To all,
I hope we don't we don't have any contaminants here.
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Interesting Basher Confession.......
By: firebird_1965
Reply To: None
Wednesday, 1 Nov 2000 at 11:51 AM EST
Post # of 220144
Confessions of a Paid Basher
By Tom Martin
aka “Steve Tracy”
aka “Firebird_1965”
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 hypster 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 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 hypster – 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. Padelcars is quite good at this and gets paid very
well.
I’ve worked on BIFS 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
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 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 BIFS rocket to the moon. If this
helps,
let me leave you with this…
GO BIFS!!!!
With fervent remorse,
Tom Martin
aka “Steve Tracy”
aka “Firebird_1965”
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