Identifying a Stock Basher
Countless investors find their way to the message boards only to see false posts about company news, “problems” and “Share Price Correction.” Such boards are filled with bashers using a variety of aliases, posting false or misleading information, all in all making it very difficult for a newcomer to tell fact from fiction.
For nervous investors, it is often easier to sell the stock and put the money in the bank. These are the people on whom the bashers prey. Bashers bet on a stock to go down and they do their best to help it happen. They are not concerned with the risk of losing money like the average investor because they are usually paid to bash the stock. In other words, they are not using their personal funds and are not actually investing themselves, or at least not in that stock. Additionally, bashers do not wait for the markets to go up or down; they make them move. Bashers use fear, lies, and falsehoods to prey on the nervous investor, thus influencing the markets in their favour.
Lesson 1
Bashers never bash bad stocks. You can watch the board for stocks with no potential. You’ll see pretty quickly that those stocks don’t have bashers. Bashers only go after stocks that are going upwards or have excellent potential to go up. Bashers get left behind, so they want to bring the price down.
Lesson 2
Bashers bring up old news that you have heard many times. All companies always have a few bits of bad news. The basher will post these bits over and over again. The stupid basher will try to make the old news a bit fresher to try to fool you. Don’t be fooled!
Lesson 3
Basher's post many times a day. They try to wear you out. They comment on everything, every other post, and can answer every question. To hear them say it, they know it all.
There is no positive comment they won’t bash. They try to control the board with their negativity. If they seem to be working on this one stock full time, that’s because they are! Even more than full-time.
Lesson 4
Bashers will lie to your face (or your keyboard). Never trust a basher. The truth on most companies is that mistakes are made and losses happen. The basher will try to make you believe all companies make a profit, release financials every quarter, and have all aspects of the business running smoothly from the start. This is not true. Anyone who says it is true is either lying or ignorant. Don’t listen to either kind. Small AIM companies can go years without profits; this is the nature of the beast.
Lesson 5
Bashers know that you can’t verify their statements. That’s why they make the statements they do. You can’t check them out and you may just believe them and then they win. Either way, they don’t lose.
Lesson 6
Bashers play on your lack of knowledge. They count on the fact that they can lie about information and you won’t know the difference. And you won’t, unless you have done your assessment of the company and know truth from a lie.
Lesson 7
Bashers play on your lack of patience. You have held a stock for a while, knowing it will be a big stock someday. The basher can get to you because you are tired of waiting for your gain. When you are getting your plan, you are ripe for a bashing. You are tired and you’ve forgotten that the goal for the stock was to hold it for one year, then see where it stands. The basher is bothersome and tiring, so you dump it on a bad day and so do others. Then you get angry about your loss and you return to the board to let everyone know how mad you are. Congratulations, you too have become a basher. The basher has won and gained a new, unwitting, partner. At this point, the basher will buy low and become a pumper, maybe using a new alias, and will try to reverse the trend. Your loss becomes the basher’s gain as your stock rises after you sell it.
Lesson 8
The basher is all about bringing the price down. That is the nature of a basher. The truth is not important; lies are the norm. They are trying to hit the newbies visiting the board for the first time, so they post continuously throughout the day. They are trying to wear out the longs on the board and they will do whatever it takes to do so.
Lesson 9
Bashers will try to create doubt and get you to research items that they know will lead to the creation of doubt in you and in other stockholders. A typical trick of an advanced basher is to propose that there is a potential “problem” because “we” don’t have the facts on a particular subject. The basher dares someone in the group to find out the answer to the question. The basher already knows the answer and knows what you will find. The power of this tactic is that the basher is now in control of the actions of the stockholders; the basher has you in his web of lies. Most stockholders will do due diligence when confronted with a questionable news story. When the stockholder cannot confirm or deny the story because of too much conflicting information, the basher gains credibility.
What do you do?
It is important to find answers on your own terms. Pick up the phone and call the company, talk to the investor relations person or the CEO until you get a satisfactory answer. The problem here is that the advanced basher has you doing his bidding; you have essentially joined his ranks. So, develop your own little “Due Diligence Package” and answer questions by placing the information into the package. Then you can refer new investors to read your well-researched answers to questions raised in the Investor Information package.What you need to avoid is getting into a conversation with the basher himself or herself about the topic. Once you get into direct conversation with a basher, you give the basher credibility. Answer the question if you need to, but do it indirectly. Never use the basher’s name. Never get into a personality contest with a basher.
Lesson 10
Always report the basher to the board or forum eventually they will have to take action. Collective reporting on a daily basis will ensure the bashers’ demise"