₦airaland Forum

For everyone viewing the pictures, i feel this is voyeurism which isn't nice - those children are small kids. Moving on from that i've always felt that both kids do not look American - the younger one (is that Malia?) particularly looks like a Sudanese kid. They are cute though

in addition to my initial email this are things you need to consider - some people on this forum have mentioned some of the points
(1) Consider music. It's impossible to stammer while singing - try talking up music as a hobby, it would help
(2) Substitute the difficult words with easier words
(3) pray pray pray
(4) Rid yourself off fear because fear has a way of worsening stammering
(5) Avoid people who are impatient - people who are impatient would put pressure on you when you are communicating with them. This would create fear and pressure in you and worsen your stammering so if you have friends or mates who are constantly impatient whenever you are chatting with them, try to avoid such people

First to comment

Stop looking down on yourself. You can be successful even as a stammerer. Moses in the bible was a stammerer, MKO Abiola of blessed memory ( at a time Africa 's richest man) was a stammerer, Gareth Gates is a stammerer. The problems you think you have are no problem at all. They are imaginary problems you have made up in your head. Build your self confidence my guy

It matters because a girl from a broken home will have nobody to look up to and no inspiration and motivation to work towards sustaining her marriage

Ikengawo: Let's stop celebrating mediocricy.
The song was trash, has no point and is not memorable or noteworthy
the video is only shot with a standard 2012 HD camera, that doesn't make it quality, there are youtube videos with the same resolution so don't be wow'd by shininess. Look at the details. The woman 'smashes' the TV but they use a cheap CGI 'glass break' effect because they couldn't afford to smash an actual TV.
the woman 'smashes' the car window and it's the same thing. Mind you it's all completely pointless so you can't say the video was 'quality' there was nothing special about it.

The only reason I would say any of these things is because im worried at the level of 'america wanna-be' the nigerian music and movie industry is taking. We were able to be #1 in africa because for the first time we were showing the world africa. I don't think there has been a video shot in africa this year and the enthuasiasm for the music and movies are dying because instead of being africa we've become the cheap version of America. Sad thing is now we appeal neither to americans or nigerians. I hope this is just a foolish trend. These artists are getting arrogant and thinking anything they put out is gold. If you look at this years biggest hits

Kukere
Ile Ijo
Chop My Money
Pakuromo
Dami Duro
Nwa Baby

they still sounded very african, looked african, and used africans as the stars of the video.
This is a disappointment.

so what did you expect him to do? to wear agbada in his video?

i still do number 3 till date

14th to comment

listen to your ipod

daroz: Mine is this...., a girl I was seriously toasting back in school then just unexpectedly called me to pls buy takeaway fried rice, chicken, salad and five alive juice and bring it straight to her hostel off camp within 30mins. So in other to imnpress her I had to quickly take Okada to d best eatery in town. I even bought her extra chicken and 2meatpile. But behold, when I got to her hostel I was surprised to see dat she was with a guy she immediately introduced as her boyfriend , and infact d guy was d one who actually need d food, cos he was sick and need to eat before he can take his medication. D painful thing about d incident was that they both were just Diplomal students, while I was already (proudly)in my 400level. In other to hide my anger and fustration and form big boy, I simply smiled, droped d food and last 1k with them, then left d place.
Despite I was latter able to date d girl a year latter when she came back as diect entry student, I can never ever forget d incident, considering d trauma I had to pass through all dat period. I couldn't even tell my close friends

but ypu ended up dating her so what's your stress?

daroz: Mine is this...., a girl I was seriously toasting back in school then just unexpectedly called me to pls buy takeaway fried rice, chicken, salad and five alive juice and bring it straight to her hostel off camp within 30mins. So in other to imnpress her I had to quickly take Okada to d best eatery in town. I even bought her extra chicken and 2meatpile. But behold, when I got to her hostel I was surprised to see dat she was with a guy she immediately introduced as her boyfriend , and infact d guy was d one who actually need d food, cos he was sick and need to eat before he can take his medication. D painful thing about d incident was that they both were just Diplomal students, while I was already (proudly)in my 400level. In other to hide my anger and fustration and form big boy, I simply smiled, droped d food and last 1k with them, then left d place.
Despite I was latter able to date d girl a year latter when she came back as diect entry student, I can never ever forget d incident, considering d trauma I had to pass through all dat period. I couldn't even tell my close friends

but you ended up dating her so what's your stress?

A Channel 4 News investigation reveals one of Britain's largest internet dating firms hired staff to trick customers into handing over more money - abusing their personal details in the process.


Millions of people looking for love sign up for internet dating sites every year. They hand over intimate details about their lives in the expectation they will meet genuine daters. They also expect their personal information will be looked after. However this trust is often abused as our special investigation into one of Britain's biggest internet dating companies has found.

Global Personals is one of the UK's largest internet dating companies. Headquartered in Windsor it makes £40m a year, has 130 staff and runs 7,500 dating sites.

But most of its 2.2m customers have never heard of the company. That is because it runs dating websites on behalf of other companies. For example, if you use the dating section of the Evening Standard or the Independent, it's actually Global Personals you're signing up with.

It's called "white labelling" - a well-known company can launch a dating website with the company's branding all over it, but Global Personals runs the back end. When a customer subscribes to the brand's site, Global Personals takes a share of the money.

Industrial-scale deception
Two former employees of Global Personals have described to Channel 4 News how the company carried out industrial-scale deception to dupe innocent daters into parting with their cash.

Ryan Pitcher and Tom (not his real name - he does not want to be identified) were recruited to join Global Personals' 30-strong team of "pseudos" - a dedicated team of staff whose job it was to set up and run fake profiles on the company's network of sites.

The team members would scour social networking websites and steal people's photos to use on their fake profiles.

Ryan said: "You'd take Helga from Iceland and make her into Helen from Manchester and write a profile. You'd use her features and invent a whole new person."

Each team member would be running as many as 15 different personalities: old and young, male and female. They would use these fake profiles to send flirty messages to innocent users - as many as 400 messages an hour were sent by the team.

Flirtatious messages
Global Personals tried hard to keep the practice a secret. New recruits had no idea what the role would involve until they started work, and were told not to discuss the job with friends or family.

Tom said: "On our first day we were taken into a room and given a pack explaining the role. I had reservations. Morally I didn't think it was acceptable, but I'd just arrived in a new role and I'd worked my notice in my last job so it was get on with it or be unemployed."

Most innocent users had no idea that the flirtatious messages in their inbox came from a fake profile created by Global Personals.

The point of the "pseudo" team was to convince innocent daters to part with cash. A user can register on a Global Personals website for free. But to reply to messages they must pay a subscription - usually around £20 a month. The more messages the pseudo team sent from their fake profiles, the more likely innocent users would be to subscribe, or continue their monthly subscriptions.


'It's all about greed'
Ryan said: "You're talking about thousands of messages, which means millions of pounds in subscription fees. In today's world it's all about money, all about greed. With fake profiles you can get 50 per cent more revenue, sometimes even more. That's attractive no matter how immoral that may be."

"A lot of the people on the site aren't the most attractive people in the world. In the real world they weren't going to find a date, so they sign up online because they see the adverts.

"They start messaging and it doesn't always work for them. So if they're not getting replies from real people then after a month they're going to sign off. The pseudo team could string along a girl or guy for up to 24 months, and they pay membership fees every month."

Eventually some of the innocent targets would request a face to face meeting, at which point the Global Personals employee, via their fake profile, would give them a convenient brush-off, for example, telling the innocent daters they'd met someone, or were moving away.

Ryan said: "It's all about stringing them along on tenterhooks with that pretence that eventually they'll meet up, or just swap telephone numbers. But as soon as that comes into play you move on; you tell them you're not going to be on the dating site any longer. There were loads of cop-outs you could use."

Fake flirting
Sometimes, having given an innocent user a brush-off from one fake profile, the pseudo team member would then message them from a different fake account to continue the fake flirting.

"Most people were talking to more than one pseudo," said Ryan. "Some people were only talking to fake people."

"At first it was kind of fun - something fresh something new. It's not a normal job. But after a while you'd see the same people on the site, the same old men and women - widows, for example, who just want to find love. If they're just talking to pseudos they're not going to find it. You're just stringing them along to get money out of their pensions. That did play on my mind a little bit."

Trading Standards in Windsor said it has had "ongoing dealings" with Global Personals regarding the company's alleged use of fake profiles, claims that Trading Standards takes very seriously. Channel 4 News's evidence has now been shared to see whether it provides proof of offences under legislation such as the fraud act.

In a statement, Global Personals said: ""Global Personals was one of the first online dating companies to stop using fake profiles. For almost three years we have actively encouraged other online dating businesses to also stop this practice."

The company claims it stopped using fake profiles in 2008. Ryan and Tom told Channel 4 News the pseudo team was wound up in 2010.

The success of the company's pseudo team means it has built up a database of 2.2m people. It now makes this stock of profiles available to its network of sites. So if your profile is on the database, it will appear on every site on the Global Personals network, regardless of whether you want it there or not.

Q&A: online dating scam
Channel 4 News producer Geoff White and correspondent Sarah Smith answer your questions on the #datingscam.

@hayleyphysics is it possible for these people to be prosecuted for fraud?
Geoff White: Trading Standards are looking into allegations-Fraud Act is a possibility

***

Enzo Stenson Should I be cancelling my subscription?
Sarah Smith: Think about cancelling if you are getting strange messages from people you suspect might not be real. There are genuine members on these sites too

***

@tammiall: how do u know that the person on the other end is really the person u talking to
Geoff White: Look out for generic msgs-esp those that don't include your name. Very difficult to spot fakers tho.
Sarah Smith: If it's a computer programme (bot) you are talking to it can be obvious. If it's a pseudo its impossible to tell who they really are

***

@m0ok Do hot girls make guys do really stupid things?
Geoff White: Fakers we interviewed had up to 20 profiles-men&women, old&young. And not all hot! Some "normal" pix
Sarah Smith: That's not a phenomena restricted to the internet! Sites used fake men as well as fake girls' profiles #datingscam

***

@Artfor How many females use these dating agencies & hide their aggression? My brother was victim2nutter!
Sarah Smith: We investigated sites using fake profiles. Sites aren't responsible for what real members get up to

***

@akingstown What's wrong with meeting people in a normal way its going to end in tears
Geoff White: more&more of our communication is online - increasingly internet dating is "normal"!
Bizarre messages
For example, Channel 4 News spoke to Jenny Beard - she registered with justsingleparents.com, the UK's largest single parent dating website. She has a 10-year-old son and thought she was joining a community of like-minded single parents, as the site's name implies.

However, thanks to Global Personals' white labelling operation, her profile now appears on thousands of other websites - among them FHM, Loaded and Nuts magazine's "Hot Dates" section.

Jenny said: "It's quite shocking. I'm quite surprised that there's nothing I can do about what sites I'm on.

"Justsingleparents.com seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. I'd like to meet someone who understands the single parent world. I want to meet someone who has kids and understands what that life is like.

"I didn't expect to be on Nuts magazine's website. If I'd wanted to join that site I'd have joined it. I find it disconcerting and disingenuous that they don't explain it. It's very misleading but it may explain some of the bizarre messages you get."

Hard to keep track
Global Personals told Channel 4 News: "When members subscribe to one of our sites, they are advised in the terms and conditions that their details will be made available to members of different sites on the relevant shared database. We have a customer support team that can advise members which other sites their details may be seen on and who can advise accordingly."

But at any time, anyone can set up a new dating website using Global Personals service, and gain access to their stock of profiles. This makes it hard for users to keep a track on where their profile appears.

The Information Commissioner's Office is now investigating Global Personals profile-sharing practice.

Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, said: "On the face of it, it's a breach of first data protection principle. It's not fair processing. You've signed up for one thing and you suddenly get approached by people from different site. It's not fair and it's probably a breach of the law; we must investigate.

"We certainly want to put a stop to this practice."

while we are at this, if you know of any decent, honest prophet do drop his/her number here

i don't understand this. If you are African footballer of the year, the league youy play in should not be an issue. Why must there be a separate category for African based players ??

God tells us in His word that He values His word more than His name. I believe if a prophesy is from God, it will come to pass no matter what happens but what we see nowadays is a situation where a "prophet" gives you prophecies, claims the glory if the prophecy happens as predicted, but blames you if the prophecy fails to manifest

myself! but on a serious note Pastor EA Adeboye

there are some genuine prophets out there but i discovered recently that most of them are fake. They use psychology to put fear into people's mind so that through fear, they would be able to manipulate you to do thier bidding. Why would a so-called prophet of God be prophesying negativity all the time e.g. "Your mother-in-law is behind your problem" when the word of God is clearly against such? (1 Corinthians 14:3)

This is my advice
(1) pray! If you've been doing so pray harder and go for deliverance sessions
(2) consider starting up a business with some funds fom a bank loan
(3) Consider relocating to another country - Ghana, Dubai or South Africa might be options to consider

in his elements

wizkid will be making the biggest mistake of his career to think he can function at this stage without banky w. he should go and ask 9ice who thought he was invicible and decided to split with his wife, Toni Payne who was the backbone of his career and his producer id cabassa. The result of his decision is there for everyone to see

i think it's to weaken the criminal psychologically by shaming them

my two cents - when a lady says "let's just be friends" it's one of four things; (a) she is not interested and doesn't want to hurt you by saying 'no' so she is trying to let you off by being diplomatic (b) she needs you around her to act as a shield to ward off other guys (c)she needs you around her to act as a bait in attracting another suitor which she is eyeing (d) She needs you around her in order to boost her ego - now in the last three scenarios, she is indirectly using you. Whenever i find myself in such situation, i'll just ignore her "friendship" and seek greener pasture elsewhere

ceasefire not seize fire

this is embarrasing for Nigeria - we bring this embarrasment on ourselves by trying to force ourselves on nonentities - This was the same way an unknown footballer turned down Nigeria years ago when the NFA called him up to play for the Eagles. It's time we stop allowing unknown entities like this to rubbish our name

he ruined the song

am i the only person who noticed the very poor quality printing on a so-called official letter-headed paper of a state government. Any printer could produce that letter-head. Are they that poor they can't produce quality stationary?

i suspect "juju" in this

Abali1: When I got to the University, I was already armed with enough info and experiences regarding SCA. I have also gotten to understand my system in a very unique way. ( Parents and Loved ones of SS persons, this is very necessary)
In my case, I can sense a crisis way before it actually becomes something else.
My school was very far away from my mum this time. So, I was left to my own vices.
With that arrogant sense that comes upon CHAMPIONS every now and then, I decided to test Fate in different ways. I took to drinking alchohol with my buddies and also took up smoking (these are very deadly habit for any sickler to indulge in).
Though I didn't forget taking my medications, but it wasn't as regular as it used to be.
In my year two, I had a totally different kind of crisis. This time around the pain was on my leg, precisely the soles of my feet. I was rushed home (it was during one of those times that police killed a student and I followed others to protest the killing by marching on the road, we were heading to Alausa).
My sister took me to a hospital and the doctors said I had tumours growing there, that my leg will be amputated. I cried and begged God not to allow me go through this one. The Doctors said I was going to wear a POP for a month, that if it doesn't improve then the leg will be amputated.
After loosening the POP at the end of the month, I was asked to walk around. I felt some pain, but I decided that I will rather live with the pain than allow anybody to cut off my leg. And at the end, my Faith and Trust in God triumphed.

you are fortunate to have God on your side and to have good parents but stop toying with fate

the story may not be true but her hands are clearly not clean. Did anyone notice how she cleverly avoided the question about how many times she has travelled out of the country?

ogbeche77: It like comparing Apple to Oranges.. Teju's Show beats Tee A's show hands down

silly analogy - what makes an apple better than an orange ?

i prefer teju baby face show. Anybody can do what Tee A does

@NigeriaNewsdesk: London Metropolitan Police has confirmed the arrest of Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, wife of Oyo state Governor, over money laundering: PM News