Sticks And Stones

Well, my piece on Saturday night certainly attracted some attention. The gist of the post was that I had some concerns about a new 'advice' service that has been opened up, the sales pitch for which appeared to be an unverified blog running for less than 9 months along with unverified P&L screenshots. After a couple of comments in support of my concerns, there were then a few that suggested I might be in the minority, but then the tide swung back to my way of thinking later.

The personal nature of some of these attacks (coincidentally all written anonymously in the same twenty-something year old style) was something of a surprise, and while I have certainly been called an "idiot" and "arrogant" many times, describing me as "the type of bloke that would marry a Thai bride, sport a little beard and wear crocs" was at least original, and very amusing. One might ask why a casual blog reader would get so upset about a post on a boring blog like mine anyway? One can only wonder.

People are entitled to their opinions of course, and a big part of the reason for having a blog is to write about something that people want to comment on. It's somewhat ironic that I get comments such as "Write about something interesting ffs" and "Who needs a service from Adam Heathcote when we can read your boring drivel about what exactly?" on a post that draws close to a blog record number of comments, suggesting that the content is exactly the type of post they are looking for.

For the record, I am not jealous of Adam. I don't trade horse-racing, most likely never will, so his success or failure in these markets makes no difference to me. If he's making £1,500 a day, then great for him. Over £1/2 million a year is not quite up to Elliot Short's standard, but it's impressive.

There were a couple of (presumably complimentary) comments about the fact that I don't review comments before allowing them to appear, and why should I? The only reason for doing this would be to avoid spam, but this doesn't seem to be a big problem at the moment, so anyone can post anything. At my age, I'm not going to cry just because someone calls me an idiot, or boring, or sad, or suggests that I should be sued for mentioning the possibility that screenshots can be easily falsified. (Obviously not someone with any knowledge of libel laws commenting there.) I have no hidden agenda with this blog. People can say and think what they like (but keep it clean ffs.) There will be no fee-paying services offered, ever. I do ok, (some days), but as Phil Bull used to say "Geese that lay golden eggs are never for sale", which is why Adam's latest move is so puzzling to so many people.

This blog is entertainment for me, a good way to relax, and if sometimes it is "boring drivel", it's because it's not easy to come up with blockbuster, edge of your seat, riveting stuff all the time.

Incidentally, the Betfair forum is almost unanimous in questioning Adam's motives here. The most damning evidence is that at least one person who was supportive of Adam yesterday has changed his mind very quickly, presumably after subscribing.

16 Aug 23:34: "Adam Heathcote is totally legitimate and a bloody nice guy. Reasons for setting up the service is, why not? It's nice to run your own business and it increases self worth, and it's a great price for what he is offering in fairness."

Same guy, (20 hours later) 17 Aug 19:27:

"Can I post a full and frank apology. Got this all very wrong. The service being provided is truly truly, utterly horrific."

Then later: "You need to read some of the advice given to clients, truly embarrassing stuff."

Every credit to him for admitting a mistake. (If you read the Betfair forum, you will know that everyone always wins, and mistakes are never made.)

Another poster wrote at 17 Aug 14:58: "Today's analysis is nothing short of abysmal. If I had traded using this advice I would be wiped out."

I looked for a posting in support of the service, but they were conspicuous by their absence. If I see any, I will post them so that no one can accuse me of being biased. I'm just sceptical.

Finally, some of you may notice a new look to the blog today, with "Green" All Over the place. I thought I'd get a life...