Prof, Yeawhatever & Jojo on the radio-This American Life

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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:38 pm

jojobean wrote:

As for those of you who voted for me... once I find out who all of you are, I can assure you that you will find yourself stredded in the hashest of conditions.

YW or Prof would never have said something like that .. ever .. Shocked

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:41 pm

When one of my teenage daughters was listening to the show, without knowing about this thread, she said, "man, are you guys a bunch of assholes." Laughing

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

Just listened to this recently -- very well done. Ira did a balanced job and other than repeatedly calling everyone "vigilantes" I didn't see an issue with his characterization.

Once again: GREAT JOB! Very Happy

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:42 pm

^ Makes no difference what the final tally is JJ. This is one poll where the total most definitely equals the sum of the parts.

I've listened to the podcast a few times, I reckon Ira wanted to burst out laughing really. He must have had his hand over his mouth. Every time one of you lot start to laugh so do I. Wink

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:05 pm

When I talked with him on the phone there were some things that he thought was pretty funny. I just think he thought the overall harm we tried to cause him was not too funny. He and his producer Sarah liked the part (not in the interview) when I told them how when Adamu asked for money in one of his more recent baits, I told him I sent it to a guy named ND. They really liked that.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:12 pm

I think Ira saw why it made an interesting enough story to spotlight, but I don't think he was really laughing at some of the stuff we did. I'm definitely glad it was Ira and the team he works with that brought this bait to the radio though. I really think they did a top-notch job at relaying it (especially in such a short time), and also in presenting the story at face value, and letting the listener decide for themselves what they think without subterfuge.

We have gotten some really great e-mails from listeners of his show, and we'll post some up soon. Also, that thread saw 20k hits in 12 hours today, and we can only hope that exposure of that level will undoubtedly save at least someone from making the mistake of engaging one of these scumbags. They definitely deserve a big thank you for the time they put into this.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:18 pm

Sorry I missed this thread, I've been looking after another for the last 2 days, anyway - I loved the story. It was really well done.

I found myself giggling when you guys did, and thought it strange that no-one else in the studio was just as amused. What really sold it was the re-bait of him. Just to see how low he would stoop.

Double thumbs up!

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:19 pm

Great listen. It was pretty funny when Ira would start reading bits of an email where Adumu was begging for help, and you guys would just start laughing.

Jojo is more mentally unstable than an asshole. I would have to go YW.

Who is the Prof? Confused

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:19 pm

Just curious... Did Ira pick out a post to read with the word streded in it, or did one of you guide him in that direction?

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:21 pm

Ira picked out all of the emails to read.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:30 pm

I learned that you can take some lessons about life from this too. I just recently made a big career move to a new city, and reasoned with my dad (Tuco on the forum), that if Adamu can survive in one of the most dangerous parts of the world then I can figure it out too. I told him I would give him a call if I ever got streded.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:34 pm

It's nice to know that "stredded" is now a household word, bringing families closer together (or farther apart, in this case). Laughing

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:57 pm

I forgot to mention. One thing that can really be annoying in both radio and tele reports is the unnecessary and at times intrusive background music.

But in this case they got it just right. There's one piece that gets played a few times, it sounds very much like the riff from Mission Impossible.

I don't know if that was intentional and they used it because they didn't want to stump up the performing rights bill for the original, but I thought it added to the piece. Very Happy

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 5727

^^^ Don't forget "run left." That one was my personal favorite, and, in my humble opinion, the height of assholiness (my new word for the day). Here's poor Adamu, thousands of miles from home, being held captive and treated like a dog by the terrible hand, and your advice to him is to "run left."

Perfect! Very Happy

I wonder how much weight Adamu lost during this whole ordeal. I bet you can market this as the latest diet fad. "Lose 50 pounds the easy way with the Chadian Diet! No exercise! No prepackaged meals to buy!"

You might have actually done Adamu some good. In the early photos of him he looked like he could stand to drop a few pounds.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:31 pm

"run left" is my favorite also. Laughing

Awesome!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 1

Count me as yet another TAL-er who found this place via my favorite podcast. I'll admit, I was torn between doubling-over in laughter and being kind of horrified. My boyfriend felt the same way.

In any event, I think that ultimately what you are doing IS a good thing and I'm glad that such attention was brought to scambaiting, and to a lesser extent, how people can actually get sucked into this kind of shit.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:30 pm

Welcome here bitchplease. Lots of us here have had grappled with the ethics of baiting. In general, the more exposure you have to scammers and the wreckage they can cause, the easier that dilemma seems to become.

I'm not sure if your "sucked in" comment is referring to scammers falling for baits, or victims falling for scams. In case it's the latter, we do occasionally get victims here who are not too embarrassed to post their stories. This one is kind of old, but it's a good read: Click

I'm always surprised by the perception that "no one would fall for these scams". If that were the case, our inboxes would not be flooded with scam emails, and scammers would find some other vocation.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:33 pm

Did anyone listen to the very end? They use the Chop U Dolla song and Crismon's call on there. Check out the last two minutes or so.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:40 pm

Good listen. Loved it!

Assholes aside, no one has mentioned the tail end of this interview. At the end when Adamu suspects Poncho Villa is the same "fraudstar" who strung him along in Chad, notice Ira's response: "When it comes to Adamu's bigger point, that everything that happened to him in Chad was at the hands of somebody exactly like himself, a fellow e-mail scammer...".

Is it just me, or is it almost like he totally missed the point of what we do here, by lumping in the scammers with the baiters..?

Comments?

Adamu's soulmate Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 337

Just heard the interview - absolutely brilliant well done - you were great.
I thought the interviewer was good and had researched well and was fairly even handed.

Who was giggling!!! Had me doubled up laughing.

Jojo I didnt vote for you - promise Smile

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:08 pm

Ira really has a wonderul way of sucking in the listener. He'll start with such a mundane sounding story then the old "and this is where it gets wierd".

Also his voice sounds like a nerdy guy who would wait on you at Best Buy, not the trained low toned smooth smarm lot of the NPRers use.

has anyone caught TAL on TV yet? I have no idea where or when it airs.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:10 pm

It airs on Showtime. I have not seen it, as I con't have showtime.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:15 pm

^^^^oh.

me neither. Sad

website looks cool tho.

Trophy Videos · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:17 pm

@Frozboz - Ira was just reiterating the scammer's view, that it was a fellow African scammer like himself who was doing it, not the three assholes here. He thought that only an African scammer would do this, but he didn't know why. I never occured to him that it was a bit of justice coming his way, because of his activities. And he went right back to scamming. He may still believe it was someone in Chad, who knows?

edit: I think YW was the giggler... Laughing

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:19 pm

^^^
Hopefully the dimwit has figured it out by now. We sent him the podcast. Laughing

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