Kimkins.com seems to be set up so that a handful of testimonials are randomly called up from the database to display on the front page. The top one showing on the google cache of the homepage reads as a story of failure before it is truncated. Given the fact that Kimkins is a dishonest marketing of a seriously flawed diet, it’s not surprising that the testimonials leave a bit to be desired. Hey, at least there are a LOT of them

Google Kimkins and you see words like fraud, dangers, nightmare, controversy and survivors.

Heidi Diaz and staff spent much of the early post exposure period changing the site over and over again in response to precise criticism and repeatedly claimed that past criticisms were no longer valid. This sounds like the first step that Reputation Hawk asks their potential clients to take. I still have my doubts that they would be interested in Kimkins because of the big lie on which it was based. That’s not going away.

Actually Chris Martin of ReputationHawk told Newsweek that “Some people have made their bed and need to sleep in it.” What I think he means is, his service is intended to push unfair and/or outdated criticism off the first page of a Google search, not valid and current stuff. I think that as well as being wrong, that would also be MUCH more difficult.

I think that affiliates have an undeniable self-interest. I have no problem with the concept of affiliate marketing, but those who do it well don’t lie. The best way to sell something is to actually believe that it is a good product and that your readers will benefit from buying it. I think many of us could name a small handful of people who put their names behind Kimkins when they believed that she was an actual weight loss success and then quickly put Kimkins behind them when they found out (or in some cases strongly suspected) the truth.

All Kimkins diet related articles have been removed from Awesome-Articles.com in response to the following news story:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=4162053&page=1

Kimkins.com is still up and running, but it is reassuring to see how responsive the article posting sites have been.

The blog also has most of the Russian Bride Pics in one convenient location.

Kimorexia delivers the ‘information, revelation, references, quotes, debates and more concerning the “Kimkins” crash-diet and/or its advice’ that it promises. Using information to combat the disinformation about diet and health over at Kimkins is a recurring theme. There are also a lot of outgoing links to interesting corners of the Anti-Kimkins community/cause.

The focus of Slamboard has shifted away from the Kimkins Controversy lately, but the older posts are a great resource for everyone with an interest in the story. There are now lots of vocal detractors with inside information because most of the former insiders fled when they realized or suspected the truth… or they got kicked out for asking questions. Slamboard posts all comments that are not spam. There are several comments from Kimmer’s defenders and they make for an interesting read.

This particular blog is worth mentioning because it’s most recent post contains a call to action with regard to getting Kimkins shut down. The material was originally on the LCF board.

My favorite post on Kimkins Dangers has got to be Heidi Diaz Comes Clean (Well, Sorta). The author quotes the coming clean item from Kimkins.com but adds personal commentary (in parenthesis and in red). Some of these are pretty much exactly what many of us were thinking as we read Heidi’s words back when she first wrote them.

I can’t help but grumble over the fact that all of this could have been stopped over a year ago when myself and others tried to discuss Kimkins’ fake Success Stories photos

This quote from Anti-Kimkins dates from early October of 2007. The author’s complaint is related to deletion of posts on LCF that criticized Kimmer and her business practices long before a concerted effort resulted in exposing the fraud. The fact is that Heidi Diaz was and is a relentless and innovative manipulator of people and she could easily use her skills and the forum rules to full advantage. One can assume that she actively portrayed criticism and doubt as ad hominem attacks. I don’t disagree with the quote, but nobody KNEW until the PI pictures were taken.

I was going to wait until October of 2008 to make a post about this quote, but I actually do think that Kimkins will be gone by then.