Hey Nathan--Glad to see you over here. I know you personally and I know Patrick personally, and Patrick is definitely one of the good guys. I've been super impressed with him, having both worked with him (we both consulted at WP Engine at the same time last year) and on getting to know him on a personal level. As I mentioned in my other post on this thread, he got burned on consulting and is headed back into info products. He's not the "Internet marketer" type you and I are both disgusted with (the group we've both publicly disowned) at all.
Another way to think about this is that Patrick puts out an info product, and then runs customer development and marketing through blogging and podcasting.
(I am 100% guilty of patio11 hero worship and will continue to do so, as his post on salary negotiation has made me more money than everything else on the Internet combined.)
Part of the reason I'm offering my opinion is because of the hero worship that happens on this site. Sometimes opinions aren't as balanced as I'd like them to be.
I don't know Patrick personally, so I won't denigrate him for this approach, but I find this conversation quite disheartening.