I started reading everything I could get my hands on about making money online in late 2006. By early 2007 I was testing lots of affiliate campaigns and will be the first to credit Wickedfire for a lot of my affiliate success over the years.
Some of the smartest affiliates in the world were once active members here.
I've been an advertiser for the last 2 years and have not visited WF much but over the last week have been motivated to return and read for some reason... And how things have changed.
2 - 4 years ago there was a wealth of knowledge here, mostly having to do with the affiliate side.
Tons of affiliate case studies; Jon hosting contests having to do with which member can do the most monthly volume (that shit was motivating! Back then seeing affiliates doing 6 figs / month was eye opening, and keep in mind it was pre-rebills, pre-mobile); Krongel dropping tons of knowledge; Jon motivating us; Diorex, Smax, Gopher, Eli and tons of others offering genuinely helpful shit that I'm sure grew many members' businesses into the millions+ range.
Today I come back and out of the first 40 posts I see, 29 of them are offering SEO services. That's 73%! (Clearly 40 posts is not statistically significant but its indicative of what I've observed from being back over the past week.) None are about affiliate marketing. A few stupid noob questions. Idiots like AdAnglerMichael and a couple seemingly helpful case studies for SEO's.
Observation is that this place has gone from one of the best resources for affiliate marketing to a breeding ground for $3 Indian seo services, noob questions and SEO case studies.
I'm not complaining... just reporting an observation of someone who's been here from almost the start, and I rhetorically ask if this is a reflection of where the online industry is today or just a normal shift in the lifecycle of any site.