Talk:Make Money Fast

False information about Rhodes
The info about Dave Rhodes - that he went to Columbia Union College, went to prison, put up a website, etc. is probably false. Several websites and usenet postings say the same thing, but I couldn't verify the truth of any of them. Someone tried contacting Columbia Union College and was told that there was no alumnus named David Rhodes. Others say they received snail mail postings of the letter many years before 1988. The website is almost certainly fake. He had to put it up as condition of his parole - yeah right.
 * Yup, I'm pretty skeptical too. I think I read somewhere that Karen Liddell's site was not made by the person in question (some doubt the person doesn't even exist!) but was set up by an anti-spam activist, so I wasn't very keen on buying the story that Dave Rhodes set up a page either - and, like, zillion years after the incident too. And from what I've read, the scam originated in BBSes rather than the Internet (and the original Dave Rhodes letter specifically mentions uploading the file to BBSes: "Post the new letter with your name in the number 10 position into 10 (Ten) separate bulletin boards in the message base or to the file section. Call the file, MAKE.MONEY.FAST."). I'm pretty sure colleges had Internet access at the time, why would a college student bother with local BBSes? Okay, just a foggy theory... --Wwwwolf 22:04, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * I've watered the bio down a bit, just in case. - DavidWBrooks 13:03, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Eek, too many wikilinks! Sherurcij 08:38, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)


 * I know more detailed investigations of this have been done in the past (far more detailed than the Guardian article in the references, which is basically a joke), but I can't find them now. However, a few facts are clear enough:

  The first USENET posting of the message that anyone's been able to find was November 13, 1989 on misc.jobs.misc, and later several other newsgroups. The posting is still available through Google Groups: article  That version was posted by David Walton using a Columbia Union College student account. In it, he calls himself "BIZMAN DAVE THE MODEM SLAVE" and refers to the DC Follies BBS. However, he doesn't say explicitly that the message came from there.  He does claim he is not the Dave Rhodes of the message, for what that's worth. 
 * As an aside, it would hardly have been unusual for a college student to use a local BBS back in the late 1980's. In the days before the wide deployment of NSFNet, university Internet usage was mostly restricted to larger schools and even there, to students in computer science or similar fields. In fact, the posting to USENET is the more unusual aspect here.

Actually, in the late 1980s, USENET transferred most of its messages using a system called UUCP, which, in similar fashion to FidoNet, transferred data in bulk across modem connections periodically, not via the Internet or the NNTP protocol. In fact, the original USENET post by David Walton was posted in this fashion. 77.109.139.26 (talk) 04:15, 17 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Obviously, none of this information is really at the "encyclopedic" stage, so I'll leave it in the talk page for now, but I figured it ought to be recorded somewhere at least. Mahousu (talk) 01:20, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Dave Rhodes "homepage" most certainly Fake
Both the Dave Rhodes homepage and the Karen Liddell pages are manufactured red herrings from the The Make Money Fast Hall of Humiliation. They were commonly used during email exchanges to confuse and otherwise convince scammers that they'd suffer the consequences should they continue their actions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.240.42.232 (talk • contribs) 19:06, 10 January 2006


 * The FBI note gives it away. I'll remove it-- please do that yourself next time, this is a wiki! Ashibaka tock 23:13, 29 January 2006 (UTC)


 * So what did happen to Dave Rhodes? I can't find any believable information anywhere. - DavidWBrooks 23:35, 29 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Here are a few possible leads:


 * Seriously, though, the FBI doesn't post to USENET, and especially not in such an informal tone.  I don't think the real Dave Rhodes will ever show his face again. Ashibaka tock 23:46, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

a drawback of wikipedia
I have done some Google searches trying to answer the above question, but there are so many wikipedia mirrors on the Web now that they swamp Google in this topic. It's almost as if we have lowered the quality of information online by turning it into a monoculture ... - DavidWBrooks 01:01, 11 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Google is also known to prioritize Wikipedia articles in searches, so I think it is imperative that this article be well-written, well-sourced, and as accurate as possible. After all, it is currently the #2 hit when searching for "make money fast". WTF? (talk) 16:50, 16 June 2012 (UTC)

External Link SPAM
Looks like the external link redirects to a make money fast spam site, the original site is presumably expired and bought by the spam site. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 176.254.115.124 (talk) 15:43, 5 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Spam removed. --bonadea contributions talk 16:09, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 May 2015
Getholdofanto (talk) 03:06, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

MMake mmoney

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. Altamel (talk) 03:15, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Fake info spread about the scam
To fight the scam, there were posts like http://www.bio.net/bionet-archive/bioforum/1994-March/008376.html, which claimed Rhodes was jailed and claimed to be on behalf of the FBI. They spread far and wide and - in the days before web search - we widely believed. Not sure how to put that in the article in a "reliable" way. Calbaer (talk) 01:18, 24 January 2017 (UTC)