There is no shame in admitting you got scammed
One of the things you may not realize with things like YouTube, Facebook, Disqus, and most comment systems are that people like me read the comments via email. This means after deleting your comment, I still get to read it, and with some of the platform tools I also get to see how the messages were modified before eventually being deleted.
TL;DR – Paul’s been reflecting on tech scams and misleading advertising lately.
This has happened a lot lately as due to slow news days I’ve been trying a bit more to help people not be conned.
You might not know that while I review product and make enough to keep Pocketables running (barely, it’s just paying for itself,) I don’t push product unless I lurve it (looking at you Roborock S7, which I love, and not at you Roborock H7.) If something’s crap or a scam, I either don’t review it or occasionally leave comments on FB ads that the advertising is scammy and misleading along with documentation of why.
Lately I’ve been leaving a lot of FB advertising comments for products I actually like but their advertising departments have decided to present in very, very scammy formats. Also for a few products that were straight up garbage and have amazing advertising departments that their ads hold little account to reality.
I do hate that this is the case, but it’s really not worth my time on Pocketables to tear down most things to give a bad review. Our acquisition model (PR companies have to not completely hate us,) and my free time mean that shoots me in the foot (kiss that PR agency’s contacts goodbye,) although it does provide for some interesting articles when a complete and total scam has been delivered to me.
On the sosh meeds I’ve been getting a lot of defensive people lately who think spending $1500 for $280 worth of mostly premade parts that work significantly less than advertising tends to suggest is somehow not being scammed. Somehow my dislike of $50 batteries that barely hold a charge and a customer service department that will straight up not respond, well somehow that’s me being against everything good and green in the world.
Showing the physical impossibility of something performing as advertised, I get someone positing that it “feels like it will” so of course the numbers are wrong.
You got scammed, were mislead, numbers or experience prove it. It’s not a reflection on your worth as a person or even how gullible you are (usually.) I understand people don’t like being scammed or looking like they didn’t know something, but sticking up for the scammer is something that I thought only happened these days in political circles. I feel like this has really changed with the Kickstarter generation and brands inviting you to become a part of their journey.
I tell my kids when they say I’m always right that that is completely and demonstrably false. I learned what I know about computers, the internet, web design, etc by making massive amounts of mistakes – admitting them, and fixing them. I made so many mistakes on computers that I know how to fix the mistakes I make when I’m trying to diagnose things. Same with life.
I’ve been scammed by a professional con artist couple. I’ve purchased miracle cures that did nothing. I’ve fallen for the hype of vaporware. I’ve watched as faux “developers” pushed and continue to push garbage for years by explaining that their software, which is the exact same as anything else, is somehow better because they tweaked something and need money for coffee.
Why yes, I too can change the kernel name and recompile it and say it’s better and someone who just flashed, cleared their caches, and is launching fresh will agree and be my spokesperson. (psst – it always runs differently)
Every time this is exposed there seem to be an army of people sticking up for the product, the imagined experience, the “developer,” the service, or the con. It makes breaking the chain of income for the offender that much more difficult because a bunch of people who don’t want to admit they fell for something they didn’t understand will rise up and make life … not miserable, but warp reality, double down on belief, and close one’s ears while screaming “you just don’t understand…”
The scammed become that scammer’s tools to scam more. Don’t be a tool.
So yeah, if you don’t understand it, don’t stand in front of people who are demonstrating that it can’t work. Either understand, or don’t engage. You can be wrong. You can be a victim of of scam. You can have been overcharged because you didn’t know. You can have followed a cult of personality developer. This isn’t a reflection of your worth as a person.
I’m saying this quite a bit to the people who commented, edited, and then deleted their comments as I have no way to really respond, but also as a general life lesson.
Drop the scammy dev. Admit those batteries cost 20x as much as a normal battery and you’re only through cycle 5 and wondering why they die so quickly. Understand that a gallon of gas can get a motorcycle 86 miles but move a semi less than 5. No shame in being wrong and learning.
