Snews article

I would like to start with an apology. I have been informed that my posts here appear to be very emotional and a tad angry. I am not a professional journalist, just a humble fitness engineer. I am a native New Yorker who grew up on the streets and my upbringing has taught me to see things for what they really are and not through rose colored glasses. I am frank and honest and if I smell a rat - especially one who is trying to steal my cheese - I need to speak out. I admit my emotions may have gotten the better of me, but liars always have that effect on me. I will, however, keep my comments clinical in future posts.

I hope everyone saw the article that was posted on Snews today titled: “Will the real Treadmill Sensei please stand up?”. It seems I am not the only one calling Treadmill Sensei to the carpet. Read for yourself:

https://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/login.html?dest=09980&expire_message=&needed_group=Subscription

Some highlights:

"Until mid-September, there was a serious-looking, Samurai-like photo of a Japanese man on the home page and other locations. But that was removed on most pages. Turns out the man in the picture was Aaron Akagi, a comic book writing buddy of Nastos who is also a salesman at HomeGym Central. He accompanied Nastos to the IHRSA show in March 2007, Nastos told SNEWS®.
SNEWS®: “Did you introduce Aaron as the Sensei?
”Nastos: “Yup”
SNEWS®: Isn’t that lying?
Nastos: “Uh…yeah.”

"SNEWS® inquired why the Sensei feels it is OK to hide behind a veil because of a fear of having his livelihood damaged while writing reviews and comments that could potentially damage others’ livelihoods, such as dealers and others in the industry.
Nastos: “…I don’t know.”
SNEWS®: Why isn’t the Sensei taking the heat?
Nastos: “There is no answer, and I wish I had one.”

"SNEWS® View: For the record, Nastos has told SNEWS® we could visit the alleged Sensei’s “dojo” … if we sign an NDA. NDAs are however not something that a journalist would sign to visit a place of business that exists publicly. We will however be glad to pay it a visit. Nobody, including SNEWS®, says that Nastos can’t run a review website. There are certainly others out there with other problems and complaints about their review operations. This complaint, however, is two-fold: Not facing the music about what you write by claiming secrecy is bogus, and basing reviews on fees you get from affiliate programs is unethical. If Nastos wants to be truly upfront, he (and we too believe it is a Nastos-run site) would reveal on the home page that the site will alter products’ ratings based on whether he can earn money off them or not, as he wrote to Spirit in August. He would also come clean about who is behind the site and its reviews as well as his lack of experience in the industry and the fact that he considers the endeavor a game."

What can I say after that? Beautiful job!