How to deal with people who disagree: 4 types you need to know

Beware of trolls (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a critic of scams and potential scams, I very often run into people who don't agree. They generally fall into four categories:

• Sincere arguers -- they don't agree, but they are polite and point out your mistakes, and when you point out their mistakes they'll concede that you had a point, and you narrow down to where there's not enough data and what is there can be interpreted either way, and call a truce.
• Misguided enthusiasts -- they are sincere about their disagreement, but they're not so polite, and often repeats what other people say without critical thinking, and often they don't react logically as well, esp. when you point out they used fallacies, or red herrings, and some such.
• Scammers -- they know they're lying or using fallacies, but they don't care. When you point out their problems they may turn into trolls, or just leave (in a huff?)
• Trolls -- they're just out to rile you, not to really defend anything

So how do you deal with them? Depends on which type they are. 

More Zeek aftermath News update

Zeek Ponzi scheme definitely got victims all over the US, even in Maine

http://www.mainebiz.biz/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120905/NEWS0101/120909982

More North Carolinans dazed by demise of Zeek

http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/zeekrewards-58666-good-deal.html

Canadians also dazzled by Zeek Ponzi  (NOTE: Link is in French)

http://www.journaldequebec.com/2012/09/03/des-centaines-de-millions-envoles

Local new coupon book biz used by schools for fundraiser hit hard by similar name to scam

http://myfox8.com/2012/09/05/school-fundraiser-is-not-a-ponzi-scheme/

Cognitive Bias: Attribute Substitution

Daniel Kahneman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Technically speaking, attribute substitution is not a cognitive bias in itself, but is actually CAUSE of several such biases.

Your mind has two sides, an "intuitive system", where you can make snap judgments, and a "reflective system", where the pros and cons are carefully evaluated using computations, logic, and such. If you are presented with a complex problem, and you are required to give an answer quickly, you can be induced into using the intuitive system that knows the answer to something very SIMILAR, and gave the wrong answer. That's attribute substitution.

(Daniel Kahneman is considered to be the first to explore attribute substitution)

Here's a quick example. "A ball and a bat together cost $1.10. Bat cost $1 more than the ball. How much is the ball?" You have 3 seconds.

One-potato
Two-potato
Three-potato
Time's up! What is your answer?

If you answered $0.10 (10 cents), you are wrong!

In this case, the mind need to answer the question, and there's 'no time' to do a full evaluation where you need to solve the algebraic equation with 2 unknowns with the reflective side. Instead, you know you can do 1.10 - 1 in a snap and your mind unconsciously did teh attribute substitution, and substituted $0.10, which came from the INTUITIVE side.

Those with a bit skepticism (i.e. reflective side) would have checked whether 0.1 is the right answer, and realized it's NOT.  The answer: x+y=1.1 and x-1=y. y turned out to be $0.05 (and x=$1.05).

So what does this have to do with a scam? Everything.

Zeek Defender website blocked from using Paypal, claims "conspiracy" against industry

English: Logo of PayPal. Español: Logotipo de PayPal. Русский: Логотип системы PayPal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Apparently some "fine" folks over in la-la land, who is attempt to raise funds to restart Zeek, the largest Ponzi scheme in terms of potential victims in the US, is no longer allowed to use Paypal donation.

Their announcement claims some sort of a "conspiracy", that eBay, who owns PayPal, is somehow against the entire penny auction industry.

However, there is a much simpler explanation: it's against PayPal rules all along. If you read the acceptable use policy, this is very clear:

Service Requiring Pre-Approval	Contact Information
Airlines and scheduled or non-scheduled charters/jets/air taxi operators; collecting donations as a charity or non-profit organization; dealing in jewels, precious metals and stones; acting as a money transmitter or selling stored value cards; selling stocks, bonds, securities, options, futures (forex) or an investment interest in any entity or property; or providing escrow services.	Please send contact information, business website URL and a brief business summary to compliance@paypal.com

That's right, only charities, and non-profit orgs can use the donate function. The "fine" folks who want your money is NEITHER.

In Wake of Zeek Ponzi, Feds warn: do not try to hide money that doesn't belong to you

Feds went after a couple, their lawyers, and their spouses in helping the couple who ran a Ponzi scheme in concealing 1 million dollar of jewelry, which should have been forfeited to the government and be a part of the restitution fund.

Not only is it intentional fraud, it is a conspiracy, as well as perjury in court (claiming there are no more property to be forfeited).

Zeek Rewards Confirmation Bias: trust but not verify

A couple sharp readers have spotted that some of the diehard Zeek Rewards Ponzi defenders are not only raising money to "restart Zeek", but also spreading misinformation about everything in the case, including:

• Burks' lawyer is bullsh__
• SEC never went before a judge before shutting RVG down
• SEC didn't present any evidence in front of a judge

The following is from this "restart Zeek" campaign's website. As not to give them any link juice I am not linking to the source, but if you Google a sentence you can find the original easily. 

First of all, this is bogus, because the two sentences don't fit. You think a judge would just listen to SEC, and rubber-stamp everything SEC says, without SEC presenting any proof, merely allegations? 

And second, don't you think Burks was in court with his lawyer when this went down? They'd LIKE you to think SEC was in court alone, but that ain't the truth!  See next section. 

Zeek Aftermath News Update

After death of Zeek, life continues...

Paul R. Burks, head of Zeek, may have ties to Louisiana Politics
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120831/ARTICLES/120839942

And how did Nash Dunn, the reporter, happen onto this story of a lifetime
http://mywritestuff.blogs.the-dispatch.com/10315/sleek-zeek-ends-streak/?tc=obinsite
http://mywritestuff.blogs.the-dispatch.com/10330/reporting-zeek-a-story-of-timing-talent-and-truth/


Somebody left their Zeek PR machine on zombie life-support. This was just released on 04-SEP-2012

Supposedly some fans of Bidify posted a video that says some rather famous fan of Zeek is going to jail as a part of criminal conspiracy. Phooey. That's pot calling the kettle black.

pot calling the kettle black (Photo credit: marktcorbin)