of the Kimkins diet site – including posters answering q&a on Yahoo for instance claiming celebrities had done the diet. These were all false rumors spread to further the promotion.
I have left comments for the blog of the marketer currently promoting Kimkins, but I’m waiting for them to be moderated. It just goes to show me my work here is far from finished. It is obvious to me that this marketer did not do their homework.
Before you go jumping into the frenzy, be sure to do your due diligence in finding out all you can about Don Fleece and Traffic Mysteries.
Share this Post[?] Website Moderators – Completely Unappreciated
Filed under: Tippy Toes, Uncategorized, kimkins, membership sites, paid memberships
I just returned from a visit over at Jeannie’s new blog.
Here is a quote from a letter from Kimmer (Heidi) to Tippy Toes (Jeannie), who at the time was still in support of the Kimkins Diet. For the record, Tippy no longer endorses Kimmer or Heidi Diaz.
If you are subpoenaed then of course you answer everything truthfully. Which is — all you know is Kimmer, you get paid to moderate (babysit) the forums and you don’t know anything about Kimmer’s “partners” — because you don’t. This is why the guy is doing this because he doesn’t know anything.
Kimmer kept Tippy in the dark. She really didn’t know a lot of what was going on. Tippy also trusted that Heidi was not lying to her. But what I got a kick out of here was Heidi referring moderators as babysitters. Moderators of large websites are not given the credit they deserve. They are not just “babysitters.”
Moderators are there to protect the site they are working for. Typically, someone chosen to moderate a site has great familiarity of the topic or niche of the site. They are there to support members, show them where to find information on the site when a member is lost. They protect the site against web spam, and automated scripts that sign up to sites for the purpose of spamming links across the web. Yes, there are scripts that go out and spam thousands of websites in one shot by finding forums and just spamming fake names and posts. Amazing huh?
Anyway, it is up to live people to spend hours of their time, not just to help the members of a site but to ensure the safety of those members and keep a site clean from spam and in tip top shape.
Some moderators are paid, and some are not and just do it for the love of the site. Either way, it is work, and it is a job. It should be respected. I don’t know why Heidi felt it necessary to add that term in there of “babysit” but I find it rude and disrespectful of Tippy.
Moderators are a way for a successful forum owner who is making money to outsource the real work that needs to be done to keep their site a continued great place for the members.
This paragraph is loaded with some other things, but I’ll save those for later.
Share this Post[?] Like a Girl Waiting for the Phone to Ring Derek…
While the existence of Derek as a real person has been confirmed, what is not clear is how he now views Kimkins after having chatted with the folks in FWK over at LCF.
Before anyone gets all hot and huffy that I’m a bad girl blogging about Derek, I will remind you that Derek is the one who decided to share his story with Heidi and put himself in the spotlight. I know that Amy Curly appeared to feel bad that she had pointed him out. Amy, you did the right thing and please don’t feel bad for Derek anymore (if you do). He is a big boy at over 6 feet and has told us he is big so I’m sure he can handle this. He is a grown adult – although it seems his living quarters may be a bit cramped by the looks of it.
There are some questions by members that Derek has elected to ignore or glaze over. The big one is “How do you feel now about Kimkins?” I feel like a girl waiting for the phone to ring. Is he thinking about his answers or will he just ignore the question?
Derek’s pictures still rest on the Kimkins diet blogspot. We have offered Derek assistance if he would like to at any time submit a cease and desist. Derek, the longer you have those pictures up on the site, we can only believe that you are in support of Heidi Diaz who we have repeatedly shown you how she is involved in fraud and false advertising. In my opinion you are supporting a fraud Derek. Your positive story is being used to get new members who will give their money to a woman who is a fraud. Do you want to be known by everyone as a person who supports a fraud? Do I sound like a mean girl Derek? Well I’ve been sitting by the phone for quite some time waiting for you to make the call.The sooner you make the call the sooner we will really know what to think about Derek.
I initially wanted to think that Derek really did Kimkins, but upon further investigation I have changed that thought. He was surprised to hear that some of us were measuring our portions – just one of the things mentioned by Kimmer to really know where your carbs and calories are coming from on the diet. Derek did not measure his portions. He just changed what he was eating. We have no way of knowing what he actually ate since he does not have a fit day. He does not want to debate about what he ate or didn’t eat at this time. All we know is he is on the FWK thread to confirm his existence. Well, your existence is confirmed so unless you’d like to inform us of where your loyalties are, then I am done with you. I have a scam to fight and no time to dilly dally with you. I hope this story has a happy ending, but currently it’s not looking so good. Derek doesn’t have to answer our questions, but unfortunately for him this is not a good idea if he would like to really verify his existence and show us he is not perhaps a paid actor who was reading off the computer when he made his video.
He has only 3 posts on the Kimkins site, and it doesn’t look like he was really there to support the other dieters while he was off losing weight. He only came out after the controversy from what I understand. He didn’t feel comfortable. Supporting a fraud is not a comfortable thing to do. Perhaps that explains something.
I think Derek did the “derekins” diet.
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