Confession of a paid stock basher.

[SSSnail]

This is not my confession, it's copy pasta from another forum.

Today I want to come clean about something I feel very badly about. I
cannot undo some of the things I have done, but hopefully this message
will prevent other such occurrences in the future.

I am a paid basher.

Yes, it is true. Today is my last day at this company; I'm moving on
to a new job. I've realized that there are more dignifying jobs out
there that can pay me equally as well. But before I go, I want to
explain a few things because this just isn't right and I won't feel
good about myself until I expose this sham. It's hurt too many people
and I don't want it on my conscience anymore. I can no longer live
with a lie.

I work for a company called Global Calumny Funds in Stamford, CT.
Basically, it's a Boiler Room much like the one in the movie of the
same name. The idea behind my group is to bash the price of a
company's stock down low enough to where the group of investors who
retained our company's services can buy the stock really cheap and
perhaps even take it over all together.

There are approximately 70 people at the company divided into several
groups. My group, consisting of 5 people, is responsible for IDWD.
While I probably shouldn't give any names of anyone working here now,
what the heck, I'm leaving here, so what can they do? sue me? Ha! I
can tell you that laptoptrader and janice shell were part of my group
until he left last week, as was ninaturtle. Others who have been part
of this include early bashers like hard data and Investorman. You may
be interested to know that some hypsters, such as MONEYMADE and even
Datatech!!, have also been part of the scam (more on that later).

There are several companies engaged in the bashing business, ours is
not the only one. However, I can tell you that not every basher in
here is a paid basher. Having done this for a year, I can usually tell
who is a paid basher and who is merely someone
having a little fun. While unpaid bashers have a different motive than
someone like me, they can be unwilling accomplices to helping me
achieve my ultimate goal and they also spread rumor and confusion
throughout a room, which also helps me.

What is that goal? Well, I am merely a cog in a much larger machine,
so my bosses never really explained the big picture to me, but I'd say
essentially, Shaddowwatch2oo3 was right. There are several companies
who are quite familiar with Jim Bishop and Janice Shell and who are
deathly afraid of them.

There are three types of bashers here at Global Calumny Funds:
Advanced, Intermediate and Beginner. An Advanced-level basher (also
known as a Silver Tongued Devil) would spread false or misleading
information about the company.
They would deal in facts, countering every longs post with articles,
news reports and opinion surveys that gave a negative impression about
the company.

An Intermediate-level basher (also known as a Serpent) would try to
weasel their way into the confidence of longs and create doubt using
rumor or innuendo.

Finally, a Beginner-level basher (also known as a Pitchfork) would
attempt to create confusion in the room by distracting other posters
with satire, name calling and pointless arguments. The idea was to
make sure no serious discussion of the stock
could take place. A Pitchfork was usually a basher, but not always.
Sometimes, we would throw in a hypster Pitchfork such as MONEYMADE and
laptop and a pumper like Datatech to create the illusion of an
argument going on. What was really funny (in a perverse way, I guess)
was that Datatech and I sat next to each other, laughing the whole
time.

I was a Serpent basher, because I am known for effective bashing based
on solid 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
100 per day as well as a monthly bonus of $100 for every penny the
stock had dropped from the previous month. I was also paid a bonus for
bashing on weekends. While this may not sound like much, I made a
decent, though dishonorable, paycheck plus a nice Laptop with free
wireless internet connection.

Each of 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
intermediate and one advanced level basher. Occasionally for some
of the hotter stocks, one of the beginners would be replaced by an
intermediate depending on how much the stock was rising. IDWD was a
low-level stock, meaning it got the 3-1-1 configuration.

Honestly though, somehow, I get the feeling that WV Hillbilly may have
worked for a basher company or knows someone who does because the fund
websites he occasionally posts is eerily similar to our employer's
websites. While not exact, I'd say it is about 90 percent the same. We
do have certain rules that we follow.

First, we have to develop a character and stay within that character
in order to build a "following." My character, "FogOfWar," was a
humorous, sarcastic, obnoxious supporter of free speech and loved to
portray himself 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
were urged to have an "answer" to every long's question, but we were
to frame that answer in a way that ridiculed the questioner for asking
such a question. However, we were never to use profanity or vulgarity
because that 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
from other posters. The more play we got, the more the room would be
disrupted. Ignored posters get no play. One exception would be the
hypsters since they were "defending" the stock against our onslaught,
they got a little more leeway. People would side with the hypster
because they thought he was real since he appeared to be on their
side, but was really on ours, setting us up to disrupt the room.
MoneyMade was quite good at this and gets paid very well.

I've worked on IDWD, VLO, AGII, QBID, BKMP for a few months now. In
addition to the FogOfWar alias, I've used a few others on several
other boards as well. I've used so many aliases that I can not
remember the monikers or the passwords. I honestly lost track of
everything. I stuck with FogOfWar because it was the one that got the
most play from other posters.

In closing, I feel absolutely terrible about this. It's just awful how
I've been part of a scam designed to cheat honest, hard-working people
out of their investments all for the
benefit of a few wealthy people who already have enough money to last
a lifetime.

These greedy people MUST be stopped. That's why I'm posting this
before I leave. I want to make up for some of the damage I've done. I
can't live with this lie anymore. You can't imagine how hard it is to
look at myself in the mirror each morning knowing my job is to cheat
and lie.

I have to go now, I'm too broken up to continue. I hope this
confession can make up for my sordid deeds; I would urge everyone who
reads this to inform as many people as you can. Only by shining the
light of truth can we drive these rats back into the darkness from
whence they came. Believe me, they don't want publicity.

Good luck and I hope all of you the best in your investment endeavors.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Longs always come with this whoha to bash shorts. Ive read a similar posts going back to at least 1997. Paid bashers dont exist. Its a myth. Now there USED TO BE penny stock pumpers a long time ago, yet longs never admit to that.

ps. Citigroup sucks. Sell now. Sell hard. Sell fast. Sell it all. Sell shares you dont have if you can. Just get out. Now.:laugh:

 

[sandorski]

I heard that Citigroup has hired people to run over Dogs in neighbourhoods Mortgaged through competitors. My Gramps lost his Prized Chihuahua to a Citygroup vehicle.

 

[destrekor]

This thread is already entertaining.

I tell you what though. Reading the comments in Google Finance pages for stocks is hilarious. The supposed longs always cry out when anyone puts something in there, and others attack those who seem to only be pumping a stock when a pump and dump seems to be in the works. Yes, I have some cheap stocks, but when I'm not investing with large sums of money, it's an entertaining gamble and have had quite a few that people had pumped but the series of outs never killed the buzz, and/or good news actually did happen.

CTIC is my current baby.

And my very first stock purchase was minuscule in cost, so much so that it wasn't really a gamble then a paid learning tour of something I didn't much understand (in this case, the stock market itself). However, it was also a dream of... if something ever does come out of this company, I could actually walk away with something substantial. That company was Phantom Entertainment (originally infinium labs for those who never paid much attention to them, other than for the hilarity that was the company itself), and finally it seems they might just come around with something :gasp: real. The lapboards are finally on the way to the US (pissed at myself for supporting an upstart making products in Hong Kong instead of the US, but whatever. this company has had financial trouble since day 1, or day 1 after the first CEO tried to skip with fraud). And honestly, I've always been intrigued/very interested in the lapboard myself, so much that I wouldn't mind owning one eventually.

 

[SSSnail]

DAMN YOU BASHERS TO HELL!!! WHY DO YOU BASH MY POST, WHO PAID YOU?

If you think the Google Finance board is interesting, try the Yahoo one...

 

[Miramonti]

Fvck, my Global Calumny Funds stock is getting hammered now!


/edit: This supposed confession dates back to atleast 2006. Nothing on snopes tho.

 

[TallBill]

That's really a pump post in disguise.

 

[SandEagle]

Originally posted by: destrekor
This thread is already entertaining.

I tell you what though. Reading the comments in Google Finance pages for stocks is hilarious. The supposed longs always cry out when anyone puts something in there, and others attack those who seem to only be pumping a stock when a pump and dump seems to be in the works. Yes, I have some cheap stocks, but when I'm not investing with large sums of money, it's an entertaining gamble and have had quite a few that people had pumped but the series of outs never killed the buzz, and/or good news actually did happen.

CTIC is my current baby.

And my very first stock purchase was minuscule in cost, so much so that it wasn't really a gamble then a paid learning tour of something I didn't much understand (in this case, the stock market itself). However, it was also a dream of... if something ever does come out of this company, I could actually walk away with something substantial. That company was Phantom Entertainment (originally infinium labs for those who never paid much attention to them, other than for the hilarity that was the company itself), and finally it seems they might just come around with something :gasp: real. The lapboards are finally on the way to the US (pissed at myself for supporting an upstart making products in Hong Kong instead of the US, but whatever. this company has had financial trouble since day 1, or day 1 after the first CEO tried to skip with fraud). And honestly, I've always been intrigued/very interested in the lapboard myself, so much that I wouldn't mind owning one eventually.

CTIC is my baby as well . my first stock ever purchased.. glad i got into it too. small risk, high rewards so far.

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
DAMN YOU BASHERS TO HELL!!! WHY DO YOU BASH MY POST, WHO PAID YOU?

If you think the Google Finance board is interesting, try the Yahoo one...

Yep, reading Yahoo boards = I lose IQ points.

 

[nerp]

noobs use message boards for stock advice and tips.

 

[SunnyD]

Total fiction shens.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: nerp
noobs use message boards for stock advice and tips.

yep. well, mostly. sometimes message boards can reveal to someone something they never thought about. i mean, not everyone except the diehard day traders can follow every single market research outlet to find things, that... hmm, they never thought of, or reveal business bulletins that indicate the future is decidedly bright or gloomy.

however, for actual advice and trading tips? yeah, basically for the noobs. But then again, everyone is a noob at some point. Some noobs are just fortunate enough to be already wealthy and have a personal broker, or get taken under the wing by a successful family member. Otherwise, its to the same outlets as everyone else. Maybe better guesses, or personal interests/career knowledge.

But outside of the event where everyone takes a hit during a recession (except those early stock dumps by those with severe market storm prediction in their bones), most people take a few tough lessons learned, either say screw it, or they try again... and depending on how many tries it takes until they get something that seriously takes off, and what advice for market news outlets they take, ends up being the key to making or breaking.

if this doesn't make sense... sorry, im inebriated by the all-night study session. the crash this afternoon is going to be intense, probably chock full of frighteningly trippy dreams too.

 

[SSSnail]

Yes, we all realized that this maybe the work of a fictional character, but don't for once think that stocks are not manipulated or bashed by even bigger and more prominent medium. Try Jim Cramer or TheStreet.com. If you do look at some of these message boards, you'll recognize a lot of familiar names that keep posting the same things, over and over and over, are they doing that for entertainment?

 

[SonnyDaze]

Good read. Yes, very good indeed.

 

[BeauJangles]

There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

Right.

From the supposed basher's point of view, though, the problem here is that while they can fool a lot of people, they aren't fooling those who matter. A lot of the folks who invest on their own are, by and large, small-time investors. A lot of them spend a lot of their investing careers losing money which means that, in the long-run they don't stay in the game. This generalization is NOT true of everyone, obviously, but the point still stands. The people you need to fool for a scheme like this to work are the big guys who can throw millions of dollars into a stock in a heartbeat, guys whose reactions to the market are measured in milliseconds, etc, etc.

To affect a stock price negatively, you need to convince a lot of very smart people with fancy computer programs and years of experience to go a long with your ruse. This is why shorting stocks is so dangerous. If you short the crap out of a stock like Toyota with no good reason, enough to cause the price to fall, most smart investors will realize there's no reason for the price to have dropped (outside of artificial downward pressure) and they'll buy the shares up. It's free money to them.

The same thing applies here. Most of the time, the time of action is so short when there's artificial pressure because everyone in the game sees it as a chance to make free money.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

Sounds like you're trying to save face for posting an age old internet hoax.

Perhaps this can happen a bit in illiquid stocks, but noobs are always told not to trade illiquid stocks (as well as avoid unlisted stocks). The real risk of manipulation comes from large naked short positions and the wall street rumor mill (and some other wall street games), not boards that at most can create short term volatility.

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

Sounds like you're trying to save face for posting an age old internet hoax.

Perhaps this can happen a bit in illiquid stocks, but noobs are always told not to trade illiquid stocks (as well as avoid unlisted stocks). The real risk of manipulation comes from large naked short positions and the wall street rumor mill (and some other wall street games), not boards that at most can create short term volatility.

Nah, take any of the currently pumped up stocks, go to their message boards, bring pop corn, lawn chair and profits. You think P&N is bad? Go there, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Here, try any of these, C, HEB, CTIC, LVS, DRYS, BAC, WFC, F, etc...

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: sandorski
I heard that Citigroup has hired people to run over Dogs in neighbourhoods Mortgaged through competitors. My Gramps lost his Prized Chihuahua to a Citygroup vehicle.

That's nothing. Wells Fargo CEO's raped my grandma---AFTER she died!

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

Sounds like you're trying to save face for posting an age old internet hoax.

Perhaps this can happen a bit in illiquid stocks, but noobs are always told not to trade illiquid stocks (as well as avoid unlisted stocks). The real risk of manipulation comes from large naked short positions and the wall street rumor mill (and some other wall street games), not boards that at most can create short term volatility.

Nah, take any of the currently pumped up stocks, go to their message boards, bring pop corn, lawn chair and profits. You think P&N is bad? Go there, but don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm not disputing the amount of babble that exists or the hype/trash game itself on the internet, but am disputing the premise that these boards can have a large affect on liquid stocks over the long run (muchless on illiquid exchange traded stocks.)

I know email campaigns for crap penny stocks still exist as well, but I'm not exactly going to post a new thread in ATOT warning people of them either.

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

Sounds like you're trying to save face for posting an age old internet hoax.

Perhaps this can happen a bit in illiquid stocks, but noobs are always told not to trade illiquid stocks (as well as avoid unlisted stocks). The real risk of manipulation comes from large naked short positions and the wall street rumor mill (and some other wall street games), not boards that at most can create short term volatility.

Nah, take any of the currently pumped up stocks, go to their message boards, bring pop corn, lawn chair and profits. You think P&N is bad? Go there, but don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm not disputing the amount of babble that exists or the hype/trash game itself on the internet, but am disputing the premise that these boards can have a large affect on liquid stocks over the long run (muchless on illiquid exchange traded stocks.)

I know email campaigns for crap penny stocks still exist as well, but I'm not exactly going to post a new thread in ATOT warning people of them either.

YOU"ER A FREAK BASHER@!! YOU GO!!!

Relax, I'm not selling you on ATOT stocks, although I think it's gonna pop anytime soon, I heard from a good friend that's on the board of director...

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
There's no way that is a real confession. Paying people to bash a stock online would be such a huge waste of money. The guys who make and move serious amounts of cash through the stock market aren't looking online for their tips. They're either old-school vets who have a feel for the market or they're algo-traders who don't give a shit about what anyone else says about a stock; they're just concerned about what their models say or what everyone else is doing in the market.

OK, let's ask a few serious question here. If you're interested in a certain car, would you seek out that forum? If you need help with a certain subject, would you go to that particular forum? Don't forget that time has changed.

Due to the available medium and method, not EVERYBODY has a broker, or have information at their fingertips. Do not forget that there are a lot new "investors" that seek out anything bits of information they can get, albeit a lot are naive but don't think that those don't exist.

Take a popular message board about a certain stocks, add a bunch of noobs, spread some rumors, lies, pumps, etc... and watch the mayhem ensues. Don't believe me? Try it on any of the finance board.

Sounds like you're trying to save face for posting an age old internet hoax.

Perhaps this can happen a bit in illiquid stocks, but noobs are always told not to trade illiquid stocks (as well as avoid unlisted stocks). The real risk of manipulation comes from large naked short positions and the wall street rumor mill (and some other wall street games), not boards that at most can create short term volatility.

Nah, take any of the currently pumped up stocks, go to their message boards, bring pop corn, lawn chair and profits. You think P&N is bad? Go there, but don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm not disputing the amount of babble that exists or the hype/trash game itself on the internet, but am disputing the premise that these boards can have a large affect on liquid stocks over the long run (muchless on illiquid exchange traded stocks.)

I know email campaigns for crap penny stocks still exist as well, but I'm not exactly going to post a new thread in ATOT warning people of them either.

YOU"ER A FREAK BASHER@!! YOU GO!!!

Relax, I'm not selling you on ATOT stocks, although I think it's gonna pop anytime soon, I heard from a good friend that's on the board of director...

That's not what I want to hear, I'm still trying to accumulate. Btw I thought we were going to wait until July before we started pumping it??!!

 

[hskiprob]

Longs always come with this whoha to bash shorts. Ive read a similar posts going back to at least 1997. Paid bashers dont exist. Its a myth. Now there USED TO BE penny stock pumpers a long time ago, yet longs never admit to that.

ps. Citigroup sucks. Sell now. Sell hard. Sell fast. Sell it all. Sell shares you dont have if you can. Just get out. Now.:laugh:

 

[hskiprob]

I've seen the very same tactics he has written about by various people with various stocks. There are 5 sociopaths per 100 people so I'm not going to take your comments to the bank, @FelixDeCat. The fact that many short sellers are committing crimes because of naked shorting adds to the issue.