No, I am not complaining about anything I spent. It was just a thought that perhaps the length of time to learn from some instructors is motivated by cash and getting as much as possible for as long as possible. Guys that may in fact be considered top dogs in their art. And, I suspect that may have happened 100 years ago as well. People are people and things sort of stay the same in many respect through the ages.
I'll give my take on your last paragraph. You may be assuming that the online student has ZERO WC background and that may not be the case for maybe more than half that join. I'd suspect that maybe a third may have been studying for a couple of years. They should be able to ( hopefully) get and practice what is being taught. There is this idea that the only people who buy videos know nothing or never studied anything. I bet that's 10 percent of the market. Perhaps a 1/4 of the guys that may sign up have no interest in learning WC but have seen Ed videos and liked certain ideas that they can incorporate into their methods.
I to do not think a raw person will get much out of videos aside form what one may consider tricks. That may be enough for them but it is doubtful they will progress very far video only and should have some of to a lot in person training in what they want to learn if possible for as far as they want to take it. What Ed is doing is giving his perspective and ideas and methods of training and how he understands it and I think that is brilliant and more of you should do it. I love the idea that he may make this more of self defense aspects of the art and how to use it that way. Not that he will not venture into other territories but that's is a great place to focus. I have seen little self defense applications of WC that I would consider good usage. I have seen more fight videos and I love it when they are successful. I really feel that way about any art. All of them were meant to WORK !