Long time, no write!

I've been pondering this whole Independent World going from a company to a community. I must admit, I'm kind of bummed. I enjoyed being an affiliate for them and I had a pretty many sales under my belt, which meant some extra cash for me. Not a lot, but hey, money is money!

What I am surprised about is that they are REFUNDING past customers if they decide to join the community by signing up on 2 sites as a referral. Personally, I think that is a dumb idea. People paid for their e-book and support. A whopping $12.99, I mean, that's NOT a lot of money for what was given. IW is run by a stay at home mom with 3 kids. She is in no way rich and whatever money she did make by writing and selling her e-book, she's going to lose. Businesses change direction all the time but they don't go giving 100% refunds! I'm just really shocked by this. I am not going to ask for a refund. I agreed to the terms when I bought the e-book. It has obviously been helpful to me and I know I can contact the staff at IW for help, so what's the big deal? I will still get access to the members section and members forum. The ONLY difference is that I don't have to join a GPT site under them.
I understand the line of thinking. If their members don't make money, they don't make money and they want to help their members. It's really no different than say, someone like me, trying to get referrals. This is just being done on a larger scale.
Yes, you can make a decent amount of money from referrals but that's only IF they actually participate on the GPT site. What if people join the sites required but just don't bother to participate? IW is now giving away their e-book, their services, etc and getting NOTHING in return.
Just stupid, if you ask me. But, who asked, right?