MSE Discussion: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

joeypesci

bonzer wrote: »

Can't really blame Martin. Makes sense to sell when the site is at a peak. I think anyone would do the same.

I do feel it's the end of an era though. MSE is such a great and unique service. I can't imagine that MS will realistically maintain strict impartiality regardless of what they say. The temptation to promote high commission products or plaster the site with ads will be too great in the long run. Unfortunately I think it's all downhill from here.

Ad-blocking will sort out any ad issue (if using Firefox).

joeypesci

I'd like to see how all the people saying Martin is a sell out would react if they were offer 60mill for a popular service they ran. I bet most of them would also take the money. I know I would, not having to worry about money ever again is a good thing and maybe, just maybe it will allow him the freedom to be even tougher.

SeduLOUs

verysillyguy06 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: The excuse of the rich... do you??

No I don't. But I never claimed that giving £10m to charity wasn't generous.

verysillyguy06

SeduLOUs wrote: »

No I don't. But I never claimed that giving £10m to charity wasn't generous.

If you really would want to compare, my 10% would equal him giving all the millions to charity and then half his earnings...same effect on finances that way.....:cool:

cepheus

Lewis said he was unaware of users' discontent and had "spent the morning receiving messages of congratulations and well wishes".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jun/01/moneysavingexpert-87m-profit?newsfeed=true

Lotus-eater

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I dare say many of these posts will end up in tomorrows papers as a cross section of MSE contributors.

Told you I was spot on

Alpine_Star

setmefree2 wrote: »

I agree. The fact that MSE makes so much money costs us all as consumers. Now we know exactly how much it's costing us!!!!!!!!

All those clicks have added up to many many millions for ML. And ultimately we the consumers pay.

All advertising is ultimately paid for by the consumer - it's how a free-market economy works. Why single out Martin Lewis?

StaffsSW

Juxxize wrote: »

This site is my bible when it comes to savvy spending and researching my rights as a consumer, I always trusted it as unbiased, but now I'll have take the advice with a pinch of salt instead as gospel unbiased honest truth .

It concerns me that so many people did this, given that ML never proclaimed to be a qualified financial advisor, and let's face it, there is a serious lack of distinction on the forums between fact and opinion.

He did a very good job by giving the impression that he was a financial guru, but in the cold light of day, he was a just a marketing man who made his money out of the financially disadvantaged and the greedy who only come here for the grabbits and freebies.

It was the skimlinks article that really made me question the methods used on this site, - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/skimlinks

This forum is massive. It's one of the UK's biggest social networking sites. It has no adverts, and no-one can pay to be on the site.

But it comes at a large cost to pay for servers, our forum team, and specialised forum developers. We also have an in-house lawyer, who spends a great deal of time dealing with legal letters arising from posts made by forum users, so that we can continue to allow people to have their say about issues that involve big companies.

Currently, these substantial costs are met by the success of the main site. Hopefully, this move will allow the forum to cover some of its own costs.

Trying to make out that times were hard, and that skimlinks were a necessary evil in order to keep the forum running. In reality it was just more spin to get his hands on revenue.

And the whole charitable nonsense - £100k per year is given to the "MSE charitable" company, so that is deductible from the tax that MSE is liable for, but then as a double bubble, Martin and his father both take a cut of that donation as "expenses"...

If this was a politician, and not cuddly ol' Martin, I'm pretty sure that more people would be calling for heads to roll.

marleyboy

cepheus wrote: »

Lewis said he was unaware of users' discontent and had "spent the morning receiving messages of congratulations and well wishes".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jun/01/moneysavingexpert-87m-profit?newsfeed=true

Thats like Cameron saying he is unaware of any public concerns to his policies, that he gets the public telling him everyday in the pasty shop he visits, just what a wonderful job he is doing. AKA selective reading.

I note Mr Lewis has not posted the slightest response to the backlash, I have no doubt he wont bother, who can blame him? Now he has secured his Millions, its not his problem anymore.

The forums will be the first to go once MS has control, particulary DT and the Arms. They will tell us all this is not the case, but they once promised they would never give away our private e-mail addresses away to third parties either. I guess MS is no longer listed as a third party, so he is covered.

magicrichard5

StaffsSW wrote: »

And the whole charitable nonsense - £100k per year is given to the "MSE charitable" company, so that is deductible from the tax that MSE is liable for, but then as a double bubble, Martin and his father both take a cut of that donation as "expenses"...

Do you have a source for this?