demographics - discussion

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Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 3:17 pm

Just some topics, which crop up in my mind from time to time when I'm not busy at work

has any work/discussion been undertaken to assess the locality, age, sex and first language of our community?

Could such a study lead to better marketing focus in areas where baiters are acting alone without the support of a baiting community?

Is language expansion a long term goal for 419eater?

Are there any techniques (excluding spamming!) or skills which we employ as baiters, which could be turned toward marketing scambaiting in other countries or in areas which are known to be demographically net savvy, yet do not have many baiters? - I'm thinking of China as a prime example.

Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:19 pm

I believe there was a poll asking how old we all are. Most people here are so ingrained in lying on the internet that I doubt the results would be very accurate.

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:05 am

^^^
I told the truth! (have since turned 49)

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 1:03 am

Only being new here, I have wondered this myself. Reading between the lines there seems to be a lot of Aussies here.

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:46 am

Deleted my corny post. Laughing

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:23 am

I was thinking more of perhaps confirming or deconfirming the rough information supplied at somewhere like http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/419eater.com,

And then working out how useful that information could be (if accurate) in bringing more baiters - hence more awareness of 419 scams.

Particularly interesting is the linking-in info and the click stream info. If that could be addressed to factor in a few non-english language sites, via loose affiliation - banner space - viral marketing - cross site posting - etc (provided that both parties were in agreement) the 419eater network could be greatly strengthened.

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:39 am

battery, Those are really good ideas you have there. Anything that
can be done to strengthen the position and presence of our scam - baiting site. What you said re: 'Net savvy yet lack of baiters in China for example.

Let's see, we have the "scamwarners.com" sister site. Germany has "Scambaiter-Deutschland" and France has "Mes Amis Les Cyber-Arnaquers". We are allied with Artists Against 419, yes?, and the mysterious Alan. Other sites have links, I counted and one site had nearly 55 links to other scambaiting sites.

If you think a demographic study by gender, age groups, and geography of the membership would be helpful ? That seems a large project not unlike the US Census that was just done. All else is guesswork, conjecture, gut feeling and appearance. (My 2 cents)

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:21 am

^^ I told the truth too on that age poll!

Re what Mr Scissorkick said about the results maybe not being that accurate - I would have thought that if such questions as battery mentioned were asked of members for the purpose stated, then most if not all members of the forum would answer truthfully (especially if it was done in a confidential anonymous way for those who maybe don't feel comfortable revealing personal info) because we are all here to fight the good fight against scammers.

Just a thought, maybe the questions could be asked as part of the registration process?

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:58 am

Asena- as part of registration. That would be okay for the future, I was thinking how do we take a poll from all exisiting members, retroactively. And I'm OK with stating my age, gender, and country.

This would probably not be a thread. Have a Moderator tally the results??
PS off-topic, Asena, you were in on the massbait of hitlad Gunshot as I recall? Good times. ahhhh, fond memories. Cheers then. Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:00 pm

I don't think it's neccessary to take a pol among users. Alexa has pretty good data trailing for one year or more already. It has this to say:

Quote:

419eater.com is ranked #68,905 in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. Search engines refer about 24% of visits to the site. Compared with all internet users, the site appeals more to men; its visitors also tend to consist of childless, both high- and low-income users under the age of 35 who browse from school and home. Roughly 42% of visits to the site are bounces (one pageview only). Visitors to 419eater.com view an average of 6.0 unique pages per day.

I would debate the ratio between school and work - I think lots of people here log on at work from time to time, although this may be an error in the predominant age vs log in times.

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:20 pm

I would say, simply by looking at the bottom of the Index page over a period of time, that the majority of our regular users are employed and tend to browse from work.
Week-ends and out-of-office hours tend to be quietest (factoring in time differences).
Because they have the ability to browse at work, it would suggest that most here are white collar/professional workers.

Here is the poll referred to in the earlier posts:

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=184122

As stated though, it's probably innacurate. I put my age down as 16-19 when I'm really only 12.

Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:49 pm

Interesting. Saying which country I'm in would be no problem, or sex, but how far do we want to drill down - all the states in the USA. Australia's a big place.

I think if information could be used to help widen the net of scambaiting I'd be all for it, so we can look at plugging the gaps, so to speak.

Just as the lads have contacts all over the place so they can pass travel on through a chain, or pass scams round a group, it would be interesting to see if networks could be set up to pool information that could be passed on only through password protected contact trees, and again, anonymously.

The biggest problem I can foresee is making sure we know who we're passing information to - lads dressed up as scambaiters would be hard to identify unless one only includes those with for a record of proven scambaiting activity and not include anyone who has been around for under a certain length of time.

Just me thoughts. Razz

Be gentle on an old gal of 108.

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:00 am

So I went back and answered that "how old are you" thread in General Chat. I'll say here too. 57, male, California, USA, retired, ties to the East Coast (D.C. and Maryland) where I was born and raised.

Sadly, unlike Cathartic Kate, I am the only scambaiter in my family.
Kinda feels like being an only child. Sad

yeah, right. Somebody's got to do it. Wink

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:12 am

I have a couple of friends I've gotten into baiting, but overall the reaction has been that I have some bizarre hobby for weird people.

I'm a college student, by the way - UW '13.

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:51 am

Hmmmm............not to give away much info:

Father, mid-40's, unemployed for the moment, East Coast US, likes beer.

The rest is my business. Smile

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:12 am

slightlyoutofit wrote:

As stated though, it's probably innacurate. I put my age down as 16-19 when I'm really only 12.

So how many years is that in squirrel years? Lots, right? Razz

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:06 am

I should have written I'm 8. (In dog-years)

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:31 am

Wouldn't that make you just over 1 in human years, though?

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:35 am

@ Poor Brainiac. PMing ya fosteration applies, or maybe consider "κλῶνος" - ya never alone with a clone.

Wink

Only kidding about (cough) alleged Granddaddy, but my eldest dog (Sibirskiy haski) does share the same name and has just turned 18 in human years.

I have noted many a Russkiĭ poppin in, but sadly most seem to then popov again.

Rolling Eyes

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:22 am

The only demographical classification that matters here is whether you are in the cheese camp or the cat camp.

Except for me. I like cheesy flavoured cats so have my own special classification. Smile

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:26 am

I don't mind giving away some info...
Just turned 30, work, male, located in the South Eastern US. I like candle lit dinners at home and have an extensive Precious Moments collection.

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:46 pm

Cheese or cats? But .. but .. can't I have both? Or is that too much personal information.

I love cats. All cats. I love cheese. All cheese.

There. I said it.

I'm not really 108. And that's enough personal information for the time being.

Master Baiter Joined: 06 Jan 2010 Posts: 154

27/M/UK, spent many years in Germany.

As for cheese or cats, I'll have a cheese-covered cat thanks.

419Eater is my life Joined: 31 May 2010 Posts: 255

It's a tragedy. I'm Swiss and I don't even really like cheese. Except Emmental. (There are different kinds of Swiss cheese btw)

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:45 pm

^ I'm right there with you, plenty of Swiss blood, not much interest in cheese, although the chocolate and lederhosen are always fun.

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