It’s not us that need convincing.

Every now and again (today being the latest incident), someone comes to the site, says “XXXXXX is a scammer.  They were acting suspicious.” and expects us to allow that report to stay.  Here’s the problem with that.  There’s no actual scam proof.  Nine times out of ten, it’s pretty obvious to us that the profile or story is “scammy”, but “scammy” isn’t “scam proof” and that’s what we need.

Imagine for a moment that someone is talking to a scammer and is having suspicions about him, so they do a search and find us.  They look at the thread, see someone claiming the person they’re talking to is a scammer, but see no scam proof.  They confront the scammer, but the evidence is so weak that they can handwave it away by claiming it to be a bitter ex on a vendetta against them.  Now the person is even more hooked by the scammer’s story and it becomes much harder to help them.  That’s why proof is so important, and not just circumstantial proof but real proof.  You’re not having to persuade us it’s a scammer.  You’re having to persuade the next person that comes along that he is.