It does mean that not-scams should find ways to signal that they aren’t scams, and the fact that something does not signal not-scam is itself strong evidence of scam.
Surely scammers will be more motivated to find good signals, and will have more opportunity to experiment with what works and what does not. Someone effectively signaling that they are a non-scam should be a hallmark of a scam.… which is why smart people like us need a long thread like this to explain to us how the scam works.
It might not be easy to figure out good signals that can’t be replicate by scammers though. More importantly, and what I think MarsColony_in10years is getting at, even if you can find hard to copy signals they are unlikely to be without costs of their own and it is unfortunate that scammers are forcing these costs on legitimate charities.
It does mean that not-scams should find ways to signal that they aren’t scams, and the fact that something does not signal not-scam is itself strong evidence of scam.
Surely scammers will be more motivated to find good signals, and will have more opportunity to experiment with what works and what does not. Someone effectively signaling that they are a non-scam should be a hallmark of a scam.… which is why smart people like us need a long thread like this to explain to us how the scam works.
It might not be easy to figure out good signals that can’t be replicate by scammers though. More importantly, and what I think MarsColony_in10years is getting at, even if you can find hard to copy signals they are unlikely to be without costs of their own and it is unfortunate that scammers are forcing these costs on legitimate charities.