An Exploration into Business Ethics Where it Applies to the Paid-To-Read Industry

As detailed in the original "A Swindler's Paradise" article, PTR programs and specifically their owners, in many cases, seem to have a distinct inability to think about how the decisions they make within their programs are going to impact others. Either that, or they simply don't care.

The "others" in this scenario refer to the members of these PTR programs.

According to polls and numerous discussions that have taken place at PTR related forums over the years, people have stumbled upon the PTR industry in all kinds of ways, running the gamut from a person doing searches for "free money" and similar keywords and finding programs that way, to being referred by friends or family members. And people join and participate in PTR programs for a slew of reasons as well. To be paid for viewing ads and websites that interest them, to earn a little bit of spending money, to meet new people who share similar interests, and even to try to earn a full-time income are only a handful of examples.

With that said and based on my observations of the larger and more active PTR related forums during the past several years, it is my estimation that the dominant driving force of the greater majority of PTR members is money. Making it, spending it, and more often than not doing whatever they have to do to keep getting it.

The reasoning behind this is understandable, to a point. My experience with PTR, and I've seen others say the same thing, is that when I first stumbled upon PTR programs and started joining a few, I looked at the front page of these programs and saw something like this:

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FREE Membership
Get Paid for Reading Your eMail
Refer Others and Get Paid
$50.00 Dollar Payout!
International Members are Welcome.
Receive eMail on the best products
Receive eMail on the best opportunities
6 Ref levels of commission under you
Level 1 - 5%
Level 2 - 1%
Level 3 - 1%
Level 4 - 1%
Level 5 - 1%
Level 6 - 1%
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So I'm thinking, okay, I can join this program for free - free is good. The program is going to pay me for reading my emails, and they'll be sending me emails on the best products and opportunities. Wow, that sounds like a great deal!