Very interesting reading on a post that was located.

Very interesting reading on a post that was located.


Posted by: jever0
In reply to: None Date:12/7/2007 7:19:28 PM
Post #of 73631

Confession of a paid basher...

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. 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 Franklin, Andrews, Kramer & Edelstein 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 BIFS. 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 GUTTWRENCH was part of my
group until he left last week, as was Richardphx. Others who have been part of this
include early bashers like Epiphonics and Simontaz. You may be interested to know
that some hypsters, such as Amato7 and BIFWATCHER, 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 two years, 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, GUTTWRENCH was right. There are several companies who are quite familiar with SWOMI and who are deathly afraid of it.

There are three types of bashers here at Franklin, Andrews, Kramer &
Edelstein:
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 hipster Pitchfork such as Amato7 or BIFSWATCHER to
create the illusion of an argument going on. What was really funny (in a
perverse way, I guess) was that Amato7 and I sat next to each other, laughing the whole time.

I was a Pitchfork. I was paid a base wage of $12 an hour for my
services. I was given a $1 bonus for every 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.

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. BIFS was a low-level
stock, meaning it got the 3-1-1 configuration.
Somehow, I get the feeling that JPACK2 may have worked for a basher
company or knows someone who does because the "Basher Handbook" he occasionally
posts is eerily similar to the one we actually use. While not a word-for-word
match, 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, "Firebird_1965," was a sarcastic,
obnoxious supporter of free speech, 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 longs 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 hypster ? since they
were "defending" the stock against our onslaught, they got a little more leeway. People
would side with the hipster 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. Padelcars is
quite good at this and gets paid very well.

I’ve worked on BIFS, TSRG, MXII for about three months now. In
addition to the Firebird_1965 alias,
I’ve used a few others on the BIFS and several other boards as well.
I stuck with Firebird_1965 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 cant 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 copy and
repost it as many times 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.

I hope all of you can forgive me and save me a seat on that Rnke
rocket to the moon. If this helps, let me leave you with this?

GO Rnke!!
With fervent remorse,

Tom Martin
aka "Steve Tracy"