The professional bashers stay in business for a reason: they are good at what they do and they will always profit from the losses you sustain when you follow their advice.
This is how Bashers work:

They will do their best to remain anonymous or use a fake identity.
They will use about 10% fact and 90% suggestion. The carefully chosen and carefully placed facts are there to lend credibility to the rest of what they say, which is merely unfounded suggestion intended to deceive.
To start with, they wait for others to help you learn about whatever stock interests you. Then they develop rapport and build a support base before initiating their bashing routine.
They will enter the discussion with humor and will reply to everyone else who replies to their target’s postings.
A single basher often will use two or more aliases to make it appear that a discussion has begun. He or she will post from multiple ISP’s and use multiple “handles.”
The basher usually does not start with an all-out slam of the stock. He or she will build up to the bashing over a period of time.
Bashers will identify their foe, usually the board’s "guru." Then the clever bashers will use them to their own advantage and lead them, but they will not follow the “guru’s” lead.
Bashers only bash until the tide and momentum turns, then they simply let doubt carry their message the rest of the way.
Bashers try to give the appearance of being open-minded.
Bashers are bold in their statements, knowing that people like to follow strength.
Bashers like to write headlines in capital letters and use catchy phrases.
Bashers will “pour it on” as their position gains momentum.
Bashers don't worry about being labeled a "basher," since the current newbie being targeted won't know the basher’s history.
When identified, a basher will put up a brief fight, then back off and return in an hour or so. But if a basher’s foe is a weak in reasoning powers, the basher will just come on even stronger and push ahead with the bashing.
If a basher is discredited, he or she will change aliases, maybe change the gender of the alias, and continue on that board or another one.
A basher’s goal is to limit the momentum of the run, but not to tank the company or create a plunge in the stock; thus a basher will tend to be subtle and consistent.
The basher is out to kill the dreams of profits, but not the company or the stock itself.
Bashers use questions to create critical thinking, but they guide the critical thinking toward their own intended conclusion. What is posted ends up not actually being critical thinking on the part of the investor; it just looks like it is. The investor feels informed but, in reality, the basher has guided the thinking.
Bashers try to look nice. They don’t lie, use profanity, or resort to name-calling.
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reply to bashers: they EARN money.
Many naive investors still do not get it and keep on adding on their thread.
When you REPLY to bashers, did you realize that you are giving them an opportunity to earn $5 - $7. The service agreement they enter into with their employer states that their messages will be monitored for content, profanity, lies, etc. but their bosses don't have the time to check all their bashers’ messages.

Most bashers know that their messages will get only occasional spot checks, sometimes not even a check of the entire message. Those who manage the basher will generally read the headlines to see if a basher is replying to other posters by name. That tells them the basher isn't just "posting blindly" or repeating the same message over and over. The company will not pay for those kinds of messages. A basher will attempt to milk three to five replies per post at one to two dollars each. That way the basher spreads negative influence to as many stockholders as possible. A basher will create a new discussion thread because that takes less time than reading other people’s posts and writing a real reply. This practice allows the basher more time to post and more time to make money. NEVER ENGAGE A BASHER. Make them read the legitimate posts and think up ways to enter the existing discussions, if they really want to earn their money this way.

NEVER ENGAGE A STOCK BASHER; if you do, YOU BECOME THE BASHER'S HELPER!

Read the news, do your own homework, and make your own decisions. Get real time quotes and follow the stock for a couple of weeks. Due Diligence is key here. Know that there will be a time when the stock runs up; this will be followed by the bashers as well as by those that simply missed the boat. The bashers will trash the stock by saying such things as "it's a Pump and Dump," "the company is lying," or some other statement designed to deceive shareholders like you who did their homework. The basher’s goal is to scare off newbies and any more potential new investors by "shaking" you out of your shares. Take the time to confirm your Due Diligence, trust your own judgment and believe in yourself. Pick your point of return or loss and live with it. Don't listen to pumpers or bashers. Instead, set rules for yourself and then live by them. Trust yourself, not the bashers.

KNOW YOUR BASHER!

MASTER BASHER
Will join the message board early and actually "pump" the stock with positives. This basher is very intelligent and has the facts of the company readily at hand. He or she actually helps longs with Due Diligence and generally gets the confidence of the stockholders. When the stock hits the master basher’s desired price, however, the tone will change. The basher begins to show his or her intentions and will start asking longs to check into this, that, or the other. The seeds of doubt are planted. The basher will then start using all the usual tactics to nurse those seeds of doubt into full-grown suspicions that begin to take on a life of their own.

To guard against the Master Basher: Always look at the profile of a person you suspect to be a basher. Ask what stocks he or she has “supported” in the past and check out the message board. An honest person will have a positive track record that can be followed. This person is out to steal your money and intends to do it by deception and by creating fear after gaining your confidence. If the basher has no history, you may be up against a basher who has taken a new alias. If so, you have caught him (or her). But be careful, the master basher is very clever and is not easy to spot.

EXPERT BASHER
Posts lots of old news; responds to all positive posts with a negative side. Never responds to being called a basher; always posts on the same message board. This basher may spend up to 80 hours a week on the same board, bashing the same stock.

ADVANCED BASHER
The advanced basher is quite articulate and always claims to be your friend, starting out by taking the positive poster into his or her “confidence,” then sharing the “bad news” about the stock of interest. This basher also posts on a single board, sticking there for as much as 60 hours a week, all that time bashing a single stock.

INTERMEDIATE BASHER
Spends less time than the others but is somewhat effective and easily excitable. The intermediate level basher will spend approximately 40 hours a week bashing a single stock on a single message board.

JUNIOR BASHER
The junior basher is not too hard to spot. He or she has yet to learn the basics about being convincing when making negative statements. This youngster still spends a fair amount of time working the stock, usually about 20 hours a week.

NOVICE BASHER
The novice basher is a complete idiot, and most readers are convinced that this person knows very little about stocks in general. This is the type of poster who will say a stock "sucks," but will give no rational reason for making the claim. The novice isn’t very dangerous, unless the investor is just as ignorant, since he or she only shows up from time to time and has no regular schedule.

Countless investors find their way to the message boards only to see false posts about "SEC Violations" and "Class action suits." Such boards are filled with bashers using a variety of aliases, posting false or misleading information, all in all making it very difficult for a newcomer to tell truth from fiction.

For nervous investors, it is often easier to sell the stock and put the money in the bank. These are the people on whom the bashers prey. Bashers bet on a stock to go down and they do their best to help it happen. They are not concerned with the risk of loosing money like the average investor, because they are usually paid to bash the stock. In other words, they are not using their personal funds and are not actually investing themselves, or at least not in that stock. Additionally, bashers do not wait for the markets to go up or down; they make them move themselves. Bashers use fear, lies, and falsehoods to prey on the nervous investor, thus influencing the markets in their favor.


LESSON 1

Bashers never bash bad stocks. You can watch the board for stocks with no potential. You’ll see pretty quickly that those stocks don’t have bashers. Bashers only go after stocks that are going upwards or have excellent potential to go up. Bashers get left behind, so they want to bring the price down.


LESSON 2

Bashers bring up old news that you have heard many times.

New start-up companies always have a few bits of bad news. The basher will post these bits over and over again. The stupid basher will try to make the old news a bit fresher to try to fool you. Don’t be fooled!


LESSON 3

Bashers post many times a day. They try to wear you out. They comment on everything, every other post, and can answer every question. To hear them say it, they know it all.

There is no positive comment they won't bash. They try to control the board with their negativity. If they seem to be working on this one stock full time, that’s because they are! Even more than full-time.


LESSON 4

Bashers will lie to your face (or your keyboard). Never trust a basher. The truth on start-up companies is that many mistakes are made and losses happen. The basher will try to make you believe all start-up companies make a profit, release financials every quarter, and have all aspects of the business running smoothly from the start. This is not true. Anyone who says it is true is either lying or ignorant. Don’t listen to either kind. Start-up companies can go years without profits; this is the nature of the beast.


LESSON 5

Bashers know that you can’t verify their statements. That's why they make the statements they do. You can’t check them out and you may just believe them and then they win. Either way, they don’t lose.


LESSON 6

Bashers play on your lack of knowledge. They count on the fact that they can lie about information and you won’t know the difference. And you won’t, unless you have done your assessment of the company and know truth from lie.

LESSON 7

Bashers play on your lack of patience. You have held a penny stock for a while, knowing it will be a big penny stock someday. The basher can get to you because you are tired of waiting for your gain. When you are getting your plan, you are ripe for a bashing. You are tired and you’ve forgotten that the goal for the penny stock was to hold it for one year, then see where it stands. The basher is bothersome and tiring, so you dump it on a bad day and so do others. Then you get angry about your loss and you return to the board to let everyone know how mad you are. Congratulations, you too have become a basher. The basher has won and gained a new, unwitting, partner. At this point the basher will buy low and become a pumper, maybe using a new alias, and will try to reverse the trend. Your loss becomes the basher’s gain as your penny stock rises after you sell it.


LESSON 8

The basher is all about bringing the price down. That is the nature of a basher. The truth is not important; lies are the norm. They are trying to hit the newbies visiting the board for the first time, so they post continuously throughout the day. They are trying to wear out the longs on the board and they will do whatever it takes to do so.


LESSON 9

Bashers will try to create doubt and get you to research items that they know will lead to the creation of doubt in you and in other stockholders. A typical trick of an advanced basher is to propose that there is a potential "problem" because "we" don't have the facts on a particular subject. The basher dares someone in the group to find out the answer to the question. The basher already knows the answer and knows what you will find. The power of this tactic is that the basher is now in control of the actions of the stockholders; the basher has you in his web of lies. Most stockholders will do due diligence when confronted with a questionable news story. When the stockholder cannot confirm or deny the story because of too much conflicting information, the basher gains credibility.

What do you do?

It is important to find answers on your own terms. Pick up the phone and call the company, talk to the investor relations person or the CEO until you get a satisfactory answer. The problem here is that the advanced basher has you doing his bidding; you have essentially joined his ranks. So, develop your own little “Due Diligence Package” and answer questions by placing the information into the package. Then you can refer new investors to read your well-researched answers to questions raised in the Investor Information package.

What you need to avoid is getting into a conversation with the basher himself or herself about the topic. Once you get into direct conversation with a basher, you give the basher credibility. Answer the question if you need to, but do it indirectly. Never use the basher’s name. Never get into a personality contest with a basher!
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