How Many Baits at Once?

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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:40 pm

Im sorry if this has been asked before. As im pretty new to things i wondered how many baits you guys have on the go on average at any one time.

Im feeling comfortable with 3 but i feel its not keeping me busy enought between baits, but i may feel out of my comfort zone with any more incase i cross my stories over by accident.

Thanks in Advance

Scambaiter_Ballsich

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:45 pm

This comes up every now and again. Personally, 3 or 4 is all I can do at a time. Some baiters do more, some less. Depends on your comfort zone.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:49 pm

It mostly comes down to time for most of us. I've had as few as 4 or 5 going at once or right now I've got a dozen. Only take what you can handle or are comfortable with.

I keep a notebook with notes on each lad so that I don't get my stories crossed. I do notice, though, that my lads are not active at all for a big chunk of the day (between about 10am - about 3pm my time which would be 4pm - 9pm there abouts their time) so I use that time to do other things in RL or for site killing research, though I haven't had much time for the latter.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:49 pm

Thanks Capone,

Makes me feel a little better an experienced baiter does the same amount as me. I thought you guys were baiting 10+ lads at a time! lol

Just whilst im only doing 2 or 3 replies a week per bait it makes me feel like im not doing enough. Suppose if one was to ramp up the pace having more than 3 on the go at once would start to get a little tedious.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:15 pm

I tend to run up to 5 when I can get that many, but I use the same character backstory on all of them which keeps it fairly simple for me. If I get one that's going to be a true adventure, I'll slow the others way down to concentrate on the advanced pounding being administered.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:16 pm

It really comes down to your baiting style and what you are comfortable doing. Typically, I will have 2-3 "main" baits going, plus a ton of others.

What's this mean? One is a Romance Lad and we're getting ready to celebrate our one year anniversary. I'm pretty certain he wishes we had never met. He gets one or two emails every day or two. There's another Romance lad that might get an email or two, perhaps some chat, once or twice a week. Both of these Romance lads are being "mass baited" by a number of baiters. He is kept busy. I also have one lad that I'm working with a High Volume Piggy modality. He requires just a bit more time.

Then there are ASEMs or random baits. I might have 20-30 of these going at a time with a strict plan of collecting bank accounts or just annoying the lad. I don't keep folders or files on them. They are all done through the same character and I have a backstory in mind. The emails are, almost, all answered at the same time with the same response. No matter what the lad writes. Much like they use their own scripts.

Pick what works for you. There is no wrong or right answer. Just do what fits into your schedule and comfort level.

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:32 pm

At the moment I have only one bait with several characters. But I also do a lot of phone baits. They are quick and short, so I can plan them in between if I have the time. I try to collect accounts and close webshops and phone lad mail accounts. Instant lad pain Smile

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 13 Jan 2014 Posts: 698

I've learned the lesson of not taking on more than I can comfortably handle. I was baiting as many as 30+ at a time a few short months ago (I had thirty characters, each with their own email addy).

Result was a case of burn-out. It took a period of drastic re-organisation and clearing-of-the-decks. I'm now down to three Romance lads and two reverends I'm aiming to get on safari, plus a few loan lads and a lottery lad (although I think he's taken a hike) who get treated to a series of ready-made scripts I keep stashed away in Google's Canned Responses add-on (find it in 'Settings - Labs'). The reverends and the romance lads also get scripted responses that I store in Google Drive or Google Keep (available in Google Apps).

Yes, SB - take your time to become familiar with the practice. If my experience is anything to judge by, resist the temptation to jump unthinkingly into mass baits and piggie hunts when you already have more than enough going and don't be shy of passing some into the surplus scam letters forum.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 12:21 am

SB-you're welcome. I also have at least 2 mass baits where I'm playing very minor characters . These are actually pretty easy because responses are required once or twice a week.

If a bait gets hot or you're on safari watch, to see if the lad will travel, then the time commitment increases. When Juan and I were doing the US Safari, I had only one other bait and even that got occasionally neglected. Safaris in West Africa were hard because of the time zone issue.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 1:35 am

My comfortable level is about 30 - 40 at a time at various stages, but they're all straight baits and use scripted replies and most only last a week or so until I get a Closed lad accounts

and drop them, although some come crawling back weeks or even months later.

Master Baiter Joined: 07 May 2014 Posts: 206

it really dependS, when my RL is busy I tend to have less. I have 2 long term ones I am working on with two more picking up. I alsohave two lads who come and go. So six at the moment with a new one I started yesterday (See where it goes)

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:22 am

One of the great things about this hobby is that it's flexible and so easy to tailor it your own schedule and workload. Experiment a bit and see what number of ongoing baits suits you. You'll soon find your comfort level and as and when your free time changes, you can adjust your baiting level to go with it.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 5:05 am

Chiming in with Drusilla above - my work fluctuates between "moderately busy" and "holy cow, am I going to survive this?" so during the "moderately busy" times, I will have 2-3 baits going, and during "holy cow" I will nurse along my one long-time bait because I have sandtimer hopes for that one. Hope that helps!

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 1300

I agree with all the other comments - do only as many baits as you are comfortable with and RL allows. Also it depends on the input the bait demands. Benin 'pay me now' lads get little more than a fake MTCN whereas romance and orphanage scams get the full treatment.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 8:36 am

I have about 10-12 active going but my style is incredibly slow - usually a week or more between emails. I'd say that only 2-3 of them are "primary" in the sense others have mentioned. T

To keep track of them: my character is the same, and behaves in pretty much the same way for all of the scams. Otherwise it just confuses me and I never remember which character is meant to be doing what. For a while I kept detailed records but this was far too much effort.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 11:33 am

I generally have 6-8 going at any one time. Sometimes I have more than that if a bunch of lads send me their formats unsolicited at the same time, especially because I never drop lads until they stop responding to me. Of those 6-8, maybe 3-4 have long term potential, and I start introducing other characters and more unusual elements into those baits after a month or two. If I think the bait is funny or interesting enough, I start a thread for it. Right now I have 2 of those, and also 3 mass baits I am part of.

My style is pretty slow, I usually wait a day or more to respond after each email the lad sends me. So I don't really get overwhelmed by the number of lads, because I can simply wait a little longer to respond. Like firehouse, my main character stays consistent between all of my baits, because that makes it much easier to remember what I've told the lads.

Of course, all of this takes second place to my site killing efforts. That is definitely my primary form of anti-419 activity, and the area where I do the most damage to the lads. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 12:08 pm

I used to juggle a half-dozen at a time, but at times it would get confusing.

Now, I stick with two or three.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 12:37 pm

I can do loads if I have a theme.... e.g. Refugee Camps or Loan Lads because it's pretty much the same. Get an email, send a short, missing the point enquiry, move it along etc...I do like though to report to SW even if I don't bait them to an end result.

FB Romancers are tedious but amusing. I have 3 on the go right now but only 1 is prolific. One I have divorced and there are a couple who I have has friends who haven't responded yet.

I am a fairly plain baiter. Not got to the level of finding websites. Will kill them if I come across them but this is an area I'd like to go in. I love seeing them go.

Then when RL gets in the way it's all pared back. The short answer, as many as you can manage and enjoy at the same time. There's no right number.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 1:22 pm

This is what I suggest to my Mentees:

Quote:

Within a week you should have about 4 Lads on the go and unless you have lots of time, reply to each one only every 2 days or so. If you lose one, pick up another.

*** NEVER PIN ALL YOUR HOPES ON ONE LAD *** That’s how we lose new Baiters. Having 4 on the go gives you a few Lads to focus on.

Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 1:44 pm

Thank You Monsignor..... yes, my Mentor said similar to me and it's such a succinct way to say it.

Start like this and you find you can have more going on as it's crept up on you.... then you get hooked and lose all your 'me time'. It all becomes 'lad time'.