First clue: “to edify” someone does NOT mean to “glorify, extol, exalt, worship, revere, reverence, venerate, pay homage to, honour, adore, thank, give thanks to, laud, magnify, ennoble, elevate, dignify, enhance, augment, promote, praise, celebrate, lionize, acclaim, applaud, hail, glamourize, idealize, romanticize, enshrine, immortalize” or any similar expression.

Second clue: “to edify” actually means to “educate, instruct, teach, school, tutor, train, guide; enlighten, inform, cultivate, develop, improve, better, uplift, inspire” or similar.

Does that sound like something you’d try to do to your upline? Or that they’re likely to appreciate from you?

So how did this distortion of the real meaning come about?

I can find no definitive explanation, but there are some clues, such as this one: in Latin, the original meaning was “to build up”. Hence terms like “edifice” (a building). In reference to people, the meaning was to build up your audience in terms of enlightenment, insight, understanding and generally to raise their awareness and perceptions of the topic under discussion. In other words, to lift them higher so that they could see the bigger picture, and become enlightened and inspired.

But somehow, whether by misperception or deliberate distortion, the meaning became twisted to mean “building up” a person in the eyes of others so that they became “glorified, extolled, exalted, worshipped, revered, reverenced, venerated, paid homage to, honoured, adored, thanked, given thanks to, lauded, magnified, ennobled, elevated, dignified, enhanced, augmented, promoted, praised, celebrated, lionized, acclaimed, applauded, hailed, glamourized, idealized, romanticized, enshrined, immortalized” etc.

In other words, instead of the leader actually doing the edifying (of their followers), they became the object of “glorification” etc.

Does that sound familiar to you?

Does it make you wonder how that “mistake” came about?Are there other words that could be applicable here, such as “self-aggrandizement” (the action or process of promoting oneself as being powerful or important)? Or did someone misread or misspell “edification” as “deification“? (From deify — verb: worship, regard, or treat (someone or something) as a god : she was deified by the early Romans as a fertility goddess.

So can we please get the REAL meaning of this verb right, so that we no longer paint ourselves publicly as either illiterate or ignorant (if we don’t know the correct meaning) or deliberately deceptive (if we do know)?

“Here’s the deal: You kick in $5,000 because you like to give gifts. You’re that kind of woman — generous, powerful, accomplished.

“You become part of an exclusive, by-invitation-only club with like-minded women. As a new member, you know your money will go to the woman at the club’s top level. But you’ll eventually work your way up to the top level and get money from people who come in after you. The problem is that to many people, it sounds like a pyramid scheme.”

In this article by ALAINE GRIFFIN, published in the Hartford Courant on July 16, 2011, and in other articles published by Nehra and Waak, attorneys specializing in MLM, in their newsletter Business Associate Advisory, published 26 July 2011, the seemingly perennial issue of gifting programs is explored in detail — and the usual conclusion drawn: they’re pyramid schemes and they’re illegal, despite what the promoters and participants claim.

Read the complete newsletter here…

I’m not currently affiliated with any network marketing companies. I’m focusing instead on training and support for network marketers everywhere, especially through my FREE Coaching Online service and my PearlMaker Sponsoring System.

Why have I withdrawn from active involvement as a field leader?

The simple truth is my health. Or, rather, my ill-health.

I suffer from several progressive, degenerative — and incurable — neurological disorders, seemingly related, although there’s no conclusive proof at this stage — and I can no longer rely on being available for my downline team members.

That’s not fair to them, so I stopped sponsoring some time ago and concentrated on providing training and support for network marketers everywhere.

It frustrates and disappoints me, but there it is. It’s a fact of life and I have to live with it. Happily, I’m not affected by depression or pessimism. I’m gradually adapting to this new reality. Life is always full of opportunities. The glass is always overflowing.

I still believe fervently in the concept and principles of network marketing. And I’ll continue to be outspoken in shining a bright light on the self-defeating abuses and deceptive practices that sabotage so many people in network marketing.

Nothing.

I can find no common thread linking these people. Nor can I find any other kind of reason, such as me joining a new social network, forum or other online community.

That usually tends to lead to one conclusion: someone with more time on their hands than sense has decided to play games, either to make mischief or for some more nefarious agenda. There has been such a steady barrage of new registrations around the clock that it seems clear that a script is involved. I thought of possible causes like the Blogger High Backlinks plug-in, but I disabled that weeks ago.

So I guess it becomes a waiting game, to see what happens next.

I’ve tightened Captcha settings and reduced the verification time for new registrations to 2 days only, so I’ll watch and wait to see what happens next.

The other thought that comes to mind is the fact that I boot and ban more than 30-50 forum spammers a day from a forum I moderate that, since I began trashing these vandals and idiots, has seen Google and Yahoo! spidering the site multiple times every hour.

Who knows? Time will tell.

*** Cliché Alert! ***