You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit
With a focus on the online phenomena of scamming and scambaiting, this article explores users’ communicative activities on Reddit’s r/scambait subreddit. Drawing on a representative corpus viewed through grounded theory, we establish the basic categories of posts and then unpack those further to rev...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2021-08-01
|
Series: | Social Media + Society |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211035698 |
id |
doaj-8345aebc91994327b4fb4c8e77b2a822 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-8345aebc91994327b4fb4c8e77b2a8222021-08-11T05:04:49ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512021-08-01710.1177/20563051211035698You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on RedditMarta Dynel0Andrew S. Ross1Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, LithuaniaUniversity of Sydney, AustraliaWith a focus on the online phenomena of scamming and scambaiting, this article explores users’ communicative activities on Reddit’s r/scambait subreddit. Drawing on a representative corpus viewed through grounded theory, we establish the basic categories of posts and then unpack those further to reveal the deceptive practices being undertaken by both scammers and scambaiters, as well as Redditors’ untruthfulness in their fabricated posts. The analysis reveals that the r/scambait subreddit exists as a site of humorous entertainment arising from various forms of deception. Scammers’ deceptive strategies are depicted as amusingly naïve and inefficient, while scambaiters’ deceptive messages targeted at scammers demonstrate great creativity and wittiness. In both cases, scammer-victims are disparaged for being immensely gullible or downright stupid; and Redditors earn online plaudits for submitting the most upvoted posts. Our significant finding is that posts such as those at r/scambait should never be taken at face value due to their inherent epistemological ambiguity, to which the users choose to remain oblivious or indifferent. Furthermore, on a general plane, this study indicates a potential shift in the emic understanding of the concept of “scambaiting” from a punitive measure and an educational instrument to a creative practice geared toward posters’ kudos and users’ joint humorous experience through “baitertainment” and “scamusement.”https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211035698 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Marta Dynel Andrew S. Ross |
spellingShingle |
Marta Dynel Andrew S. Ross You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit Social Media + Society |
author_facet |
Marta Dynel Andrew S. Ross |
author_sort |
Marta Dynel |
title |
You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit |
title_short |
You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit |
title_full |
You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit |
title_fullStr |
You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit |
title_full_unstemmed |
You Don’t Fool Me: On Scams, Scambaiting, Deception, and Epistemological Ambiguity at R/scambait on Reddit |
title_sort |
you don’t fool me: on scams, scambaiting, deception, and epistemological ambiguity at r/scambait on reddit |
publisher |
SAGE Publishing |
series |
Social Media + Society |
issn |
2056-3051 |
publishDate |
2021-08-01 |
description |
With a focus on the online phenomena of scamming and scambaiting, this article explores users’ communicative activities on Reddit’s r/scambait subreddit. Drawing on a representative corpus viewed through grounded theory, we establish the basic categories of posts and then unpack those further to reveal the deceptive practices being undertaken by both scammers and scambaiters, as well as Redditors’ untruthfulness in their fabricated posts. The analysis reveals that the r/scambait subreddit exists as a site of humorous entertainment arising from various forms of deception. Scammers’ deceptive strategies are depicted as amusingly naïve and inefficient, while scambaiters’ deceptive messages targeted at scammers demonstrate great creativity and wittiness. In both cases, scammer-victims are disparaged for being immensely gullible or downright stupid; and Redditors earn online plaudits for submitting the most upvoted posts. Our significant finding is that posts such as those at r/scambait should never be taken at face value due to their inherent epistemological ambiguity, to which the users choose to remain oblivious or indifferent. Furthermore, on a general plane, this study indicates a potential shift in the emic understanding of the concept of “scambaiting” from a punitive measure and an educational instrument to a creative practice geared toward posters’ kudos and users’ joint humorous experience through “baitertainment” and “scamusement.” |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211035698 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT martadynel youdontfoolmeonscamsscambaitingdeceptionandepistemologicalambiguityatrscambaitonreddit AT andrewsross youdontfoolmeonscamsscambaitingdeceptionandepistemologicalambiguityatrscambaitonreddit |
_version_ |
1721211633107206144 |