I have been doing a variety of internet-marketing for some years now, making a little bit of money here and there, and learning a lot.
Recently, I found some good info (as well as having changed myself considerably, due to advanced self-development work) and discovered that I could write sales-copy that makes a profit, so a few WSO's later, I found one which was "catchy" enough to make a consistent (although small) profit (converting at 4.1% as a WSO, with cold traffic).
So I have made a little money, built a small list, and am currently in the process of launching the same product at, hopefully, a bigger scale. I've created a JV page with banners, email swipes etc. (with some help from someone else), and am in the process of contacting lots of potential affiliates to see if they want to promote my product. Since I've been giving some advice which others have appreciated, on the relevant forum for a while, I am getting some positive comments and hopefully some list-owners involved.
Others are saying "that's not the right way to do it", but, as you say, some reactions like that might mean I am doing something right , and this time, I am getting some interest, which is better than my attempted launch a few weeks ago just by announcing on one of the relevant sites (which got a few affiliates but zero sales), and the one before which never happened because the guy who I'd paid to help me, communicated ever more slowly and then not at all!
But still, I'm learning, and making progress, and getting a few positive responses this time, so will hopefully have a decent amount of sales, which would be a nice step forward for me.