This is something of a disgruntled critique and will likely prove to raise a few heads, cause some figures in the sphere to dislike me on a personal level, and possibly even cause a bit of controversy, yet nonetheless, I'd like to stick my neck out and state some things on my mind that bother me about the general direction the manosphere has been taking.

I suspect that being one of the oldest red pill posters, as well as a known blogger, these concerns are more likely to be heeded, noted and more seriously discussed as a community coming from me, than they would should the same sentiments be expressed by a less established member of the community.

And likewise as someone who has retained their anonymity, has not attended 21 con and who has not become part of the larger get along gang of "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" I have a political and economic impartiality to say things pertaining to our fair space that perhaps others do not.

Basically, I don't mind being hated for telling the truth because doing so will not harm any significant personal or economic relationships I have.

I haven't published anything to my website for approximately a year and a half now, taking something of an extended hiatus from writing and building "my brand" (I use that term loosely, because even though it's the byproduct of my mind, it's not a personal brand)

And in that time, the sphere has changed A LOT - and as far as I can tell, is being diluted down and ceased upon by people who wish to hijack the community we've built to push their own personal brands and line their pockets rather than add to the literature and provide a fair value for cash exchange.

Essentially, we're under siege from grinders, grifters, hustlers, marketers and other opportunists who view us as an undersaturated market they can tap in to and sell to.

These types take the social network we've built up through our various forums and blogs which have migrated slowly over to social networks like Twitter over the years as manosphere writers such as myself and Rollo have used it more, and are inserting themselves into that network to rinse the fuck out of the less intelligent amongst us with trite platitudes and rephrased stolen content for personal profit.

We've always had people trying to sell e-books, and even the odd PUA course for sale here and there, but for the most part, our space has remained relatively non-commercialised and has been more about supporting individual content creators who push the envelope through book purchases, donations and even merchandise (Roosh) rather than actually trying to dilute down the core message by corporatising it.

PUA was more corporatised and bullshitty than TRP with the $5k per weekend bootcamps and what not, but the red pill itself has always been quite an organic community where the bulk of the value was provided for free, and the rest was provided for a modest price in a fair value exchange between creator and consumer.

At the end of the day, nobody needs to buy Rollo Tomassi's books if they don't want to because everything in his books is already on his blog. His monetisation of his work is respectful to, rather than manipulative of his followers. This is an ethical form of monetisation, as it allows people to support work they've already enjoyed for free should they so choose, and is more content rather than marketing heavy.

This is what I call a fair value exchange, because you get years worth of thinking and writing for a modest price in something you can physically hold.

Selling a course on how to improve your mindset or make money online for $293 a unit "whilst stock lasts and for a limited time only" whilst employing copywriting to aggressively push this to your twitter following is not.

This is frankly insulting people's intelligence and in all likelihood selling a subpar product that does not live up to the grand claims it makes for a quick buck.

I likewise now see 21 Convention is marketing soap claiming it will "turn you into an alpha chad due to an infusion of pheremones" - other than the immediate comedic value - is this serious? We're selling soap now? Seriously? The manosphere is selling soap? I honestly hope I'm missing out on some sort of joke or something and that this isn't a serious value proposition, but in all honesty, at face value, it appears to be a cheap cash grab.

This isn't even meant as a shot fired at 21 Con, as evidently it's helped a lot of manosphere writers, personalities and other people to network in the real world, and is predominantly an information aggregation service brought to a live speaking format.

But when we start selling soap and claiming it'll help you get girls, there's a degree of corporatisation and opportunism in that I believe to be ultimately harmful to the community, because let's face it, there's no fucking soap on this earth that's gonna get you laid and anyone who buys that shit believing it will is ultimately a gullible idiot.

Be it soap or online marketing courses, it is clear the goal here is the enrichment of the person selling the product, not the transmission of actual useful information that can uplift the dire condition of men by helping to combat the toxic effects 2 generations of divorce and single motherhood wrought by feminism has had - which is after all, why this community even exists to begin with, lest the unabashed pursuit of greed cause us to forget this.

All of this is most evident on Twitter with the plethora of random marketers, narcissistic attention seeking personalities who offer little real value, and personal branders who have popped up out of nowhere and whom have gained a foothold in our extended social network by being a mix of theatrical and consistent in posting rephrased general self-improvement advice, yet who clearly have no desire nor ability to either add or build upon the body of literature we have created, let alone actually admit they are associated with us.

Many take a great many deal of the things we say, rephrase them, claim them to be some sort of innovative and original insight, take the credit, and profit off the back of it as they incorporate knowledge freely given into a paid product.

There are a number of personal brands on Twitter whose following mainly consists of red pillers, or of whom at least got their start from the red pill, who would publicly disavow or even deny being associated with that label.

I remember being on Twitter as far back as 2013, and thus remember the manosphere space on there before personal branders, marketers and other parasites who have added little if anything to the general literature were rampant telling you to sign up for their newsletter, promising they can help make you thousands a month, whilst other uncreative types who could never write an even remotely profound long-form essay to save their lives push the same rephrased general self-improvement advice over and over again in bulletpoint check lists.

These people then have the gall to tell people who call them out "you don't like money" and "you need to stop hating on people trying to make a living" when you call them out on their bullshit, which I have done, primarily because I am an asshole, and secondarily because I am protective of a community I've played a large hand in building that I now see being opportunistically exploited.

In truth, I've made a decent sum of money from the manosphere all without actually selling my integrity and treating my followers like a bunch of idiots by peddling low quality products and services to them with aggressively manipulative marketing language.

If I wanted to read Ca$hvertising, launch a supplement, sell a course, use marketing language to aggressively push products, partner up with some affiliates and put advertising banners on my blog, it is well within my power to do so.

I don't do this, because these are consumer unfriendly practices and ultimately dilute my content.

Does this mean I don't make as much money as I could by not manipulating everybody at every available opportunity? Yes.

But it also means my brand is stronger and more trustworthy, precisely because it does not resort to these cash grabbing gimmicks.

I never actually bothered to launch or sell a product (much to the annoyance of many who still pester me to release a book - I'll do it eventually before you ask) but I've made money by giving people the option to support my work where they see fit

This has mainly taken the form of donations, patreon sponsorship and consulting services, rather than in the form of affiliate marketing, advertising, courses, and the sale of supplements and other subpar products.

I am happy with this form of monetisation, because it allows me to create the content I want to create whilst putting quality first, rather than putting money first and seeing quality as an afterthought.

I respect my followers and want to entice them into supporting good work, rather than see my followers as a flock to be fleeced who shall be taken for coin at every available opportunity.

The poetic irony to all of this of course is that I am the one who is known for more greatly exploring cunning and the dark triad within the sphere, yet when push comes to shove, am one of the few showing the most integrity in actually not exploiting my fans for cash.

I leave you with this final thought:

There's nothing wrong with making money, but there's an honourable way to go about it, and a scummy way to go about it

We, as a community, need be vigilant in maintaining an organic resilience to those who would look to exploit the social network we've built for quick profits, but whom don't give a remote flying shit about men and are ultimately just here to build up their wallets rather than build up men.

When you see this, call it out - force people to make money ethically by providing high value in return for cash, or deprive them your cash altogether.

Allowing for increasing corporatisation of the community will be ultimately what kills it, and we can't afford for that to happen.