However, it is not though. Assuming he speaks of "our reputation" as in mystery shoppers, it is not. One company offers the test and requires 70% that I'm aware of. So it is difficult to say that the op is doing anything but rousing the crowd for what can only be to feed the ego? And who here is not clear on basic vocabulary like proceed? And it is obvious that many posters change their names and/or add names and I have concluded that this is what has happened here. And it is boring and disrupting.

News flash. I did not know that any MSC used such a test. It is interesting for me to know that at least one MSC uses that. It is interesting for me to find out how other shoppers have responded to an opinion and a request for information. As for "our reputation", there are a few ways to think about that. One is the obvious: we reasonably assume that if we are members, we are mystery shoppers, schedulers, editors, MSC or other industry reps, or simply interested parties. And talking of parties:

@spicy1 wrote:

And it is boring and disrupting.

What? Y'all people got bored and hijacked a thread because the disruption was amusing for you? Is this, somehow, good for any mystery shopper's reputation?

I see you're bored also. Mama always said "You can't make somethin' outta nothin'"

Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice.

@spicy1 wrote:

I see you're bored also. Mama always said "You can't make somethin' outta nothin'"

It was a bore to read the hijackers' posts. That little stunt disrupted my learning process. I am interested in the topic of this thread. I am not so jaded that I have forgotten the potential usefulness of questions and answers in this forum, and especially this board. If I were a newbie, I would have left the forum because of the hijackers. I would have sought appropriate examples elsewhere.

As a medium-timer, I have located better examples elsewhere.

Mama taught me well.

You have found better examples of mystery shopping elsewhere? Not! Share where then. They don't want newbies to believe that there is a test that is paramount to "our" reputation when it's not. Is it to you? And what do you look like, backing something like this? And if you're interested in the topic on this thread, why not speak of the topic on the thread instead of bothering with me or any of the high-jackers? lol, you're funny

Has anyone in addition to griff and JAS bothered to Google the OP? He is prominently featured in Rip Off Reports about the other business. Reports including taking people's money and providing nothing of value along with speculation the user name here is among many aliases the owner himself utilizes.

So we have someone whose provenance is dubious at best, knows nothing about this business other than what he has gleaned here, presents himself as if he is the owner by acting like the welcome wagon and including links to articles from the magazine in almost every post and there are still members, or at least one member, who thinks he is hunky dory and the rest of us are just big old meanies?

I will say this one thing for him, and only this one, he is a polite troll.

I was surprised to see that anyone would fall for this. But people fall for cults, strange leaders and scams all of the time. I guess it's true. I was speaking to shopetal as I would my sister or daughter when confronted with such a thing. Then again, there comes a time when you have to say you did all you could.

Apparently, what you did was assume that your view of the matter would suffice for all persons.

I am a good and lifelong learner. I would like to know more about the tests that MSCs use voluntarily and at the request of their clients. There was the beginning of an opportunity for the forum members to look more deeply into those types of test, beginning with X-O or A-B.

What a few forum members did was magnify their apparently unfounded fears and concerns into a virtual mushroom cloud that disrupted a potentially informative and educational thread.

So, Glen Fuller uses the services and insights of @#$%&. Many forum members have used the services of the forum members who post in an advisory or instructive capacity. Some members spend money (invest it in themselves/their work?) for the costs associated with attending training sessions regarding assorted types of work in this large industry. Many deduct it at tax time.

Are we or are we not free to spend it in other ways if we wish to do so or believe it is beneficial for us? We are free, as long as we do not allow ourselves to be over-controlled by a few forum members. We choose. I chose. I provide more information about my choice later.

Is there only one way for all mystery shoppers to learn? That is the foundational question. I provide a partial answer to it.

Why were some members so riled up about the offering of a service for free? After all, the members provide information and nonsense for free on this forum. Were any forum members afraid that they would lose control of the on-board training or the at-conference training sessions? Were they afraid that if members found or developed other teaching/learning opportunities, they would be displaced and their current roles or status could be altered? These questions arose when I reflected upon the posts of others who have accused or made aspersions about @#$%& as a cult leader or the like. Did some of the forum members act that way themselves, when they attempted to control the flow of information and to influence how other forum members would interpret or utilize information? Have some forum members appointed themselves as the be-all and end-all of information about all matters which may directly and/or indirectly influence this large industry and have they gone so far as to attempt to influence or determine how we as ICs and alleged individuals shall be allowed to be within this large industry?

_______________

I have used the information about the existence of X-O and A-B as the basis for an off-board learning opportunity. I would have enjoyed an actual on-board instruction about this. However, tptb in the form of some forum members precluded that no-cost educational opportunity. I did not lose money, but I lost an educational opportunity. I lost time by wading through the debris of a hijacking when in hopes of locating additional information that was relevant to the topic of the thread and of interest to me.

As mentioned earlier, I am a good and lifelong learner. I used these personal strengths and located other educational opportunities for myself. These do not involve persons who would dare to attempt to block my educational opportunities based upon their own views. These opportunities involve the presentation of information that allows me to think, to practice, to reflect, and to learn without disruption from others who would dare to decide for me what and how I shall learn. Thus, my ongoing education which is directly and indirectly useful for me in life and in this large industry has been liberated.

Hyperbolic rhetoric doesn't make a case stronger, it only further exaggerates the gag reflex in listeners. Neither you, nor he, if he is not in fact you, seem sufficiently weak to allow disruption in your learning/teaching processes.

Spicy, I was wondering the same thing.

Most forum members are probably life long learners, too. Many are learning mystery shopping as a second career after retirement. Kudos to all!

The problem for me is that Dave has a website for folks who want to be a Private Investigator. Part of the exam is answering the X-O sequence. Instead of assisting his students, Dave sends his students to this forum for answers. X-O is more of a riddle than anything else. The key to answering correctly is knowing the meaning of the word "precede." [answers.yahoo.com]

Dave charges $60 for his online class. If you succeed, for another $35 you get what is described as a spiffy badge.

However, students have complained about bait and switch. They are paying to learn to become PIs, but Dave encourages them to become mystery shoppers. That is why he sends his students here for answers. Folks sign up and become familiar with the forum thus making it easier for Dave to encourage them to become mystery shoppers rather than PIs because he can't offer PI work for the students he graduates. Dave makes a false equivalence that PIs and MSers use the same skill set and perform the same services. That is why his responses use terminology that is not consistent with the rest of the forum, e.g., cases vs shops, undercover vs blending in, investigating vs observing. In one recent post, he actually suggested that an MSer use her "investigative skills" to find out if the MSC's owner was a PI. The answer to question does not benefit a mystery shopper, but Dave is trying to create a link between this forum, and mystery shopping in general, and his for-profit training. His "international private investigator union" has no job for graduates, so he shunts them into mystery shopping. Bait and switch.

Most likely, Dave is Jeremy Lancaster. [usacomplaints.com]

@bgriffin wrote:

So the ipui place sends this Glen Fuller person here for help with some kind of test. Then he asks about the Sinclair test which apparently has a name X-O (or A- test, which he is trying to pass. Now this guy comes on here talking about the test, using the same verbiage. Then going on to talk about having to testify in court about what you observed as a mystery shopper. Something that I know of no mystery shopper ever doing. Not that it's never happened, just haven't heard about it. If you google this new guy's name and private investigator lo and behold you find lots of posts on the ipui place. In fact from the threads that are visible it seems that most of the posts on that forum come from one of these two new guys. Yet this new guy commented on Glen's thread with a link to this one in a way that didn't say but insinuated that the two did not have any previous interaction about the subject. Kind of like, oh yeah, someone else talking about this, read what I wrote. Except not. So, I'm curious what's going on because something smells wrong.

And your instincts are so spot on, griff. Anyone noticed that Glen Fuller seems to have disappeared after paving the ground the for the grand entrance of @#$%&?

Forum members, for your reading pleasure (or displeasure) about ipiu and @#$%& (aka: Jeremy Lancaster, Robert Donovan, Sara Livingston, Lance Jefferson, @#$%&, Julie Steward and Veronica Pena).

[www.ripoffreport.com]

You paying attention and learning now, shop-et-al?

We crossposted, Chris. This guy is dangerous and the forum admins need to shut him DOWN.

Yikes!

Good sleuthing on the part of both ChrisCooper & JASFLALMT; mot meaning to imply you are ready to be a PI

...and News Flash: Our reputations are already sullied.

@JacobJ, There's enough evidence above to make the scam being perpetrated by this poster pretty clear. Can we shut down this user and remove his posts now?

Jas, if you and Chris Cooper would post your research on the Meta board, there might be a better chance of Jacob seeing it and taking action. Kudos to both of you.

Good point.

I read what you folks say including the insults but I was over at the scm shoppers corner getting my certs and all

Glen, would you mind telling us what you were promised when you signed up for the PI class? Why did Dave suggest that you join this forum? Were you aware of the scam reports previously?

Glen, are you aware that you were possibly being used as a schill for DC to infiltrate the forum?

Glen, it's either "I read what you folks said (comma).....including the insults (period).....(two spaces, new sentence, Capital B....." or it's "I am reading what you folks say.....(comma)...."

How lovely that you're "style" is exactly the opposites of David's, and how convenient.
The style of an over-achiever who is so over-achieved that he's socially awkward and that of a dwarfed IQ.

It's entirely reasonable that we would be suspicious of you, Glen, not knowing if you are actually Dave pretending to be someone who has trouble with grammar, spelling, and other basic functions of the English language. No offense if you are really Glen, but where is Dave to defend himself? Every other day since he joined he has been posting throughout the day. It's nearly 1:30 PM EST and he's nowhere to be found. Of course, now that I have posted that, he will probably show up.

I think it's Sybil, with nothing better to do. Like me, today, responding to this exciting post.

I disagree on that. I know you and Sybil had a less than pleasant history and she loved to instigate, but this is not her style in my opinion. If she wanted to stir some chit she would just pop up as herself.

David never promised me any thing he actually came here on his own accord

But he sent you here. You already wrote that earlier. How perfect, don't you see it's part of a setup (if you are really Glen and not David)?

@spicy1 wrote:

Glen, it's either "I read what you folks said (comma).....including the insults (period).....(two spaces, new sentence, Capital B....." or it's "I am reading what you folks say.....(comma)...."

How lovely that you're "style" is exactly the opposites of David's, and how convenient.
The style of an over-achiever who is so over-achieved that he's socially awkward and that of a dwarfed IQ.

Spicy, I didn't even consider that Glen was an "alter" of Dave's. But, I do believe that most of the new members who joined this past week are aliases for Dave or students of his that he encouraged to join.

no I was not aware of that do you have hard core proof of this, because when I join up over here I asked to define the diff in some words you all blew it out of proportions and thought I was asking for answers I don't want the answers at all that's cheating to me

@Glen Fuller –– I think it would help clear things up if you clearly explained your relationship with Dave.