For me it is not about only whether something is shady or not. Each of us has our own moral code.
It is about whether it is SUSTAINABLE or not.
I did plenty of short term spam back in mostly 2011, and made good money but it wasnt sustainable. I could have used it wisely to move on to more sustainable stuff but I didn't.
In 2016 building a new business I do shy away from most "shady" forms of marketing, but only because it isn't sustainable long term. I wasted years doing short term stuff so now I am more focused on building a lifelong website / IM business.
For example: if someone showed me a "blackhat" way to rank some keywords that was not detectable and would only help my long term business, I would do it. It would make sense because it would add to my long term websites, but the fact is its harder to find these things without screwing something up.
When it comes to shady loopholes or spam methods meant to just make short term cash, its not worth it to me. Its not a moral standpoint, but its my only way I feel like to actually succeed. When I focus on short term more spammy methods, I end up with shiny object syndrome and get nowhere.
I guess what I am saying is my point of view, that for me I seem to be avoiding the more questionable tactics this time around when in the past I used to spam facebook with scammy shit like crazy. Its not because its not a good idea, so for some they might spend more time doing this type of stuff.
For me, my true holy grail is having a mostly legit website / IM business, but it takes ALOT longer to do things the legit way.
I got a bit off track but with the wanting wealth thing.
That means alot to me, I was a bit younger when I started Internet Marketing so I always dreamed of showing off with fancy cars and other delusions of grandeur.
Of course those never showed up, but they were false dreams anyways.
Now my only goal is passive income, and steady long term earnings. I do want them to be high enough to make fast money, but I am not concerned with flashy stuff. I only want security for the rest of my life.