Haha, me too. Cracked me up a little. The pop corn post is funny as well. Can't do without our daily dosage of DP can we? ...lol
Now I'm not saying I agree but you have to be a fool to think Clickbank employees don't frequent this place and even post on a daily basis. And no they don't "post for free" I'm pretty sure Clickbank pays them specifically to post. Or maybe they outsource it? Its called Public Relations (PR) and every company does it. As you said Clickbank isn't a bunch of morons sitting around in a forum, they are a real company ... and as such they are going to defend their reputation, thats business. They don't have any bigger fish to fry.. this is where their reputation and business is built... in community forums full of affiliates and advertisers. You don't see Clickbank commercials on TV do you? Numerous corporations have been caught doing this over the years, what makes you think a company like Clickbank that does $360m a year wouldn't? Don't be naive....
From what I could observer those niches that have "Doubled" are the ones that promote so called "solutions to getting better converting traffic." So it is true that some people do get double the sales due to the recent shortage of sales from other niches since other affiliates start becoming desperate to regain their previous success earlier in the year. But their sales is the type of self decaying kind of sale that prey upon their own kind. Honestly, I think its a combination of Clickbank issues, and the economy. Problem aren't always due to only one thing, its mostly due to a combination of several problems. However, I'm also an Amazon affiliate and my sales have only decreased a little bit compared to Clickbank's 80 to 90 percent reduction in sales. Good thing I have diversified my portfolio and did not depend on affiliate marketing exclusively for my income.
I think after so many complaints it's clear that our major problem is Clickbank. Of course, economy and other side things have effect on the sales, but not THAT MUCH... Fluctuations are regular thing in online or offline businesses, but not from $100-300 a day to nothing....
I experience problems outside CB also. My sales dropped with other programs and my own also. I don't really know what's up, and I strongly believe that CB (and all others like it btw) fake their stats up to some point, but I don't really think they're cleaning up 3-5 sales a day for weeks. That's just crazy.