10 years now and a month from now

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Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 6:32 pm

Congrats my brodda!! Very Happy

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:48 am

Congratulations on both milestones!

Baiting Guru Joined: 21 Nov 2010 Posts: 2197

Congratulations Firehouse 5. Thumbs up

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:44 am

This is something to which us relative newbs can only aspire! Congrats!

Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:59 am

Thanks everybody! Wow, even Krona popped in .... good to see you indeed & hope all is well.

SomeBuddyAtHome wrote:

...As one who is ready to take the plunge and one who is fairly new to baiting, what is your best advice for each?
What is your most favorite bait you have done?

I am a known repository of bad advice so take any of this with a pinch of salt. Um, advice for taking the plunge, this is a hard one. Perhaps for a 419eater audience my advice is "don't bait your spouse" - this is mainly about honesty and avoiding game-playing.

My one piece of advice for baiting is to give your characters personality - figure out some kind of persona that you like to use, and then try to be relatively consistent and realistic in the way you reply to scammers with it. Too often people focus too much on the factual basis of their character's background and circumstances (for example the biographical "infodump" at the start of a bait, which the scammers will ignore), but not much emotion/personality/reaction to the way the interaction with a scammer develops. When I reply to a scammer I usually try to think of a mood I want to express - my personal preference is a cycle of enthusiasm, impotent frustration, rage and grovelling apology. (But trying to keep an element of enthusiasm about the "big prize" the scammer offers).

My favourite bait, this is my sandtimer lad with whom I had correspondence on and off for years. It was an ordinary trunk box scam but my rather ham-fisted and naive dollar chop attempt by a Mr Williams had the desired effect.... even years later, after a death and surprise return, the scammer was still using my original "payment" as motivation to continue in the deal. I published parts of this bait twice (search "Chinese Dark Spirits") but ran out of steam and eventually baited myself into a corner with an in-person dollar chop over steak & cocktails.

the vampire wrote:

After ten years Mrs Firehouse still doesn't want to start baiting too?

Definitely not. She has finally reached the stage of acceptance but we have had plenty of discussions about safe baiting. For example I will never again go on a solo expedition to photograph a mugu in the wild after a rather scary experience discovering that a lad came to a museum with at least two minders watching possible approach routes. She has a vague interest in how scams have changed over the years (mainly to help protect naive relatives), but as far as getting involved herself, no way. She engages in enough correspondence with kooks or near kooks as her day job (public facing employee of a small specialist organisation dealing with international academics and independent scholars), no time or inclination to do the same for fun.

She has met a few baiters over the years - fortunately that's ok.

Anyway here's to another 10, I will crack open a new mugu to celebrate.

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:35 am

Quote:

She has finally reached the stage of acceptance ...

Thank goodness for that, I was thinking there for a while that you hadn't told her.

Double congratulations for your staying power. beers!

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:53 am

Hope the mugu has been properly aged. Seriously, Firehouse, congratulations. I have enjoyed your words of wisdom.

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:16 pm

FH5 wrote:

...Chinese Dark Spirits...

Thank you for thoughtful answer(s), here's hoping to another marvelous 10...20...30 or more years of baiting and a lifetime and beyond with your lady love. Razz

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