Referral Scheme - is essentially a pyramid scheme...

Once everyone is referred phase 2 begins. Those with the breeder designation start creating new potential referrals. There is then an annual competition and those who have referred the most of the new wave of potential referrals get free icon packs while those who fail to refer are sacrificed at the Great Lignum Domum thus ensuring a bountiful harvest.

I think it's all in the terms of service.

I think there's a distinct difference between offering incentives to broaden customer reach and embezzeling money for supposed & ficticious long-term investment opportunities.

The pyramid schemes you refer to offered payments to members for introducing new members to the scheme. Both the original member and the new one had to pay to become a member. This practice is then repeated for layer after layer, with each payment being shared out by cascading down the pyramid at ever reduced %age shares. So, the one guy at the top gets 10% of the 10th row's total contribution, but the 90 people in the 9th row share 10% of the 10th row's contribution. (the numbers are just loose examples)

You rightly point out that once you've reached saturation, the scheme folds - it relies on continual growth to feed the belief and illusion that one day you'll get a return on your initial, and potentially subsequent, investment. Generally, that never happened.

In Treehouse's case you get free membership for introducing 5 new customers. They get the products and services they have paid for but you benefit from the free membership. There's no need to keep introducing new people to benefit from this and, if you're happy to pay the subscription, you get what you pay for. In a pyramid scheme, you buy into a promise that there's more cash to follow as long as you keep recruiting. The people above you make more money than you do, and you make more money than those below you. Certain utility companies utilise similar methods for customer acquisition but, again, the end-customer does get what they pay for so there's no scam.

COol... Thanks for explaining.. I didn't mean to put a damper on your scheme, just wanted some clarification..

pyramid schemes are a part of life bud