Marty Stewart, Crybaby

In my opinion, of course.

Casey Serin's so-called publisher Marty Stewart consented to an interview with cnet's Declan McCullagh earlier this week.

Marty Stewart starts the interview on a hostile tone, implying that anyone who has seen the web pages where he and Casey Serin had parked content must have hacked his server.

(The good folk at Caseypedia have transcribed the conversation for those who would rather read than listen.)


Private Content

Marty Stewart says "I never wanted to get sucked into, uh, Casey's story, per se, I just wanted to kinda report on it, you know, in book and info product form just as you are, with articles! And, um, basically, our content, er, actually, a chunk of our content and creation [phone] calls were actually on a hidden web page on our site, as well as other client proposals and other client-sensitive material and somehow, I don't know how yet, these people-- call 'em Casey's Haterz™-- found out about our... somehow found these hidden pages. I don't know if one of our servers was hacked or what, but basically--"

Declan McCullagh interjects, "Basically wasn't it just indexed by the Alexa search engine?..."


Exactly. Marty Stewart is whipping out some pretty inflamatory accusations, that some hacker actually committed a felony to bust into his servers. The truth is that the pages in question were available for public viewing on an Alexa page. Marty quickly reverses his hacker tirade and goes on to say,

"Yeah I think what may have happened... just because, obviously we're marketers, (Twelve Years insert: I thought you were a publisher, Marty?) so we have Alexa toolbars on even our assistants, our virtual assistants, everybody who works for our company has Alexa toolbars installed. So the only thing I can surmise is that somehow just by surfing with Alexa...So, now it's being uploaded and blasted all over the place, and now me personally and my company, you know, is being blasted and smeared all over the Internet, so uh, now I'm, to be frank I'm very pissed."


Copyright! Raw Content! Internet Sophistication!

Marty Stewart has been referred to as some sort of Internet Marketing Guru. But his internet sophistication is such that he didn't understand that, by requiring all of his independent contractors to surf with an Alexa toolbar (are you getting some sort of affiliate kickback on that, Marty?) he was putting his private files online for all to see.

Oh, Marty....That YouTube video of you (the one you pulled down) expounding on the Adsense improvements you learned from some other jackass guru shows a true pro! In fact, what I gathered from your video is that you're one of those guys who parks a domain, uses some scrapers to pull content and headlines from sites like this one--you know, the ones with original content and then load it up with Google ads.

Is that really a professional job? Because to me it sounds like the internet version of the old woman who comes around to snake aluminium cans out of my recycling bin before the trucks come each week.


Nigel Swaby Redux

Much like Nigel Swaby tried to surf Casey Serin's coattails by issuing his "Aspiring Internet Journalist Lands Real Estate Story of the Year" press releases, Marty Stewart tried to steer the exact same trainwreck. But Marty Stewart must have an incredibly steep learning curve, because he doesn't seem to have gotten the lesson that not only does Casey Serin fuck every associate he comes into contact with, the supposed "haterz" use that person as a chew toy.

Yet this supposed Internet Marketing Guru doesn't understand even the basics of DMCA, copyright, and fair use. He actually thinks he's going to somehow track down the Haterz via their user names (another Nigel Swaby move) and pursue some nebulous plan of attack. Marty Stewart says,

"You know, obviously it's copyrighted content and it's being smeared all over, and also, whatever procedure... that's what we're still trying to figure out today, is that through Google? Anybody's screen name, as far as people that are leaving certain posts, and are actually screen names for people that are uploading onto various websites, we're going to aggressively pursue finding out who these people actually are and, again, now it's a principle thing in my mind."

Declan McCullagh is again the voice of reason, pointing out that "It seems like the more you try to make a stink about this, and file legal threats or lawsuits, the more people are going to mirror the content maybe in other countries, put it up on freenet, that sort of thing. Maybe if you just ignore it, it'll just go away."


"Those People"

Marty Stewart likes to refer to Casey Serin's critics as "those people." Marty, those people are the fucking base you're trying to sell these shoddy pamphlets to! Unless you're truly bottom-feeding and hoping that some rube on the outskirts is going to actually take foreclosure advice from you and Casey Serin.

Marty Stewart seems much like Casey in failing to see his role in the give-and-take between the critical community. The opening salvo that Marty Stewart printed in "I Am Facing Foreclosure" asked for Those People to contribute content to his publication! (Pardon me while I gasp for laughter.)

"You can even be quoted in the book as “haterz” or as “supporterz”. There will be one chapter dedicated to both sides! Love him, or hate him, you have a chance to be quoted!"

Sorry, Marty...Those People aren't necessarily clamouring to have their ideas and words handed over to you so that you can shill your shite all over the interwebs.


You Are Reading Criticism, Commentary and Opinion

I suppose Marty Stewart somehow believed that he could be the one person to come out of a Casey Serin deal unscathed. The hubris! Of course, this is the same guy who says on "I Am Facing Foreclosure" that he basically twisted Casey Serin's blue balls to get him back into the game. He tells the IAFF audience that,

"We have been privy to many details in Casey’s life he’s revealed only to a close few in his “inner circle” and some details he’s never shared with anyone.

These things were “leverage points” we had to use with Casey to point out what route we “could” take, but merely pointed these out to get Casey’s attention, as he ignored us for over 4 days. We had to assume the worst, and that Casey was flaking out on his publishing deal with us.
...Having “insider information” into Casey’s life, allowed us to touch on some hot buttons that Casey’s creditors have no clue about.

I won’t go into detail here, as it would provide a roadmap for his creditors to follow."

Marty Stewart must also share the trait of being irony-free, as this mansack-twisting is outlined immediately before a subject header that contains the words "Honoring, Morally, and Ethically." Oh, too funny, that!


Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!

When Declan McCullagh tries to pin Marty Stewart down regarding any of his clients, past success stories, or even number of employees, Marty becomes audibly uncomfortable and evasive.

This would, in my experience, put Marty Stewart into the category of so many untold thousands of Southern California men, known as the Fake It 'Til You Make It Guys. These are the ones who like to wear shiny shirts and talk a big bag of crap about their supposed businesses.

They range from club promoters to internet jockeys, and they toss around terms like "VC guys" and "angels" at cocktail parties, trying to impress everyone within earshot. But when pressed, like Declan tried to do with Marty Stewart, there are no answers...just shady side-stepping and subject changes.

These guys always fall back on the "non-disclosure agreement" line. Always. Because all they have are the smoke and mirrors. A few vocab terms. And a constant eye toward finding people who will work "on spec," for commission, or for equity.

Bwaaahhaaahaaahaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!


More Private Content. Dont Read This! STOP IT!!!

It's really a beautiful thing when the universe pairs people up like this. Soulmates are so hard to find. Yet when Casey Serin needs to find one, like he has with Marty Stewart, all he has to do is mine his Inbox for the gold that lurks within.

Who's running the betting for how many months until Marty is showing up on a "hater" blog to tell his side of the story? My bet is that it happens sometime around the end of summer.