Keyword Swarm [REVIEW]
POS:
Does what it saysNEG:
Its stolen code that was pirated and rebranded.Every once in a while I do a review of a product that just totally makes me mad. Keyword Swarm is one of them. It actually makes me mad for 2 reasons. First because Im mad at myself for getting to it a little late. I didn’t get a chance to review it before the […]
Every once in a while I do a review of a product that just totally makes me mad. Keyword Swarm is one of them. It actually makes me mad for 2 reasons. First because Im mad at myself for getting to it a little late. I didn’t get a chance to review it before the initial launch so hundreds of people got screwed over already by buying it. Fortunately if your one of these people you still might be in the refund period.
The second reason this makes me hopping mad is because of the product itself. Not that its a bad product but something else. Let me explain in once sentence:
Keyword Swarm by Vas Blagodarski is really a FREE WordPress plugin that he just changed the logo on and then sold this FREE plugin to people who didnt know better!
Yep thats right he screwed you. He rebranded something you could have gotten for free right here:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-slimstat/screenshots/
and the sold it you you. Nice guy huh?
Check out the screenshot of the code for ‘Keyword Swarm’
Notice that the Keyword Swarm plugin files are actually called wp-slimstats.php. This is because Keyward Swarm is actually WP Slim Stats. I checked though the code more in depth to confirm this and it really is just Slim Stats with a new logo. These people where even to lazy to try to hide this fact by changing the code a little. Its unbelievable.
I have a message for Vas Blagodarski and all other so called ‘product creators’ like him. STOP TRYING TO SCREW PEOPLE OVER! Its 100% possible to make money online by creating quality products yourself. You dont have to cheat people.
To my readers I’m sorry I got to this one a little late. If you bought I hope your still in the refund period. Also Vas has a couple other ‘premium plugins’ coming out soon. Keep this in mind when deciding if you should buy from him.
UPDATE: After a lot of talking about this review / product it does seem that Keyword Swarm does have some ‘extra’ functions over the normal free version of Slim Stats. However after further checking of the Keyword Swarm code it seem that all these ‘extra’ functions are , are the premium upgrades to SlimStats which have been stolen and illegally copied. The appearance would be that while Keyword Swarm is ‘better’ than SlimStats FREE this is only because it is really the premium version of Slim Stats, copied illegally and resold under a different name.
A quick note about the reviews I do on this site. The product vendors give me access to their products for free in order for me to do my review. However I make no promises to them regarding the results of my tests or what I will write in my review. Should you click a link that takes you to a sales page for a paid product for sale this link will be an affiliate link and I will be paid a percentage of the sales price should you decide to invest in it.
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Well, it is not quite the same…
It is like SlimStats with all the “premium” add-ons at $10 each.
You end up ahead with it if you want the extra features.
Yes you end up ahead. If you dont mind stealing someones work.
This guy has no right to takes someone elses code, remove the copyright and call it his own. That’s stealing. Flat out. As a software developer this part really erks me. In fact if you download Slim Stats now have a message about this theft right inside of the plugin stating the are “honored someone likes it so much to steal it”.. classy response by the Slim Stats team.
Thanks for the heads up Brett, I was looking at this a few days ago. He raised the price to $97. Im reporting this to JV Zooo immediately. Keep up the good work mate
Good job on calling this guy out … thanks Brett.
Wow, finally a real review from a real person. I have read a few bad things about this… Vas Blagodarski dude…He does a lot of voice overs for sales videos. Ha! I hate his voice and I can’t figure why anyone would use him…especially since he is getting a very bad reputation. I’m going to keep my eye on this guy.
Thanks
Brett
Thanks, Brett. I bought this but I’m getting a refund now!
Thank you so much for giving us heads up, Brett. Good work. I was looking at his sales page few days ago. I thought it was pretty good stuff. But, men, it’s unbelievable. Glad that I didn’t buy!
Hi Brett,
I wish you had just asked me what is going on. Perhaps it’s my fault for not making it clear what you were signing up for, but please, do let me respond, as I always respond to clients as fast as I can. I don’t typically respond to comments on blogs because that tend to fan the flames of bias that should not have been started by you to begin with. However, seeing as you’re the only one who thinks so poorly of my last product launch, I do want to respond personally.
WP SlimStat (free) is about 30% less powerful than my product (sold out now). Your posts make it easy for your readers, who may have no idea what is what, to use anger-filled hate as fact. However he truth is, you never even asked me “hey, I am looking at WP SlimStat, it looks the same, what’s up with that?”
As someone already mentioned above, WP SlimStat is not actually free. The “crippled” version of it is free, but that’s not what Keyword Swarm was. Furthermore, I am not a politician, I am a marketer who is working as part of a team, so to slander my name and to say “keep this in mind when deciding if you should buy from him” is not only personal, but it’s also incorrect.
I really appreciate the zest with which you review products – I find many of your posts to be quite valuable – but your lack of communication skills leave much to be desired. Instead of yelling at a crowd called “The Internet,” maybe you could begin a dialogue with a person and find out what makes them tick. Right now, you’re passing off your impressions as fact, as if you are the ultimate arbitrary agent of The Truth, with a capital T. Twenty-first century shoppers demand more than that. They demand a distinction between “fact” and “opinion.” For the future, I would appreciate more editorial consideration on your part. If you don’t even want to ask me a question before blogging about me, please don’t bother blogging about me; it may be wrong, it will remain on the web forever, and I don’t want that.
In conclusion, I find it ironic how you accuse me of shady business while you, yourself, disguise your editorials as fact. Please email me next time you review my product, be it good OR bad (I don’t want to think positively of products that are actually crap when you thought they were good because they fit you better than they would fit me; you may have more experience than some, but that doesn’t make you Chief Magistrate of the IM world).
Regards,
Vas.
Vas,
I approved your message because you have the right to respond and defend yourself.
You can try to justify yourself however you like. Perhaps you added a function or two. That does not matter. You DID 100% for sure STEAL the SlimStats code and pass it off as your own. Your not a marketer or a politician your a thief and a cheat. Period. End of story. I dont have to slander your name. Your doing a VERY good job of it yourself.
By the way .. sold out eh? What did you run out of electrons to produce your digital product? Or perhaps your sold out because the creators of SlimStats are complaining about you stealing their code? They even put a notice of this in their real plug in about someone who stole their code and is selling it under a different name. Come on man.
Here is an exact cut and paste from the broadcast message the the SlimStats creators made in the SlimStats plugin:
“We are honored to see that WP SlimStat is being pirated and sold for $90 a pop as Keyword Swarm. It means that our product is not as bad as someone claims it to be. But please save your money and keep using the original free product you’ve been enjoying for 8 years now. And if your know people who have purchased the knock off, tell them to go get their refund!”
Why didn’t I contact you? Because I didn’t have to. Just that fact that your a thief is enough to show me what kind of person you are. You see what you fail to realize is that Im a trained and experienced developer. I compared the two code sets. They are 90% identical. Everything I said is a fact
You made your bed. Now lie in it.
PS) Nope Im not the ‘magistrate of the IM world’ .. Im just a guy telling people the truth. The thing is. If it wasn’t for people like you I would have nothing to do.
Sold out of a digital product… WOW!
Brett a hit dog will howl every time, Thank you again for another outstand review and bringing some of these shady character into the light. Brett I look forward to your reviews, I think people should beware of all the crap these fake-ass marketer are throwing at them.
Job Well Done!
Thanks for the review Brett – however, too late for me. I purchased it and have been trying to get a refund for over a week now. They keep dodging the issue.
Okay, I am confused, and I am not sure what to believe…
I bought KWS after seeing the dialogue between Vas and the affiliate I bought it from.
Here it is below (I re-typed it from the email I received because it was a graphic screenshot in the email):
Vas:
Here’s what’s going on
WP SlimStat is a crippled freebie plugin that lacks critical
Functions. This make it inferior to Analytics, and heck,
even AWStats. What they do is this: they give out the free
plugin (with a license that allows developer to modify it);
they sell addons to it (to the tune of $120 for all 8); then
they make you install these addons separately. In the end,
you have a jumbled-up bunch of 9 separate overpriced
plugins. What Keyword Swarm did was, it took WP
SlimStat’s available code and re-developed all the plugins
That it had, into a single tool that doesn’t require $120 or 9
Separate installations / uninstallations.
Here is what your subscriber is talking about:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/slimstat/
Here is what your subscribers don’t know they don’t get
With it: http://slimstat.getused.to.it/addons/
I hope this clarified it.
Other Marketer:
Phew.
Ok, just to clarify then;
you
a) Have the rights to the thing that’s being sold
b) All that functionality is included
Vas:
I wouldn’t take a software off wordpress.org that is free
And sell it without proper modifications. That is why I
talked on the sales page and the video about how it’s the
most comprehensive of any other comparable tools out
there. Yes and yes.
Other Marketer: ok, perfect!
Vas:
The price will go up to $97 on Friday, just short of the
Preceeding $120 pricetag for all the plugins.
Other Marketer:
Got it, excellent news! Thanks for clarifying it.
Your missing the point. It does NOT matter if he changed it. You CANT take someone elses work and sell it as your own. Taking someone elses work. Adding to it a bit, but keeping the core of the work as yours is STILL stealing someone elses work. You cant do it. Its not allowed. Its theft. (its actually in the plugins copyright notice that they cant do this). No matter how you look at it. This guy STOLE someone elses work and passed it off as his own since the vast majority of this plugin is nothing more than SlimStats rebranded.
Notice this guys only justification is “I changed it”. So what? This is someone elses work. Someone who clearly does not want you stealing their code and selling it as yours. Even Vas himself does not deny that he took someones work without permission and sold it. Hes just trying to justify it by saying “But I made it better”. Thats insane. I cant take a Stephen King book add an extra chapter at the end of it. Give it a different name. And then sell it as my own work. This is no different.
Incidently. Since this guy DID NOT have permission to do this. Everyone who bought from him is screwed because they technically have and are using an illegal pirated copy of someones work.
Some people are obviously idiots or tools.
Maybe I’ll run down to the Chevy dealer – change the tires and face plate on a Vette to Ford Swarmer and try selling it as my own creation.
Might do the same thing with Microsoft Office… change it to something else, sell it as my own after switching out the logo and see how that goes.
Frickin thieving idiots.
Andrew
I am not discounting all that you say. I must admit, I sort o feel duped.
It doesn’t seem right to me that you can copy someones work but add a few extras and make it your own. However, we all see this every day in almost every thing. For example. how many information products have you seen that cover the same topic with the same exact information, sometimes with the very same structure and words, or with just a few changes and some original input. Heck, isn’t this why PLR sales are so high? Aren’t numerous fictional stories created by using the same theme or story template, with original input added. Isn’t all knowledge, regardless of it’s form or how it is manifested, in some way based on existing ideas and what came before. We all get ideas from others. Is that stealing? Some say yes, some say know. Or, what about any product that is patented, where a competitor makes a simple hardly noticeable design change, and it is viewed as a completely new and different product and as I understand it, perfectly legal. I see this every day, and witnessed an example of this firsthand. All a patent does is give you the right to defend your design or function in court. If you are unable to afford to do so, or you are unable to show significant loss or damage, and if they deem the new product different enough, you the original creator lose. I admit, I am no expert on any of this legal stuff, however, I would agree that legal or not, there is definitely an ethical question to be answered when this occurs. If the creators of WP Slimstat feel they have been wronged, then they certainly can file a lawsuit to see what the court says. I for one, would like to know the answer from the legal system. Look forward to your further thoughts on this topic in general.
Im sorry your comparisons are not even close.
“Heck, isn’t this why PLR sales are so high?”
The SlimStats plugin is not PLR. This has no relevance.
“Aren’t numerous fictional stories created by using the same theme or story template, with original input added”
This is actually fine. But its not the same as what Vas did. Vas copied word for word. He used the EXACT code. A better comparison would be what I said. If I took say ‘Pet Cemetery’ by Steven King, changed the last chapter to have it end different or added a chapter and then called it my own book. Just the concept that this would not be stealing would be laughable.
“If the creators of WP SlimStat feel they have been wronged”
Oh they do, they actually have a notice in their plugin warning people about their code being pirated in Keyword Swarm. ‘Pirated’ is their word. id say they are a little unhappy. I hope your not implying an attitude of ‘if you dont like it sue me’ though. That would not be very nice.
Everyone who bought should also feel wronged since you bought something that was not legal in the first place. If I stole a car and then sold it to you would you feel wronged? This is what Vas did. He stole someone elses code then sold it to you. If your fine with that and are fine with using stolen products then this entire article has no relevance to you. If your not then you got screwed. Thats really all there is to it.
No, I don’t think “copying” anything verbatim is right, nor should it be taken lightly. I also do not subscribe to an attitude that encourages more lawsuits. I don’t understand how copyrights work but it is sad to me how easy it appears to be for one to go around a patent without recourse. It may be that Vas has created a much better product for less. However, it does seem clear that he should have had enough respect to write his own original code, along with the additions. If he did not own the rights to use the existing free WP Slimstats code, then it would seem that he has definitely done wrong, whether he added more code and functions to it or not. I believe he had a right probably to use or borrow the idea of what the software does to create his own software and add to it though, but this does not appear to be what he did. As you said, it would seem that he did much more than to borrow an idea.
OH LOL .. I just had a 2ND look at the Keyword Swarm code. This is awesome. All those “extra functions” that Vas claims he added to the free version of SlimStats. He didnt write them! They are the extra plugins that SlimStats offers.
Here is what Vas did. He took the free version of SlimStats.
He bought the extra plugins that SlimStats offers
He put them together into 1 package. (the free version and the extras, neither of which where his at all) and then sold them under his own name.
So basically his theft was even worse than I thought.
OMG! Why would anyone do such a stupid thing? Did he really think that a software developer like yourself would not be able to see through the fraud. How blatant and wrong! He duped all of us! I am requesting a refund now, as I don’t want any part of this! Thanks for looking out for us Brett!
Yea I put a screenshot of some the the “Keyword Swarm’ code up in the main article.
Denis, you’ve already been refunded. Brett, if you’re going to blog about product reviews, and if you’re going to do somewhat of an “investigative journalism” approach, why not do a Skype interview with me and ask me questions about product creation / programming / marketing / whatever you want? I am STILL yet to receive an invitation to come on your site, do a live hangout, or anything like that. This has confirmed my suspicion that you are interested in biased product reviews (high emotion gets high traffic, I know) more than you are interested in getting to know the product. Any reader who seeks the truth will realize that the software has been off sale for 2 days before you blogged about it and in general your audience hasn’t seemed to side with you much. I have no further comment on the matter.
Vas, Im not sure what your going to do on a Skype chat besides try to justify how its ok that you stole someones code. I mean it is 100% for sure that you did steal code. Honestly your just going to make yourself look worse if you try to justify it. But if you really want a Skype interview we will have one. Sent you an email just now requesting Skype credentials. As for my readers. Well first there is no ‘side with me’ because I have no side. I will say though, while a few people seem to either be confused about you stealing code or dont care most understand how bad of a thing this really is.
I used 2 have the old one but then I got the new one and I’m glad I upgraded. the free one would display PHP errors and my host said it crashed my mysql once. Keyword swarm doesn’t glitch and has more features. I don’t want nothin else
Well Brad so long as your ok with knowing that you bought something from a guy who actually stole it from someone else thats cool I guess. I personally would never buy anything that is stolen, but I fully understand that some people dont have any moral issues with being a thief or being a party to theft.
This is a personal choice that each of us would need to make.
Thanks for the heads up… just refunded!
FYI – I have been refunded – thanks