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Every time I dip into this world I'm shocked at how credulous and clueless the customers are. I think (or hope) the average person in society is able to spot th

Every time I dip into this world I'm shocked at how credulous and clueless the customers are. I think (or hope) the average person in society is able to spot this stuff for the grift it is, but man, those less bright are lambs to the slaughter, losing their life savings on various web3, NFT, AI grifts.

_fat_santa 4y ago
Oh I can totally see how, because I ate that shit up when I was 19-20. I was your classic 20 year old that wanted to be a millionaire by 21 because "that guy over there said he did it". Never coughed up any money for a course or anything but I saw a shitload of these guys' free content on YT, Instagram, etc. In another world I could have totally fallen for one of these courses.
- grujicd 4y ago
  Yep, it's not stupidity, it's life inexperience. At that point in life many people have only vague ideas on how money is really earned in the real world, and get-rich-quick schemes seem at least plausible. Didn't fell into that trap but my sister had to go through some small "make money from home" scam to learn that lesson.
  - AJ007 4y ago
    The people who have the capability and motivation to build a business can #1 download pirated versions of these get rich quick courses for free and #2 figure out how money is actually being made and move on to the hard stuff. The problem is most of the customers have neither.
  - ethbr0 4y ago
    Related: many fewer people post failure or hard work over time on social media.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Same as it's ever been though: grifters schilling get-rich-quick schemes. I'm sure in the mid-1800s there were classes you could buy to learn how to invest in future railroad property out West. Or later, how to become a millionaire revitalizing property in the South. General rule of thumb: never pay for a lesson if price requires an altruistic seller. F.ex. If I had a reliable way to make millions, why would I be selling that course for anything less than hundreds of thousands of dollars?
  - hnlmorg 4y ago
    this reminds me of an old joke about how the only people who made money from the gold rush were those selling the shovels.
    - MattPalmer1086 4y ago
      It's not really a joke as far as I know. It's a saying.
  - paulpauper 4y ago
    Isn't this what higher ed sorta is. You are paying for a lesson, but way more money. A lot of things in life are like this, like taking ski lessons, coding bootcamps, pilot lessons or culinary school. Is the scam having to pay or having unrealistic expectations? This would apply to some college students, who got into a lot of debt and don't get the career they wanted or was promised.
charlieyu1 4y ago
Information disparity is unavoidable. You can only learn so much. I don’t mind dining in restaurants even though the food would only cost <30% when I made food myself.
- 3np 4y ago
  That analogy doesn't work out. More like, you don't mind dining in restaurant without knowing ingredients , or the effect they have on you (nutritionally and allergies).
biohax2015 4y ago
American society is dumb people selling useless crap to other dumb people.
- brookst 4y ago
  That might be a little bit reductive.
- pixl97 4y ago
  It's fun and easy to bash America, but if you cut America off the statement does it not cover most societies?
  - 111111101101 4y ago
    America is relatively unique in that its culture celebrates "coaching" which is the angle that many of these get-rich-quick schemes take. I guess that it might be related to the sports centric high school education that many (most?) Americans experience.
  - biohax2015 4y ago
    I don’t live in other societies so I don’t know. What I do know is that America celebrates this sort of thing and calls it “hustle”.
    - pixl97 4y ago
      You may be surprised then to learn hustle exists around the world and has existed in one name or another since we started writing words in books and likely before then. Every pyramid scheme that's existed has been some form of this. Same with fraudulent bonds/stocks back in past. We are just subjected to it more on an individual basis because we have speed of light global communications and mediums that allow hucksters to spread their grift to millions of people at once.
      - biohax2015 4y ago
        I’m not arguing whether or not grift exists universally. I believe it does. What’s not universal is the near-idolization of it. That’s uniquely American.
Madmallard 4y ago
I have a friend that has made millions off of NFTs and another friend that has made hundreds of thousands. Grift if you’re bad at it.
- not_enoch_wise 4y ago
  It's only a "crime" if I lose money doing it!
  - grugagag 4y ago
    No, it’s still a crime because somebody always loses money, somebody who simply came in line after you. The line could’ve broken before you so you got lucky
- epolanski 4y ago
  Having made money out of something is not an intellectually relevant argument. NFTs are snake oil, the fact that some get away with that stuff and a nice payout does not change the idiotic premise of the thing.
  - Madmallard 4y ago
    It's basically the same as investing in startups the vast majority fail. But 1% make a lot of money.
    - Veen 4y ago
      Startups make money by providing a useful service. NFTs do nothing but make money for a few and lose money for the majority. They’re useless grift fodder.
      - Madmallard 4y ago
        I would say a large portion of tech startups are actually bad for society in the long run.
xwdv 4y ago
I think anyone with ambitions falls for these kinds of grifts at some point in their lives before realizing it’s bullshit and never getting sucked into them again. When I was young and out of college I certainly fell for the trap of trying to build a startup and get super rich and become a cool tech bro. Read all the lean startup garbage and listened to anyone with a successful tech startup story. Fortunately the grift industry wasn’t as mature as it is today, so damage was minimal. Nowadays, these content creators and course curators extract huge sums of money out of people and make themselves look more legit than ever. Young people need to be more wary but I feel they are more gullible than ever. Not a good mix.

_fat_santa 4y ago

Oh I can totally see how, because I ate that shit up when I was 19-20. I was your classic 20 year old that wanted to be a millionaire by 21 because "that guy over there said he did it". Never coughed up any money for a course or anything but I saw a shitload of these guys' free content on YT, Instagram, etc. In another world I could have totally fallen for one of these courses.

grujicd 4y ago
Yep, it's not stupidity, it's life inexperience. At that point in life many people have only vague ideas on how money is really earned in the real world, and get-rich-quick schemes seem at least plausible. Didn't fell into that trap but my sister had to go through some small "make money from home" scam to learn that lesson.
- AJ007 4y ago
  The people who have the capability and motivation to build a business can #1 download pirated versions of these get rich quick courses for free and #2 figure out how money is actually being made and move on to the hard stuff. The problem is most of the customers have neither.
- ethbr0 4y ago
  Related: many fewer people post failure or hard work over time on social media.
ethbr0 4y ago
Same as it's ever been though: grifters schilling get-rich-quick schemes. I'm sure in the mid-1800s there were classes you could buy to learn how to invest in future railroad property out West. Or later, how to become a millionaire revitalizing property in the South. General rule of thumb: never pay for a lesson if price requires an altruistic seller. F.ex. If I had a reliable way to make millions, why would I be selling that course for anything less than hundreds of thousands of dollars?
- hnlmorg 4y ago
  this reminds me of an old joke about how the only people who made money from the gold rush were those selling the shovels.
  - MattPalmer1086 4y ago
    It's not really a joke as far as I know. It's a saying.
- paulpauper 4y ago
  Isn't this what higher ed sorta is. You are paying for a lesson, but way more money. A lot of things in life are like this, like taking ski lessons, coding bootcamps, pilot lessons or culinary school. Is the scam having to pay or having unrealistic expectations? This would apply to some college students, who got into a lot of debt and don't get the career they wanted or was promised.

charlieyu1 4y ago

Information disparity is unavoidable. You can only learn so much. I don’t mind dining in restaurants even though the food would only cost <30% when I made food myself.

3np 4y ago
That analogy doesn't work out. More like, you don't mind dining in restaurant without knowing ingredients , or the effect they have on you (nutritionally and allergies).

biohax2015 4y ago

American society is dumb people selling useless crap to other dumb people.

brookst 4y ago
That might be a little bit reductive.
pixl97 4y ago
It's fun and easy to bash America, but if you cut America off the statement does it not cover most societies?
- 111111101101 4y ago
  America is relatively unique in that its culture celebrates "coaching" which is the angle that many of these get-rich-quick schemes take. I guess that it might be related to the sports centric high school education that many (most?) Americans experience.
- biohax2015 4y ago
  I don’t live in other societies so I don’t know. What I do know is that America celebrates this sort of thing and calls it “hustle”.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    You may be surprised then to learn hustle exists around the world and has existed in one name or another since we started writing words in books and likely before then. Every pyramid scheme that's existed has been some form of this. Same with fraudulent bonds/stocks back in past. We are just subjected to it more on an individual basis because we have speed of light global communications and mediums that allow hucksters to spread their grift to millions of people at once.
    - biohax2015 4y ago
      I’m not arguing whether or not grift exists universally. I believe it does. What’s not universal is the near-idolization of it. That’s uniquely American.

Madmallard 4y ago

I have a friend that has made millions off of NFTs and another friend that has made hundreds of thousands. Grift if you’re bad at it.

not_enoch_wise 4y ago
It's only a "crime" if I lose money doing it!
- grugagag 4y ago
  No, it’s still a crime because somebody always loses money, somebody who simply came in line after you. The line could’ve broken before you so you got lucky
epolanski 4y ago
Having made money out of something is not an intellectually relevant argument. NFTs are snake oil, the fact that some get away with that stuff and a nice payout does not change the idiotic premise of the thing.
- Madmallard 4y ago
  It's basically the same as investing in startups the vast majority fail. But 1% make a lot of money.
  - Veen 4y ago
    Startups make money by providing a useful service. NFTs do nothing but make money for a few and lose money for the majority. They’re useless grift fodder.
    - Madmallard 4y ago
      I would say a large portion of tech startups are actually bad for society in the long run.

xwdv 4y ago

I think anyone with ambitions falls for these kinds of grifts at some point in their lives before realizing it’s bullshit and never getting sucked into them again. When I was young and out of college I certainly fell for the trap of trying to build a startup and get super rich and become a cool tech bro. Read all the lean startup garbage and listened to anyone with a successful tech startup story. Fortunately the grift industry wasn’t as mature as it is today, so damage was minimal. Nowadays, these content creators and course curators extract huge sums of money out of people and make themselves look more legit than ever. Young people need to be more wary but I feel they are more gullible than ever. Not a good mix.