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I don't know. Sounds like they put as much energy into the exchange as they wanted and cut it off when it crossed their line. And they got a pretty fun story ou

I don't know. Sounds like they put as much energy into the exchange as they wanted and cut it off when it crossed their line. And they got a pretty fun story out of it.

thr0wawayf00 5y ago
I didn't say that the author didn't much too much or too little energy into the exchange, but I do firmly believe they chose to continue with those people out of a misplaced need to prove that they could talk to strangers. Those are exactly the kinds of people who fall victim to these tricks. As someone who used to work in financial services and has interacted with many of these kinds of people before, it struck me as odd that at the beginning of the story, the author doesn't even list "they want me to give them money" as a possible reason for the approach, even though that's the single most common reason strangers approach folks like this. He really thought that these strangers might want to have sex though? Ok. The whole piece has a really naive tone to it, trying to intellectualize people that were most likely just trying to bilk the author out of money, which the author isn't even convinced of at the end. > So why did they do it? Maybe they were totally cynical, and just thought I looked like a gullible fish they could exploit for money. But I doubt it. > Most likely, they thought they were doing something good. (For me? For their organization? For the world?) How is it possible to convince yourself that being this manipulative and this misleading is a good thing? It makes me re-evaluate what people are capable of. It took one set of interactions with cult/scam/whatever kind of recruiters these were to make the author re-evaluate what people are capable of? Really? We've lived through decades of senseless war, a declining standard of living and a future that feels less and less certain by the day, but this is what wakes the author up? That sounds like a pretty sheltered life to me.

I don't know. Sounds like they put as much energy into the exchange as they wanted and cut it off when it crossed their line. And they got a pretty fun story out of it.

thr0wawayf00 5y ago

I didn't say that the author didn't much too much or too little energy into the exchange, but I do firmly believe they chose to continue with those people out of a misplaced need to prove that they could talk to strangers. Those are exactly the kinds of people who fall victim to these tricks. As someone who used to work in financial services and has interacted with many of these kinds of people before, it struck me as odd that at the beginning of the story, the author doesn't even list "they want me to give them money" as a possible reason for the approach, even though that's the single most common reason strangers approach folks like this. He really thought that these strangers might want to have sex though? Ok. The whole piece has a really naive tone to it, trying to intellectualize people that were most likely just trying to bilk the author out of money, which the author isn't even convinced of at the end. > So why did they do it? Maybe they were totally cynical, and just thought I looked like a gullible fish they could exploit for money. But I doubt it. > Most likely, they thought they were doing something good. (For me? For their organization? For the world?) How is it possible to convince yourself that being this manipulative and this misleading is a good thing? It makes me re-evaluate what people are capable of. It took one set of interactions with cult/scam/whatever kind of recruiters these were to make the author re-evaluate what people are capable of? Really? We've lived through decades of senseless war, a declining standard of living and a future that feels less and less certain by the day, but this is what wakes the author up? That sounds like a pretty sheltered life to me.