They pretty much got away with this when they did it, but that was a long time ago and people were a lot more forgiving as spam wasn't a big issue yet. I guess you can see my point is to not try and mimic PD if you want to be successful. PD is blocked by several ISP's, and that's because they are not some pure opt-in mailer that they try to present to the world. You'll find a lot broader audience and a more receptive one than people looking to make a few million bucks this week. The non-MLM, MMF markets are largely untapped, and you'll be competing with me for these customers if you're smart.
Nobody wants to see and hear someone make a fool of themselves.
When people in America give something up like smoking or drinking they seem to be so weak and self-righteous that they decide everyone else should be just as perfect. Considering the amount of deceit and sheer fraud by a good many spammers, don't be surprised when you see it develop in the future. Maybe you will have a chance to try and un-do all the damage done by Wallace and others that have brought nothing but disrespect and anger on this industry. I was getting UCE a good 3 years before Sanford hit the scene, and I never would have imagined it would have got to the point it has with the litigation and ill-will. It happened too late as far as I'm concerned, but I've been on the Internet for 6 years now and have different perspective than most bulkers on the spam issue.