Regarding the "dispelling of the myth".

I've added a note to my previous post that me2everyone is currently in the progress of becoming a Public Limited Company. That is good news, because that would take away the dubiousness of the whole share issue (a Public Limited Company is allowed to give or sell its shares).

A me2everyone message titled "ARE WE AT RISK?"^[1] that was sent out 8th of March 2009 also correctly pointed out that as long the shares are not actually registered in your name (whether they are a Private or Public Limited Company), you do not actually own any shares and therefore have no liability. This is why they will be asking for people's actual names and address when their Beta launches (and by then they should be a Public Limited Company they say).

Edit: Before giving too much credit to them, their brochure still reads "Membership is free and every member automatically becomes a shareholder in me2everyone Limited".

Public m2e Forum - Yes Please!

There was one question along with this message that asked "Do you think we should have our own official m2e forum?" - Please do, and make it publicly accessible.

Why? Let's take this for example: Someone knocks on your house door and starts ranting "Hi! I'm John with the XYZ charity and we (long sob story here)... Would you like to donate?" If this is all that John tells you, would you hand him your money? Even without knowing if XYZ is a legitimate charity, if it is really doing the charity work this person describes, or whether John truly works for XYZ? (And unfortunately a lot of people would still say "yes").

Granted, me2everyone is not a charity, it's a company. But like the fictitious John described in the above example, me2everyone is vague at best. I honestly do not care if Mrs. Foers OBE, or Bill Gates for that matter, would be heading the company and passing out promises to free shares; if the company is vague about its business and leaves out important details, I simply cannot trust it.

So to clear things like that up, me2everyone should allow people to ask questions like "How is it that me2everyone can offer shares to the public as a Limited company?" and provide an official, public answers at an easy to find place -- such as that public forum for example. My2everyone should not have to "dispel the myths" when people are trying to figure the answers to these things on their own because they aren't provided by the company.

Here's some questions I would ask and see public answers to:

• What is (or was) Lorekai Limited' involvement with me2everyone Limited?
• Why is Lorkai Pte Limited located in Singapore, if it is basically the same company as its UK counterpart?
  
• Xen Academy spoke about compensating it members, perhaps in shares pro-rata their losses; did Xen Academy actually do this?

If me2everyone could "dispel" those myths as well, show an actual service / product and are registered as a PLC, I'd be a bit more inclined to sign up.

Why such questions?

Now why would one ask such questions? Would I ask similar questions when signing up for eBay or Facebook memberships? Of course not, because they are not giving me any shares when I sign up, and their products / services are well defined and available.

Shares are not to be taken lightly as they come with a lot more responsibility than presumed. Among the things is that dividends need to be declared. Taxes need to be paid on the dividends as well (and that's 22.5% after the 10% tax credit in the UK, depending on the income).

Also, the shareholder's name and address is on a on a register that can be inspected by anyone in the public. Section 116 of the Companies Act 2006 states that:

• A company’s shareholder register must be open to inspection by any shareholder free of charge, and any other person for a prescribed fee.
• Any person may request a copy of the register, or a part of it, for a prescribed fee.

Although one needs a 'proper purpose' when requesting an inspection of the shareholder register, the details (name, address, amount of shares) of shareholders with 5% or more shares (of the registered shares, not allotted shares) are published on the annual return. So even if a inspection request can be declined due to an 'improper purpose', the annual return cannot be declined.

By the way...

By the way, does AllAdvantage / AGLOCO ring a bell? me2everyone's members are producing enough spam, the same issues AllAdvantage had are looming. And its spin-off, AGLOCO, promised shares as instead of money, but it never delivered and closed shop.

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References:

[1] ARE WE AT RISK? - Posted at: http://www.talkgold.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245748&page=21