Platinum Knowledge Prompts Protests

A large portion of University students (and some staff) have recently been on the receiving end of a bizarrely worded email advertising a new website called “Platinum Knowledge”. The mail, subject-line “Extended Reading”, includes a comprehensive collection of buzzwords and motivational sounding sentences that have left many students baffled as to what the website actually does.

What if you could optimise your chances of success, in fact even better, optimise all areas of your life?

The email that many students received. Click to enlarge

Within minutes of the mail being sent round, commenters on Facebook were busy complaining about unwanted spam and the lack of clarity about what people were being asked to sign up for, beyond a few meaningless phrases about “optimisation”. The Facebook page description now reads “A map to world class resources. Alter your trajectory in life by optimising every area of it. It’s vague now. But will be crystal clear at launch (early 2013).” in an apparent attempt to address some of these concerns. One commenter summed up the marketing attempt as:

How exactly do you expect anyone to put faith in your ‘research skills’ if you can’t even use them to build a promotional campaign that doesn’t piss everyone off?

The full Facebook furore can be viewed here (including statements from the owner of Platinum), as it has since been removed from the group. We understand that since this has happened the student responsible for the email has possibly been contacted by University staff for breach of usage policies.

The email which was sent from the company was not only received by students, but also academic staff and emeritus professors.

While this is sorted out, we’d be delighted if anyone could tell us what the heck this website actually does (or will do). Suggestions and comments welcome!

The student responsible for the email was contacted but no reply has been received.