1. I assumed I could align scammers by communicating the principles and beliefs that align me to open source, and linking them to the financial benefits this has brought me.
Open source skills have given me good revenue, the ability to recognize value, and the ability to build and run businesses. I've assumed this aligns with the scammer's ultimate desire to generate revenue.
2. I assumed that scammers would prefer a legitimate way of creating revenue, if it were offered
Scamming is hard, carries risks, and has low payoffs. In my view, coding is easy given good learning materials and mentorship, has low risks since you can easily find work under a boss, and has high payoff because you can easily eliminate the boss and start a company.
My assumptions are not realistic:
1. Scammers are motivated by the idea of victimizing others. It's not just a need to create revenue - it's a need to do it by hurting others.
2. Scammers see coding as the "harder alternative". I discount how difficult it is to learn to code, even with mentorship.
In the end, the only thing I succeed at is stringing them along. And this is ultimately because my rationale is so naive that they see me as a gullible target.
It has been very disheartening to realize that scammers interact with me only because my principles and theories make me seem like an easily exploited target.
But that's where I'm at, lol.
It might be best to quit while I'm ahead, so to speak. I'm probably lucky that I haven't run into someone skilled enough to find leverage that can extort me.
