Why do you bait?

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Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:19 pm

Late night comedians spend millions of dollars on joke writers and
are not as funny as what the lads write for free.

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:30 pm

At first I liked the soap opera like entertainment value of a daily continued bait running for weeks and then for months but i spent my first half year here with reading only and it was half a year full of pleasure and ideas. Then along came the lad who was made for me, who liked forms, then came the love chatting (which by now has ceased almost completely). Then came the "cross-baiting", i.e. one bait fertilizing the other, leading to nice mugu weddings (wooha, I was in heaven during these weeks). Then a few trophies came in like a pile of happiness. Working together with others was also most educative. Somehow then came along the organizing work for others rather than doing things myself, first mentee, than another one, etc etc.Then there is Dan´s radio show. He is such a good lad caller. Then the Eater U idea. Today i write more about baiting and write more PMs and chat more than I do actual fun baiting, must be a phase or something, or some kind of development. I know this has been discussed repeatedly elsewhere here.
I have always been doing more reading than doing myself.
The main thing that changed, from simply taking lads not seriously, I have come to hate them.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:05 am

Tsnerd wrote:

If baiting causes these horrible, ethical issues within you, go off and learn macramé.

But then the steely-eyed geeky warriors would have to duel with the evil, wool robbing kittens.

And that is just stupid.

Oh, in which case the safe bet is putting your money on the kittens...

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:26 am

OK, so why do I bait? How did I get into this?

I had first heard of the 419 scam in 2001, thru a company newsletter that said that the scam took the form of the "over invoiced oil contract" scenario, and that getting involved with these guys was very dangerous. One of my co-workers had gotten such an email at work, while I for some reason missed out. I thought nothing of it until a year or so later when my turn came.

Well, I was mad at the bastards for sending that to me. I found myself wanting to "fix their wagon" somehow, but there was that warning about people being murdered so I held my fire. More letters started rolling in, and I found myself researching this scam.

I learned then that there were "scambaiters". I lurked in the forums for a long time, reading what the others were doing. I'm one of those who likes to research things before taking the plunge. After about six months or so I decided to start baiting. This was in August of 2003, so my five year anniversary as a baiter is coming up.

I did this off and on for some time. I finally got more serious about in 2005, and I was pretty much a lone wolf when it came to baiting. I eventually started reading the forums here, and realized that I still had some things to learn.

Now, why do I still do this?

That's a good question.

I think the primary answer to this is that I have this maliciious streak in me. I get something bordering on perverse pleasure when I pull a joke on someone who especially deserves it. That's been my nature for years. I get a big kick out of a good shenanigan/practical joke. With those that I know in real life, I never pull a harmful joke, but with lads, that constraint doesn't exist.

I enjoy the comedy that I get out of this. I get a kick when I get threatened with legal action on a check bait where it becomes apparent that the lads are going to miss out on payday. I simply love stringing them along. The psychological warfare aspect of this is quite fascinating.

I realize also that by capturing their attention, that I am consuming their resources.......resources that aren't going to a real victim. And, the other part is that I enjoy a good challenge, and it can be challenging to keep a bait going for several months. When a bait starts to drag on, I start counting how many days it's been, in order to smash an existing record.

It's a joy to get amusing voicemails on my K7 numbers. I get a kick out of the fake checks I've collected, the fake IDs, the fake passports, and the not-often-enough trophy photo.

There is no comedy club out there that can possibly rise to the level of the one that's here.

As long as there are lads, I'll keep doing this.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:39 am

I began after getting fed up with the effrontery of the standard 419 Nigerian scam letter. I started by sending their scams to each other and then engaging their ridiculous responses with insults. One day I searched the phrase "scam the scammer" and found Shiver's epic bait "Church of the Painted Breast". I laughed until it hurt and still couldn't stop. I still laugh when I think of Prince Joe Eboh.

Above and beyond the service that is provided to the public, I particularly appreciate the experience of sitting at one's computer and anonymously wreaking havoc in the activities of a ruthless criminal on the other side of the world.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:58 am

Why do I do it ?

.....because I'm an irritating kind of person (and good at it too) so, to save the masses of innocent people of the world, I needed to find a group of people deserving of my special skills. Very Happy

The bottom line is that they don't have to reply to me, but they can't resist and I can't be mistreating them (enough) because they always write back.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:14 am

Why do I bait? Good question.

I bait because there are thousands of people out there that are getting screwed for millions, if not billions of bucks a year. If we can put a small spanner in the ladworks and make their lives a bit of a misery, that goes some way to redressing the balance, although the words 'Canute' and 'King' sometimes spring to mind.

I bait because I hate lads arrogance, and the way they try and justify their miserable existence as revenge on the colonial greedy white man and the fact that they have no compunction in going to church on a Sunday to pray for more stupid magas.

I bait for the sociability of this site, which is both, serious and comical by equal turns.

I bait because it is the only hobby that I know where a talking horse can have a 'meaningful' conversation with a lad. Wilber!!!!

I bait because I enjoy receiving checks for thousands of dollars that could have gone to innocent victims.

I bait because just when I think I've seen it all the scumbags plunge fresh depths of depravity.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:17 am

It would be interesting to conduct a formal survey on baiter attitudes, but some of the things you would find, IMO:

Baiters are:

* possessed of a strong sense of justice
* intelligent
* irritable
* introvert
* realistic (as opposed to idealistic)
* intolerant of stupidity
* seek to improve the world, not content with the world as it is
* creative
* looking to contribute and do meaningful things

If a combination of those leads to "being angry at greedy thieving shitheads who abuse a resource to try and steal money and stick it in their own pocket" and "enjoy fighting back the only way possible, while finding an outlet for their creativity and anger", then I think you have a reasonable composite of the typical baiter.
Wink

Still, I could be wrong.

EDIT: ....and baiters are funny. You couldn't do this without having a well-developed sense of self-awareness, and hence, humour. Cool

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:36 am

I was robbed by a confidence trickster when I was younger and could ill afford to loose the money, it wasn't online, it was face to face, made me feel so stupid and upset with myself, wanted to find the guy and cause him some extreme physical damage if I ever caught him. good job for him that i never did, this is my revenge on people trying to do the same thing, except mugus are lazier and more cowardly than actually face to face.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:05 pm

Other reasons that I bait?

It's playing to my strengths (Wright B Hindyou, I fit your profile pretty closely) - and I get more praise and positive reinforcement here than I do at work. I feel that I'm part of something worthwhile and that a lot of others feel that way too.

It had to be said. You're a great bunch. Thanx!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:05 pm

I bait for a number of reasons.

Exclamation

I'm a closet sadist.
Exclamation

Because I can.
Exclamation

I can't afford decent drugs.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:14 pm

Yastreb wrote:

I get more praise and positive reinforcement here than I do at work.

I can even USE baiting for my work (making people fill out forms, err, exercises) Laughing

Quote:

I feel that I'm part of something worthwhile and that a lot of others feel that way too.

It had to be said. You're a great bunch. Thanx!

Who could ever contradict that! Very true Thumbs up

I am happy to be here.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:42 pm

For me, first and foremost, it is a noble thing to do. It makes me feel good. Second, third and fourth: It is fun, entertaining and it brings out a sadistic side in me that doesn't get exposed in RL.

Master Baiter Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 105

pure bloody mischeif is why I do it Twisted Evil

Never having been one to stray from the side of the righteous (in IT terms - I Used to be tech support at a couple of major UK companies, zero tolerance for black hats here), there is a certain appeal to keelhauling the kind of muppets who make problems with my more credulous friends who are unwise enough to end up with spambots/keyloggers etc... I guess I do it because the scumbags deserve it.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:43 pm

I couldn't have put it any better than WBY:

Quote:

Baiters are:

* possessed of a strong sense of justice
* intelligent
* irritable
* introvert
* realistic (as opposed to idealistic)
* intolerant of stupidity
* seek to improve the world, not content with the world as it is
* creative
* looking to contribute and do meaningful things

except I wouldn't describe myself as creative.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:57 pm

I'd go along with WBY's list, except that I don't think baiters are introvert. I would say we're all extrovert in an somewhat less than flamboyant sort of way (does that make sense?).

I'm not sure that "realistic" and "wanting to change the world" are compatible attributes, but I think I know what is meant here. Certainly I want to change the world, but I'd describe myself as idealistic - maybe "recognizing limitations" is a better way of describing my attitude than "realistic". Otherwise, it's a pretty fair description of me.

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:26 pm

I’ve been involved in sending miscreants on ‘wild goose chases’ for as long as I can remember. Years ago, a friend and I used to create havoc for a driver at a local taxi firm who had ripped us off badly. Every weekend, we would send him all over the area on ‘no pickups’, wait for him to return to the office, then ring and ascertain his opinions of us.

More recently, I turned my attention to unsolicited, nuisance telemarketing calls. I resent this intrusion into my home. I get the caller to call me back on my FlexTel no (at 40p/80c per min) and keep them talking at me (on my cordless speakerphone) for as long as I can. Meanwhile, I’m doing other things.

I have been receiving 419 e.mails since I first went online, and had previously just responded with abuse, and forwarded headers & body text to ISPs (if traceable). I always felt that there must be a more constructive way to respond. It was about 2 years ago, that I heard Mike on BBC Radio 4, talking about his book ‘Greeting$ in Jesus’ N@me’ (copy sat beside me as I type this). He alerted me to a group of people that I wanted part of. I remember being literally on my hands and knees, laughing uncontrollably at his ‘Arnie’ soundboard call with ‘Matins Davis’. I still have it in my music folder and play it every now and then.

I joined 419eater and quickly made my first bait. I have still to properly write it up, as there are virtually no e.mails, since it was almost all telephone-based. I was very surprised at how easy it was to get 2 lads to journey from London to York (200 miles each way), twice in 3 days.

Sadly, I had to stop scambaiting for over a year, but have recently felt able to resume. I have 2 on the go now. I’ll publish them when anything remarkable happens.

I do it for a few reasons; entertainment, enjoyment …………………… and - since I despise bullies - vengeance!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:55 pm

~ Wright B Hindyou,

Guilty as charged.

Why am I still doing this? because they assume I am stupid. Because they think I'm going to roll over and give them my money. because they don't care if I am seriously ill, or if my wife is unwell, or if I will be seriously harmed by their theiving. These are very unpleasant people. It's a good reason to be careful, and a very good rason to be very thorough when cornholing them.

Guest

I like being a jerk sometimes. I'm kind of good at it too. But most people don't deserve my abuse. 419ers do.