Saw this on an RB board. Not sure if it is real, maybe someone who has invested in BIFS and visited the RB board for it will recognize the aliases listed...
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”
