• psmgx@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Wonder how many were bots, like Ashley Madison, that exist to pump numbers and increase engagement

  • affiliate@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    ”Money making is a skill,” the website states. “We will teach you how to master it.”

    step 1: convince people to pay you 50$ for access to your deranged ramblings.

    there is no step 2

  • gcheliotis@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Omg 800,00 people (presumably mostly young men) signed up for that bullshit? Have we failed so many that they will seek help with the top douchebag himself?

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com
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    6 hours ago

    Read the article, it’s so much better than the headline lets on. Trolled him, email addresses, full forum and chat content, etc.

  • Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works
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    1 hour ago

    Data brokers will now have a new set of identities for Insecure White Male with No Financial Literacy.

  • Vanth@reddthat.com
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    7 hours ago

    Whoo, which would be more embarrassing? Being exposed by this leak or the Ashley Madison one. I would love to see a list of email addresses that show up in both datasets.

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      One of the takeaways of AM being hacked was that a ton of accounts were fake, and existed to create the idea of a busy site, to add social proof and validity-by-numbers.

      The AM hacks were like decade and change ago, and Tate’s fanbase is mostly younger. I’m sure there is some overlap but probably small.

  • stoy@lemmy.zip
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    8 hours ago

    It’s interesting, the first time I saw a picture of Tate I only saw cringe, and that has not changed.

  • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    I take as a positive point that I had no idea who this Andrew taint guy was before the he was arrested or whatever the fuck.

    • VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca
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      7 hours ago

      At 50$ a pop it’s 40 000 000$ Grifters gonna grift ! Sometimes I hate that I have morals stopping me from exploiting those morons.

      • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        It’s worse than you think; it’s $50/month!

        Now part of the problem is we don’t know the average membership length, and it’s further complicated by the fact that the Tate brothers ran the ‘school’ like a pyramid scheme where enrolling another member earned you a kick-back (which is why so many random channels popped up a few years back sharing clips).

        So pulling random numbers out of my arse, if the average membership period was ~6 months and they had ~30% operating expenses (servers, bandwidth, kickbacks etc.) they could have netted ~$168m from this scheme.

        I too, share your self-loathing in my morals preventing me from exploiting these absolute morons.

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.ee
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      11 hours ago

      i think registration and actually sending any money will be two separate steps, but it is still lot of dumb people.

      • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works
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        11 hours ago

        Yup, was one of the first bits I thought of too…

        I still paraphrase his “your stuff is shit, my shit is stuff” to this day… 😅

        We really need someone to fill the massive shoes he left behind - an individual able to call out all the egregious bullshit.

  • TJA!@sh.itjust.works
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    10 hours ago

    800.000 people?

    Talking bullshit seems to pay very good

    <edit> yes not everyone was paying, but still: </edit>

    If accurate, the site at minimum would generate upwards of $5,650,000 every month.

  • RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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    11 hours ago

    My friend’s brother almost fell victim to this cult. If he’s anything to go by most members will be vulnerable idiots.

    • ChronosTriggerWarning@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      I talked my then 17yo nephew away from the whole Tate/Peterson/Rogan sphere a couple years ago. It’s really sad how few quality role models there are for young men these days, and these shills are happily filling the spaces.

    • Dasnap@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      It’s good that people are able to get out of it, though. How’s he doing nowadays?