Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll try and be constructive with this post. A few of my personal rules:
* Never Ever Pay someone to Beta Test.
* Never fall for the Shill Reviews
* Never fall for the Sizzle, only buy steak
* Never fall for a countdown timer.
* Learn from others mistakes, vow not to be stupid.
* Remember Caveat Emptor
* Walk away, take a break, before hitting the Buy button
* Implement Everything You Buy
* Learn who you can trust, keep list small.
* Let others take the arrows, people you know and trust
* Demand the product immediately, test, verify, file dispute if needed quickly!
* Aim Small Miss Small, Take Small Risks until you know what's going on.
* Follow Through on Everything you Buy!
I'm sure I could go on, heck I might just post this for myself.
OBTW, here in SoCal, I think it was the CEO of Peregrine Software that was just sentenced to jail, Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.