RE: Did my newbie research
Hi Onthewayup514
Fews months ago, on this board I saw this article (Forgot to take the source) that help me to understand bashers. Hope it will help you to understand.
Basher
TodayI want to come clean about something I feel very badly about. I
cannotundo some of the things I have done, but hopefully this message
willprevent other such occurrences in the future.
I am apaid basher.
Yes,it is true. Today is my last day at this company; I'm moving on
to anew job. I've realized that there are more dignifying jobs out
therethat can pay me equally as well. But before I go, I want to
explaina few things because this just isn't right and I won't feel
goodabout myself until I expose this sham. It's hurt too many people
and Idon't want it on my conscience anymore. I can no longer live
with alie.
I workfor a company called Global Calumny Funds in Stamford, CT.
Basically,it's a Boiler Room much like the one in the movie of the
samename. The idea behind my group is to bash the price of a
company'sstock down low enough to where the group of investors who
retainedour company's services can buy the stock really cheap and
perhapseven take it over all together.
Thereare approximately 70 people at the company divided into several
groups.My group, consisting of 5 people, is responsible for IDWD.
WhileI probably shouldn't give any names of anyone working here now,
whatthe heck, I'm leaving here, so what can they do? sue me? Ha! I
cantell you that laptoptrader and janice shell were part of my group
untilhe left last week, as was ninaturtle. Others who have been part
ofthis include early bashers like hard data and Investorman. You may
beinterested to know that some hypsters, such as MONEYMADE and even
Datatech!!,have also been part of the scam (more on that later).
Thereare several companies engaged in the bashing business, ours is
notthe only one. However, I can tell you that not every basher in
hereis a paid basher. Having done this for a year, I can usually tell
who isa paid basher and who is merely someone
havinga little fun. While unpaid bashers have a different motive than
someonelike me, they can be unwilling accomplices to helping me
achievemy ultimate goal and they also spread rumor and confusion
throughouta room, which also helps me.
Whatis that goal? Well, I am merely a cog in a much larger machine,
so mybosses never really explained the big picture to me, but I'd say
essentially,Shaddowwatch2oo3 was right. There are several companies
whoare quite familiar with Jim Bishop and Janice Shell and who are
deathlyafraid of them.
Thereare three types of bashers here at Global Calumny Funds:
Advanced,Intermediate and Beginner. An Advanced-level basher (also
knownas a Silver Tongued Devil) would spread false or misleading
informationabout the company.
Theywould deal in facts, countering every longs post with articles,
newsreports and opinion surveys that gave a negative impression about
thecompany.
AnIntermediate-level basher (also known as a Serpent) would try to
weaseltheir way into the confidence of longs and create doubt using
rumoror innuendo.
Finally,a Beginner-level basher (also known as a Pitchfork) would
attemptto create confusion in the room by distracting other posters
withsatire, name calling and pointless arguments. The idea was to
makesure no serious discussion of the stock
couldtake place. A Pitchfork was usually a basher, but not always.
Sometimes,we would throw in a hypster Pitchfork such as MONEYMADE and
laptopand a pumper like Datatech to create the illusion of an
argumentgoing on. What was really funny (in a perverse way, I guess)
wasthat Datatech and I sat next to each other, laughing the whole
time.
I wasa Serpent basher, because I am known for effective bashing based
onsolid facts and truth. I was paid a base wage of $18 an hour for my
services.I was given a $1.25 bonus for every decent quality post over
100per day as well as a monthly bonus of $100 for every penny the
stockhad dropped from the previous month. I was also paid a bonus for
bashingon weekends. While this may not sound like much, I made a
decent,though dishonorable, paycheck plus a nice Laptop with free
wirelessinternet connection.
Eachof us sat in a small half-cubicle in a cluster with our
teammates.Each group (usually five people) was made of three
beginners(two who would bash and one who would hype), one
intermediateand one advanced level basher. Occasionally for some
of thehotter stocks, one of the beginners would be replaced by an
intermediatedepending on how much the stock was rising. IDWD was a
low-levelstock, meaning it got the 3-1-1 configuration.
Honestlythough, somehow, I get the feeling that WV Hillbilly may have
workedfor a basher company or knows someone who does because the fund
websiteshe occasionally posts is eerily similar to our employer's
websites.While not exact, I'd say it is about 90 percent the same. We
dohave certain rules that we follow.
First,we have to develop a character and stay within that character
inorder to build a "following." My character, "FogOfWar," wasa
humorous,sarcastic, obnoxious supporter of free speech and loved to
portrayhimself as a truth-telling superhero, but only when it came to
bashers.
Next,we had to follow certain guidelines on what we could say. We
wereurged to have an "answer" to every long's question, but we were
toframe that answer in a way that ridiculed the questioner for asking
such aquestion. However, we were never to use profanity or vulgarity
becausethat would cause people to ignore us. We were to make fun of
people,but in a civil way. The idea was to get "play," i.e. reaction
fromother posters. The more play we got, the more the room would be
disrupted.Ignored posters get no play. One exception would be the
hypsterssince they were "defending" the stock against our onslaught,
theygot a little more leeway. People would side with the hypster
becausethey thought he was real since he appeared to be on their
side,but was really on ours, setting us up to disrupt the room.
MoneyMadewas quite good at this and gets paid very well.
I'veworked on IDWD, VLO, AGII, QBID, BKMP for a few months now. In
additionto the FogOfWar alias, I've used a few others on several
otherboards as well. I've used so many aliases that I can not
rememberthe monikers or the passwords. I honestly lost track of
everything.I stuck with FogOfWar because it was the one that got the
mostplay from other posters.
Inclosing, I feel absolutely terrible about this. It's just awful how
I'vebeen part of a scam designed to cheat honest, hard-working people
out oftheir investments all for the
benefitof a few wealthy people who already have enough money to last
alifetime.
Thesegreedy people MUST be stopped. That's why I'm posting this
beforeI leave. I want to make up for some of the damage I've done. I
can'tlive with this lie anymore. You can't imagine how hard it is to
lookat myself in the mirror each morning knowing my job is to cheat
andlie.
I haveto go now, I'm too broken up to continue. I hope this
confessioncan make up for my sordid deeds; I would urge everyone who
readsthis to inform as many people as you can. Only by shining the
lightof truth can we drive these rats back into the darkness from
whencethey came. Believe me, they don't want publicity.
Goodluck and I hope all of you the best in your investment endeavors.
Maudeson