Yes, that's my take. I'm of the opinion we should outlaw advertising. If your product is good, word will spread via word-of-mouth.

But then, I don't exist to do business. Acquiring profit isn't my goal. Acquiring status, rank, or advantage over my fellows isn't my goal. Its the goal of those we let run roughshod over the rest of us justified by phrases like "well its just human nature to be greedy; nothing to be done!" or "If I don't do it someone else will!"

This is how low we've sunk: lying is so normalized that we can't envison a world without it.

> If your product is good, word will spread via word-of-mouth.

Not necessarily. First, you somehow need to reach the initial batch of customers - whether by free samples or talking to power users, you're already engaging in marketing. Then, even when they like your product, they have no obligation to do the advertising for you, for free.

And it's possible the company folds before the product reaches the critical mass to rely just on word-of-mouth.

I mean I don't disagree. One of my favorite quotes I've been saying for years is "Advertising shits in your brain."

But at the same time I think only relying on word of mouth is a bit biased against people who aren't starting with an advantage of a pre-existing network for whatever worthwhile service they could be offering.

That being said, plenty of successful service based freelancers will tell you most of their business is from referrals at a certain point. It's just hard to get to that point. (I say this as someone who only gets business from referrals right now, but wants that to not be the case.)

Yea idk, I totally agree with you in spirit. But I care about practicality and I have found worthwhile services from solo-freelancers via marketing.

Good marketing doesn't have to equal garbage. But I feel ya. Most marketing is mind numbing.

The book SELLING THE WHEEL by Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens is quite good in explaining the lifecycle of every product (not sure about services). Must-read for every product owner/seller/developer.

Lets say you're a freelancer, why is a company supposed to hire you then.

You are the product, how do you suggest to sell yourself?

Companies aren't going to waste time looking into Github, if that is your take.

I think if we strengthened fraud provision we eliminate many societal problems, including marketing. If marketers were required to be completely honest and transparent, a lot of this goes away.

you can lie (advertise) by omission... I see no way one can legislate all the things that marketing campaign must tell you about the product/service

This is part of fraud (from Wikipedia):

> While the precise definitions and requirements of proof vary among jurisdictions, the requisite elements of fraud as a tort generally are the intentional misrepresentation or concealment of an important fact upon which the victim is meant to rely, and in fact does rely, to the detriment of the victim.