My position is simple: there are lots of folks in the startup ecosystem that are trying to help me in various ways. Many of them charge money. Good for them. Folks gotta eat.
Having said that, from my side (startup founder), the situation is very precarious. As entrepreneurs we are constantly swamped with pitches for various things to make our businesses successful. I know I've spent thousands of dollars on stuff that didn't do what I thought it would do. In fact, I've become quite bitter about all of it. When I think of all the money being spent by folks who are trying to buy success through tools instead of customer interaction? Makes me sad and angry.
But I think trying to name and shame is absolutely the wrong way to go about this. Most of these startup ecosystem folks mean well, and most of them have products that are well worth the money -- for folks who need the products. I think the real problem as entrepreneurs is that we are unable to recognize for ourselves whether we need something or not; so we buy too much. If we're too ignorant to know what to spend our money on, can't well blame others for selling us stuff.
So the answer here is educating each other, not going on some witch hunt for aggressive spammers (which is a separate problem). Let's continue to meet and share information on startups (which is why I'm here) and these other problems will work themselves out.