Australian newspaper article

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 62

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24642117-23375,00.html

Apologies if this has already been posted.

It kind of got my back up a tad.

Apparently, we are all geeky, racist homophobes who treat our lads no better than the prisoners at abu graib Shocked

I wonder if she feels as sorry for an old widow who has just lost the lot due to these scum.

I think a mass bait is in order Laughing

Elite Baiter Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 1269

I posted this same story in Main just now, but deleted my post after noticing your post here.

Darn ladhuggers...these guys haven't done any research on baiting at all. Rolling Eyes

I can't find a place to comment publicly so I'm going to email them: [email protected] If you email them, remember to stay polite and civil.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:20 am

OOOOOO!!! look Mavis, it's another one of them lad hugging journos, that really should have done more research and spoke to the victims and a spokesperson for this site.

I do like the digilante quote though. It makes me sound edgy and dangerous, Shocked

Makes a change from being called a dilatante, I suppose.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:12 am

I'd hope he's a better journalist than he is an immunologist, but his analogy sounds cool without being accurate, which pretty much sums up his journalistic style.

Having come a hairs breadth from losing my immune system last year I read up on the subject. I suggest he does the same about baiting too before passing comment.

Baiters do it better (than hacks). Cool

... and why pray does he quote British statistics ?

Are there no Australian baiters ? (we know otherwise) or Australian victims ? (we know otherwise).

Lazy journalis(m)t.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:21 am

Awwww, poor scammers.

Quote:

"what started out as a good-natured form of rough justice has become, in some respects, a theatre of cruelty".

Obviously he needs to acquaint himself with "dark humor" because I find this hysterical. Laughing

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:44 am

She needs to get off her damn high horse.

I guess the lads don't willingly send these pics. - She's an idiot and should spend more time researching the damage the scammers do to people's lives instead. Rolling Eyes

Quote:

Conning what looks like an entire village into posing with "arse bandit" signs seems to be taking things an Abu Ghraib too far

She clearly missed the tattoos. Laughing

Chuck Norris Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 1369

lotta wrote:

She clearly missed the tattoos.

That's what I was thinking. If she's upset by some signs how would she feel about the tats--or one of the wicked evil safaris? Shocked

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:52 am

Or the baaaaaad photos? We can blame NN for it, she/he talked me into going along with that. Wink

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 2:52 am

I hope someone points her to us, so we can have a pleasant talk. Smile

Not quite a Newb Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 62

^^^

I sent her an email. Amongst other things I invited her to join...

Quote:

They're a friendly bunch at 419eater. You should register and do a bit of baiting yourself, you may enjoy it. And you may save old Mrs. Smith down the road from getting her life savings taken from her.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:35 am

Quote:

Straight-baiters rarely get any nastier than childish sneering in their final "ha ha, I tricked you" message. But elite practitioners (or master baiters, as they like to call themselves) treat scam-baiting as an out and out blood sport.

[1] Who burns the Lads these days?

[2] The elite don't call themselves Master Baiters - do you NN, YW, Shiver and JJB and others?

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:29 am

Quote:

[2] The elite don't call themselves Master Baiters - do you NN, YW, Shiver and JJB and others?

Nope, we call them assholes these days, (well except for shiver, he still is a god to us Laughing

) and they love it. Wink

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:18 am

Well there was some fine words of balanced reporting. Describing us as;

"brutal underground warriors"
"ruthless"
"childish"
engaging in "blood sport"
"geeky"
"crass, cold-blooded and possibly even homophobic and racist"
Shiver got off fairly lightly as the "dark prince".

Gee, anyone else suspect that [email protected] is baiting us?

I get the very strong impression that this "learned journalist" considers that the scammers we target are solely purveyors of the greed-inspired NOK or dodgy funds transfer variety; pointedly ignoring the pet scams, payment reprasentative scams, adoption scams, lottery scams, craigslist scams, romance scams, etc..

I suspect that this person has got hold of a tiny, teensie scrap of a scambait epic and then tarred all baiters with the same brush. A pity.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:27 am

No doubt Emma will read this thread sometime later today.

I've sent her a note explaining one or two things including a link to this thread.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:53 am

Quote:

I suspect that this person has got hold of a tiny, teensie scrap of a scambait epic and then tarred all baiters with the same brush.

Of course she has -- she's a journalist.

I wouldn't get too upset over this, folks.

All publicity, even ignorant publicity, is liable to help our cause. We should be thankful she's even tried to tackle a serious subject, a major departure from her usual witless ramblings about the desirability of personal perforations and other similar topics of major import.... Rolling Eyes

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:29 pm

It refers to "The Atlantic" which led me to this.
www.theatlantic.com/doc/200706/cyberscam
Also somewhat hostile. It refers to scammers as "petty thieves", which is hardly an accurate description of criminals who are quite happy to take victims for everything they've got.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:06 pm

Well I defend Emma's right to shoot from the hip and spout complete and utter nonsense about topics she knows absolutely nothing about. I do it all the time. Wink

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 82

I guess I'd better stop now then before I get serious! Oh wait, I've just had an email from a mugu moaning the attachment I sent him was too big, hang on

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:33 pm

The only upset is that some journalist should make such sweeping comments based on such superficial knowledge.

There is a story - and we know that Australia has a specific problem with victims of 419 scammers - but this article appears to have been researched largely by use of Google whereas if the 'hack' had contacted the Australian authorities (with whom one of our members has contacts), then they may actually have written something of factual significance and relevance.

It's comic book journalism from a seat high atop Mt Olympus with a view clearly obscured by the clouds.

To aid future investigative google-based journalism may I recommend this link

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=28&ContentID=99972

It also provides some relevant facts and figures relating to Australia.

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:37 pm

Quote:

Emma thinks the world would be a more pleasant place if punters made an effort to disagree with each other more politely. She also wishes people would stop e-mailing her about her teeth.

Your world would be a much better place if you didn't call me a Geeky Cohort. Twisted Evil

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 82

Roycropper wrote:

Please don't quote whole posts - its messy and we can see the post above this one! Smile

- RC

I think she's cute

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:11 pm

I think she has nice teeth. I wonder if anyone ever told her that? I think I should write her an email... Laughing

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 82

Anyone had a reply from her? I guess it's pretty late over there now...

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

"Geeky cohort"? Eh, I've been called worse.

The article is really not that surprising. It's an opinion developed by a novice, who knows little about the damage these people cause.

I would encourage this young woman to do a bit of baiting herself. I'm sure an experienced person on this board would be more than willing to help her out (not jojo...not jojo....not jojo...) . Have her present her character as an elderly woman struggling to make the mortage payments and provide support to her husband who is undergoing cancer treatments. Or have her pose as a 15 year old runaway that has access to the money her grandmother left her. Or possibly a person sending in the house payment, with the understanding that if the money doesn't come quickly her house will be taken by the bank.

I'm not trying to sound crass, but I don't believe that a person truly understands the lads until that person baits a few lads. Emma suffers from the somewhat normal opinion that nobody could possibly be as cruel and heartless as the lads are.

The article was written not with malice, but with ignorance. Oh, and it's best to avoid the topic of the tats. Very Happy

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Posts: 90

Actually, I totally get that to someone coming in from the outside, some of the more extreme trophies (how do I put this nicely) look a little . . . racist and homophobic? I know there's a strict policy here about racism, but not all baiters live here, and it's not initially obvious (thus the posted, strictly enforced, and much appreciated policies on racism). And personally, I find some of the trophies uncomfortably close to GBLTQ phobia.

It would have been nice if the reporter had requested interviews here, and talked to some victims. (She didn't, did she?) It feels like the characterizations are off - it's not blood sport at all. The damage is 99% virtual, time-wasting activities, with people arriving in Abeche holding anti-Muslim signs a shockingly small percentage of the time.

Australian newspaper article	View next topic View previous topic