| James Michael Sayer is pitching his "research" in exchange for your cash. |
Who is J. Michael Sayer?
On the comments page, "mary" asks: "Who is J. Michael Sayer?"
That's a good question. We've run across that name before, but unfortunately we don't have a good answer… yet.
The short answer is that he's the guy behind "http://www.2012officialcountdown.com/"1.
The long answer is "We don't know". He's a cipher. His name appears on that website, but the domain record is occluded. An internet search turns up several possible matches, but nothing definite2
In another forum a post appeared yesterday which mentions some of Mr. Sayer's predictions.3
Prior to setting up the above website, Sayer was apparently unpublished on the topic of 2012… so much for his being a "respected internet scholar"… whatever that is supposed to mean anyway.
Any merit to this?
In the comments section of the main page "L.S." asks: "Any merit to this?"
Absolutely no merit at all, and the alarm bells should be ringing when you read that site. WTH does "respected internet scholar" mean? He's so respected I can find absolutely no information on him! The name "james michael sayer" pulls up only a few results, and none of them related to "history, spirituality and exposing untruths."
The domain record is occluded… no information on it is available (that's not all that unusual, 2012hoax.org is also occluded). The entire site appears to be simply a sales pitch for his book, mp3 recording, and his 'membership'.
Since he gives no real information, it is impossible to decipher what merit, if any, his claims have. There are a couple of clues, however. In the membership description he talks about conducting phone interviews with "other experts". I wonder who those would be? I have a feeling it is the same cast of characters we are already familiar with.
When reading through that site, I kept imagining the voice of Billy Mays reading it off. It was just like one of his late night infomercials for Oxy Clean, KaBoom or Mighty Putty. "… a value of $120 dollars, but if you sign up right now you can have it for the low price of just $49.95!"
He hits all of the points too. Nostradamus, Mother Shipton, Hopi Indians, Crop Circles, planetary alignments, etc., etc., etc.
Same stuff, different net.kook.
Ignore it, and definitely do not send him $50.
"Astroturf" campaign
The term "Astroturf campaign" is assigned to a phony "grass roots" campaign designed to create a buzz around a particular topic, and make it appear as if it is more popular than it really is. We're getting a whiff of fake grass around Sayer's sites4
Clickbank Vendor
We recently learned that the "2012OfficialCountdown" site is a ClickBank vendor. Here's part of their pitch:
2012 Official Countdown To December 21, 2012. The #1 2012 Product On CB And The Internet. This Will Be The Most Talked About Topic Around The World For The Next 3 Years. High Search Volume, Cheap Traffic, High Conversions, Great Product, $33+ Per Sale *Huge Earning Potential*5.
If you click on the "Vendor Spotlight" you will see this screen (local copy of a screenshot).
Additional Information
The site was spammed on twitter by an account that also spammed several other sites. When we looked into the sites they all had the same 'feel', a single long page with a major pitch for a product.6
Ian O'Neill's take on it
Our good friend Dr. Ian O'Neill over at AstroEngine has an entry on this site as well.
Conclusion
We conclude that J. Michael Sayer doesn't exist, and that his website is a scam.
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