We're happy to add this new section to our forum. Over the years many have come here offering Too Good to be True "opportunities" to our members. Ghana gold at far below market rates; proprietary methods for recovering nanogold, ormus gold, premature gold, etc.; mining opportunities with ore that doesn't respond to traditional assay methods... The list goes on.
Some of these scams are painfully obvious. Others have been more carefully crafted. Most of our members are wise enough to recognize even the best of them, so the moderators have simply deleted them when we've seen them. But these same offers are made elsewhere across the internet, and many folks who see them do not have the experience of our members.
Göran (g_axelsson) has pointed out that by leaving their contact information, we might help others outside our community to avoid being fleeced. Our forum is indexed by all the major search engines, so if someone sees a post on a different forum/blog/site, and they decide to do a little checking, a search might lead them here where they can see the comments of our members and moderators. It can serve as what Göran referred to as a honey trap. Once we identify these posts, we will lock them so the original poster can never delete their information and it will be available to anyone who takes the time to look.
In addition to outright scams, we'll also use this section to relieve at least a little of the clutter left behind by trolls and others whose interest is not learning about precious metals, but in causing a disruption to the smooth running of the forum. We've deleted many of these posts and banned the members as well, but in doing so, we lose information we can use to identify them if they return under a different name.
So we've created this section to serve as a repository for their clutter.
Leprechauns - They tempt you with the prospect of riches, but bad things will happen to you if you actually pursue them
Gollums (Golems) - Someone has implanted a single thought in their head, and even though they don't fully understand it, they still follow it blindly.
Sphinxes - All they do is ask questions and brutally attack those who don't answer the way they want.
Werewolves - Normally rational people with one single trigger, the sight of which will turn them into uncontrollable, howling beasts.
Gremlins - They only exist to break down everything they see.
Names and descriptions from http://www.collegehumor.com/post/69...er-creatures-lurking-in-every-comment-section
Our hope is that it can help our members as well as non-members.
You can all help us in this effort. First, please don't educate the scammers. Writing extensive, detailed posts that explain how we know their offer is a scam helps them craft a better presentation in the future. Second, please don't feed the trolls. It's certainly tempting to join in when a new member insists they've just recovered many pounds of precious metals from the solder on their sewage lines, but that's exactly what they want. Ignoring trolls starves them of what they're seeking, and they soon lose interest and leave.
Please don't educate the scammers.
Please don't feed the trolls.
the moderators
Some of these scams are painfully obvious. Others have been more carefully crafted. Most of our members are wise enough to recognize even the best of them, so the moderators have simply deleted them when we've seen them. But these same offers are made elsewhere across the internet, and many folks who see them do not have the experience of our members.
Göran (g_axelsson) has pointed out that by leaving their contact information, we might help others outside our community to avoid being fleeced. Our forum is indexed by all the major search engines, so if someone sees a post on a different forum/blog/site, and they decide to do a little checking, a search might lead them here where they can see the comments of our members and moderators. It can serve as what Göran referred to as a honey trap. Once we identify these posts, we will lock them so the original poster can never delete their information and it will be available to anyone who takes the time to look.
In addition to outright scams, we'll also use this section to relieve at least a little of the clutter left behind by trolls and others whose interest is not learning about precious metals, but in causing a disruption to the smooth running of the forum. We've deleted many of these posts and banned the members as well, but in doing so, we lose information we can use to identify them if they return under a different name.
So we've created this section to serve as a repository for their clutter.
Leprechauns - They tempt you with the prospect of riches, but bad things will happen to you if you actually pursue them
Gollums (Golems) - Someone has implanted a single thought in their head, and even though they don't fully understand it, they still follow it blindly.
Sphinxes - All they do is ask questions and brutally attack those who don't answer the way they want.
Werewolves - Normally rational people with one single trigger, the sight of which will turn them into uncontrollable, howling beasts.
Gremlins - They only exist to break down everything they see.
Names and descriptions from http://www.collegehumor.com/post/69...er-creatures-lurking-in-every-comment-section
Our hope is that it can help our members as well as non-members.
You can all help us in this effort. First, please don't educate the scammers. Writing extensive, detailed posts that explain how we know their offer is a scam helps them craft a better presentation in the future. Second, please don't feed the trolls. It's certainly tempting to join in when a new member insists they've just recovered many pounds of precious metals from the solder on their sewage lines, but that's exactly what they want. Ignoring trolls starves them of what they're seeking, and they soon lose interest and leave.
Please don't educate the scammers.
Please don't feed the trolls.
the moderators