Scamming IS work

[shorthair]

Really, scamming is the same as any retail kind of thing: someone finds a way to get you interested in something you might not otherwise be interested in, to get your money. Mm?

[polaris]

have you considered a protection racket instead, more baseball bat less talking , much quicker.Mm?

[DaveMMR]

Mm?

Who's got M&M's?  Pass 'em here!

[ChadTower]

Holy crap did Saint just move a thread OUT OF PnR and INTO SOMEPLACE ELSE?

That has to be a first.

[shorthair]

Ya, a little surprising. I wasn't sure where to put it.

Polaris: hm?

[saint]

I have a suggestion where you could have put this thread but as this is EE and I'm supposed to show a bit more decorum than that I'll refrain ...

[KenToad]

Yeah, I thought this was going to be a thread with an ironic story in the beginning, about how hard someone tried to scam you or something. 

Instead, it's another shorthair fortune cookie, except this time without even enough loaded language to get the trolls out from under their bridges.

I'll bite.  Even if scamming is work, you haven't made the necessary logical step to it being "the same as any kind of retail thing."  So, if you have something to say, it's not there yet. 

But, I think you're trying to make the point that retail consumerism, in its worst form, i.e. compulsive and/or motivated by marketing in a consumer society that overvalues material goods, is as bad as scamming somebody. 

It's a stretch, don't you think?

[markt]

Really, scamming is the same as any retail kind of thing: someone finds a way to get you interested in something you might otherwise be interested in, to get your money. Mm?

From the Merriam Webster dictionary...
 scam
One entry found for scam.
 

Main Entry: 2scam
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): scammed; scam·ming
1 : DECEIVE, DEFRAUD
2 : to obtain (as money) by a scam
- scam·mer noun

retail
Main Entry: 1re·tail
Pronunciation: 'rE-"tAl, especially for 2 also ri-'tAl
Function: verb
transitive verb
1 : to sell in small quantities directly to the ultimate consumer

[shorthair]

HAHAHAHAHA...saint, it's your place, you could've just PH'd it. But that's very neighborly of you.

Ken, yeah. I mean, a lot of people (I think the younger folk) like this illusion of being showered with goodies. I stay away from TV and ads in general cos I don't want to know unless I wanna know, which ain't often. It's the same to me: you want my money by coercion.

[ChadTower]

I have a suggestion where you could have put this thread but as this is EE and I'm supposed to show a bit more decorum than that I'll refrain ...

Oooh!  Oooh!  Can I tell him?  I have lots of good words that mean stuff.

[KenToad]

I have a suggestion where you could have put this thread but as this is EE and I'm supposed to show a bit more decorum than that I'll refrain ...

Oooh!  Oooh!  Can I tell him?  I have lots of good words that mean stuff.

You have lots of mean words that stuff good?

[ChadTower]

I have lots of good mean that stuff words too.

[horseboy]

You have mean lots of good words stuff?

[CCM]

...someone finds a way to get you interested in something you might otherwise be interested in..

hmm, so you were interested in the first place?  Doesn't sound like the scammer would have to work very hard if you are already interested.

[RayB]

Being good at ANYTHING requires hard work and experience. Even a thief has to learn tricks of the trade. You don't just one day decide to do it (well, some do, but those people get caught).

[polaris]

Ya, a little surprising. I wasn't sure where to put it.

Polaris: hm?

i dont know him so well as you guys, is he talking in code to me? Mh?
whats your point dude, or have you just worked out what advertising is for?

[Dartful Dodger]

Holy crap did Saint just move a thread OUT OF PnR and INTO SOMEPLACE ELSE?

It's all Bush's fault.

[pointdablame]

Holy crap did Saint just move a thread OUT OF PnR and INTO SOMEPLACE ELSE?

It's all Bush's fault.

Mission Accomplished

[shorthair]

See, now, here's an example of a 'legitimate' and well-known company. Qwest is a local media provider, and I got a letter saying I could get this internet price!...for life! It'll be fixed, get it? Meanwhile, the price is going to go down on larger services, as it has even with them as they're now offering 1.5 mbp for the same price 256k was a year or so ago. Scam.

[horseboy]

There is a difference in scamming people and trying to benefit off of idiots. I am sure that the people that sign up will get internet at that price for life. No Scam. Marketing.

If, however, they took someones money and didn't provide internet service, that would be a scam.

I would like to see the world through your eyes for five minutes, but I am afraid that it would feel like I was stuck in a game of House of the Dead.

[shorthair]

I guess that's the straight definition. Still, to me it's fraudulent what Qwest is doing.

On that last, instead of explaining what that implies, I'll ask instead what you mean by it. ?

[pointdablame]

See, now, here's an example of a 'legitimate' and well-known company. Qwest is a local media provider, and I got a letter saying I could get this internet price!...for life! It'll be fixed, get it? Meanwhile, the price is going to go down on larger services, as it has even with them as they're now offering 1.5 mbp for the same price 256k was a year or so ago. Scam.

So when that same price gets you a connection that is much faster 5 years in the future... just cancel the service.  If you (or anyone) is dumb enough to keep the service, that is your own fault.  That is not a scam.. it's marketing.  They are advertising a price for life, and they will most likely give you that price.

It is completely irrelevant that 3 years from now, the price you are paying may be worse than you could get elsewhere.  That's why the free market allows you to drop Qwest and get service from another provider.

I agree its sort of shady, but its not a scam.

[AtomSmasher]

I don't think Qwest is doing anything wrong.  Most DSL and cable internet providers (around here at least) advertise how low their prices are, when in fact they are actually advertising their "introductory rate."  After 3-12 months (depending on the company) they jack up the rate, which is sometimes more then double the original rate.

If anything I think Qwest seems to be more honest then most high speed internet providers I know.

[shorthair]

They're all contra, as far as I'm concerned, but perhaps in the posting of this thread I'm being a nit.