@LawrenceMMiller Thank you for the detailed response! I appreciate it very much. Allow me to try to explain my questions further. 1) No, I literally didn't know what the pay structure or changes were. I searched the site and googled it and came up with rudimentary information. The link you shared clears it up for me, and it now makes a lot more sense. You are right. People will complain about all the changes over the years and a business is going to move forward and do what is best for its growth. I am not blaming any business for it. We have seen YouTube make many changes over the years too. Do I agree with the changes? No, not all of them. But it's not my website. If I want a YouTube with my rules, I need to make one. Having said that, I am still not a fan of when I publish courses it gives them permission to "alter" said course to some small degree. But that is the price I pay for accepting the terms. If I don't like it, I can take my business and courses elsewhere. 2) Yeah, I haven't wasted any more thought about it than when I wrote the question to you. I have heard differing reports on it and many of them were not positive. So, I am glad you said something about it and explained it would be beneficial. I asked because I honestly wasn't sure how good those affiliate programs/deals are. In other forums or when the "so-called" experts contact me personally, they will insult that part of Udemy and Udemy itself. And by so called experts, I mean people who promise easy, passive income making six figures (or sometimes they say millions) if you sign up for their program on how to create courses. Now, not all of those people are shady or full of crap, but many are. In fact, I have talked to some very forthright and open people who were trying to get me to buy into their "program." But I have also been doing this thing for well over a decade. Telling people to design a course in 28-90 days is not a good idea if it's their first course OR if they have no background at all in teaching. But I digress there. 3) Yeah, I don't have any leads or a list I can use to market to - I would have to build that up as I go. I think there I meant more in the actual course video itself. You can create free portions of a course. Can you say "I prefer if you subscribe/pay via my personal invitation, but you are welcome to sign up any way you choose?" 4) Well, if stands to reason if you have talked to the CEO and others personally, then you would have a different perspective on the site for sure. I am not suggesting they are being deceptive or anything. They aren't. And to Udemy's credit, a general search on different browsers when I am signed into one and signed out of another gives me the same search results. However, there is a hierarchical structure to what they show first and suggest. I am not saying I blame them for it. Obviously, it is best to put the high rated courses first. But I don't know if I personally would refer to that as "organic." The marketplace insights are nice, but not quite detailed enough. I'd prefer more information when I search for something. I'd like to know how long some courses have been on the market, not when last updated. Those are just small quibbles I have with the data they offer given my background. And if you do have more of a direct line to Udemy's CEO or people in charge, then I would love to talk to get to talk to them some day. I have ideas. I know many people have ideas, but mine come from a certain industry. 5) That is great you have been here so long and found success. I am glad to hear it! I see a lot more people trying to market other sites for a variety of reasons and it never quite the best sense to me - but then again, these people want to create a Udemy course and charge $1500-2500 USD for it. I don't think I even need to get into what those issues are. Thank you for sharing that data. I will look at your instructor profile and the other relevant information. I appreciate your time, energy, and positivity in your response to me. If my post came off overly negative in tone, it wasn't intended to be that bleak or whiny.
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