General Info

[QUOTE=Budgie]I joined this site 48 hours ago and the e-mails have been pouring in.

Now i need advice from those in the know.

How many are scammers on this site, as some have wasted no time in hinting that i should send them money.

(No I don't have mug stamped on my head)

I am not stupid but of the ones i have spoken to 50% were asking for money at the first chat.

Are there genuine people there?

Any advice is appreciated

Peter[/QUOTE]


I have long been a detractor of this site, I know of MANY horror stories originating from CB, but to be honest as many from Filipinaheart, adultfriendfinder and from the plain old Yahoo chats etc. So I suppose that
nowadays the 50% odds would be prevailant no matter where you seek. yes there are legitimate females seeking honest relationships as long as you understand that you are not the only one they are corresponding with, they will go and meet the first guy who comes to see them and likely snag him (marriage) if they can, so my advise is if you are seeking sincere relationship (or just a few fun flings) dont hesitate too long, also keep good relations with several of them so if one dont work out you have a fall back plan.

As far as getting hit up for money the first time or two you chat, well that is an obvious scammer or operator, what you have to be careful of is the ones who seem so damn sincere and then hit you up three months down the road when you have some feeling towards them.

Honesty is the best policy, tell the girls upfront you are not a fool and you dont send money just coz they ask and if they do ask you will wave them on just like you have with the ones who pulled that shit on you before that should weed out most of them, the rest is up to you.

good luck


Spamhog

Well thanks for the advice.

I am now running out of mailbox space as so many have replied.

Its 100% now for those I have replied to all mention not having money to scan photos, etc.

One has a UK visa and needs a ticket to come here.

Do they think we are led by our penis and are walking ATM's.

I think this site has more scammers that real people.

Thanks for the advice.

Peter

ditto what Spamhog said. I will offer another bit of advice: I put right on my profile that I was NOT into chatting. The scammers will rarely take the time to enage in lengthy email exchanges with personal detail, so the key is no matter how cute the picture (which may well be fake) , I weed them out from the very start by the amount of personal detail that is in their emails.

Perhaps nobody will believe this, but I never had one come right out and ask for money. Yes some will hint about their economic problems, but a mere response like "yea, I know times are hard in the Philippines" (rather than an offer to send money) seems to quell the urge to outright ask for $.

I can only speak for myself, but I met several regular girls through Cherryblossoms, including one that has become my girlfriend whom I may well keep for a real long time.

[QUOTE=Surfer]Perhaps nobody will believe this, but I never had one come right out and ask for money. I can only speak for myself, but I met several regular girls through Cherryblossoms[/QUOTE]
Yes I believe! I've been a member for over 2 years and never once been asked for money. Also met plenty of quality women some of which I consider good friends.

From my experience, the quality of the individual that applies to me for a job is very bright, eager and has a good work ethic.

Somebody asked about the quality of the graduate/education here? Take a typical example of a terrific young student taking Computer Studies at University. In most cases he/she will not have a computer at home. Even if they did, they could not afford the software packages necessary for them to gain competence (although you can often buy some pirated software for 100p, many programs are inaccessible).

Where else can they get the practice they need to become good at their profession? The University? The computer labs are small, so each student only has very limited access. Even then, the University cannot afford to buy too many copies of expensive software such as in animation.

The end result is that a graduate comes out of university with theoretical knowledge, but very little practical. If the student has to find his/her own way to gain the practical knowledge.

The problem here is the one faced all over the Philippines - a lack of money. What money there is is often skimmed-off by less-than-honest officials. So, although many of these young applicants are bright and ready to learn, they really don't have much of a university education. If you hire them, you must be willing to do most of the educating yourself.

I don't want to seem too disparaging. There are plenty of great people to hire here in the Philippines. Just be aware of what you will likely be getting.

Cheers,

Like Mattrick and Surfer, I've had pretty good luck with CB. I've met several women, screwed about 40%, and had few problems with scammers. I wonder if some of you guys have something in your profile that attracts the parasites. ***Side note...had a lot of fun with a real cuty in Davao, but she tried to scam me after the fact. I might just meet her again in January.

Oh, just 'cause a woman says she doesn't have money for scanning her pictures doesn't mean she's a scammer. Many of these girls are poor, I can assure you that.

Surfer doesn't chat, but I recommend it. CB doesn't allow you to send your email address on the first message. This is an inconvenience. Get her in the chat room, and you can share info as you please. I recommend getting her email address and phone number as soon as possible.

Keeping track of all your booty is the difficult part. I don't go to CB much anymore, but I used to print out pages of women I was interested in and then write the contact info on the paper. If you travel with a laptop, record keeping would be much easier. Next best alternative is a memory stick.

I also use a screen capture to copy the images when girls are on cam. good for record keeping, and you never know when someone is going to show you skin.

On cam, you might want to see the bod? I would never say "stand up", but some guys do it. Making comments about their blouse often gets them to show you more --- works best when they have some wording on their t-shirt..."hey, baby, I can't read what it says." Another ploy is to ask about favorite colors..."Huh, your favorite color is blue, so why are you wearing pink pants?" She just might stand up and show you.

As for scams: the most disgusting one was some btch from Leyte who said her family lost everything in the mudslide. Hmmm, lost everything, just barely survived...and the first thing she does is go to a Net cafe to chat. Yea right.

A few others...need money for food (huh, but you have money for the Net cafe?)

...sick and need money for medicine (huh, if you are sick, why are you in the Net cafe?)

BTW, I've bumped into a few ladies who were very sensitive cause some dickhead accused her of scamming. Just because a few try, is no reason to insult Filipina women in general. Look up stereotype and racism and ugly American if you don't get it.

X

[QUOTE=Pute Nut]Yeah, most bargirls are graduates of the famous Chicken Shit University...they tell me exactly the same story!!! Often right after calling me handsome guy..so they can't be lying!...Still they have to suck titis for a living..amazing...

Seriously though..halfway thru uni won't cut it usually. While it is often NOT required that they have graduated..AT LEAST 3-4 yrs of uni studies is usually the requirement to work in a call center. If they will work taking phone orders for US porn companies, this may be disregarded though. Part of the reason why these jobs are located in Phils is that the US porn buyers often make sexual jokes, wank off, make noises etc while placing their orders. Of course filipinas are better cut out to handle these calls than their more sensitive American sisters.[/QUOTE]

EVERYONE says they spent time in uni-- I'm not that dumb. Even if I were dumb, after 12 full monthys of spending time in one Phils city with a limited number of bars you get at least some idea of the real deal. I remember one girl told me she went to uni. That same time when we went for a beer in a bar, she asked me "Is Thailand a country" and I nearly spat the brew all over her. Grade 4 graduate?

Personally I would rather talk to someone with just a high school degree that speak in I way I understand vs. some of the college grads in India who work in call centers, may be great people, but who have accents which cause serious problems in communicating.

Notice I referred to a very small number that I would refere as able to apply for those jobs...very small. In cebu, I do think you are estimating how many have a year or 2.

Don't know where you got the "AT LEAST" part. That's not true in Cebu. They're so fucking desperate they would hire someone out of the gutter if they thought the english skills were good enough. But that is CEBU...and there is a massive shortage of people to fill the jobs. Maybe you work in this industry?

Your info about the porn industry is very insightful. Didn't know about that, but do know about all kinds of other "Adult Industry" work that is "outsourced" and very secrative-- None of which I want anything to do with since much of it can land a person in big trouble.

[QUOTE=GoodEnough]Last month's IT Conference was held in Cebu, which is investing millions of pesos in trying to create a strong IT backbone to attract foreign investors. In this regard, it's ahead of many other places in the southern Philippines. Davao too is investing heaviliy, and is in the midst of completing its first IT center. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the skill level of the available labor pool in terms of program, computer animation and the more creative side of IT is fairly shallow, and the quality of computer education/computer engineering here is not where near the standard that you would find in the US or, for that matter in India. Unfortunately, the country is either unwilling or unable to invest in improving the quality of IT-related education here. That's not to say that there's no talent, but the talent pool is fairly shallow.

Virtually all call centers here require a BS or BA of their employees. Even then, an estimated 95% of the applicants fail the English Language test.

:D

GE[/QUOTE]

You are spot on about all this, Good Enough. There are really a lot of great posts on this thread with info about the talent pool that is the sort that doesn't take their painties of for money.

I've been trying to fill TWO , just TWO, IT jobs for 4 months and am advertising and having my HR head interview constantly. STILL no one. A year ago, the same size ad drew litterally 40 times more responces. We don't want to have to do a lot of training, but the may be the only option.

Best service outsourcing to do is hiring people out of college who are then doing semi skilled jobs (semi skilled is what many recent college grads do when out of a US college).

Tooch, what you say is also concise and so true. If you want someone that already has skills, they didn't get them in college..but there are ways in which the college work does help. Really I know about IT work...something like trying to export stuff...hiring for that I don't know.

[QUOTE=Spam Hog]I have long been a detractor of this site, I know of MANY horror stories originating from CB, but to be honest as many from Filipinaheart, adultfriendfinder and from the plain old Yahoo chats etc. So I suppose that
nowadays the 50% odds would be prevailant no matter where you seek. yes there are legitimate females seeking honest relationships as long as you understand that you are not the only one they are corresponding with, they will go and meet the first guy who comes to see them and likely snag him (marriage) if they can, so my advise is if you are seeking sincere relationship (or just a few fun flings) dont hesitate too long, also keep good relations with several of them so if one dont work out you have a fall back plan.

As far as getting hit up for money the first time or two you chat, well that is an obvious scammer or operator, what you have to be careful of is the ones who seem so damn sincere and then hit you up three months down the road when you have some feeling towards them.

Honesty is the best policy, tell the girls upfront you are not a fool and you dont send money just coz they ask and if they do ask you will wave them on just like you have with the ones who pulled that shit on you before that should weed out most of them, the rest is up to you.

good luck


Spamhog[/QUOTE]

Great advice. I agree the worste are those you don't expect and even THEY may not expect until their brother convinces them.

I had the sweetest thing for a part time GF. Then she started having "problems" and needing money for things. For 5 months I was with her off and on (depending on our scedules and where we were geographically, RE: that was casual and she like that) didn't really buy her much too special because I refused to let us be about money.

[QUOTE=Wander Luster]You are spot on about all this, Good Enough. There are really a lot of great posts on this thread with info about the talent pool that is the sort that doesn't take their painties of for money.

I've been trying to fill TWO , just TWO, IT jobs for 4 months and am advertising and having my HR head interview constantly. STILL no one. A year ago, the same size ad drew litterally 40 times more responces. We don't want to have to do a lot of training, but the may be the only option.

Best service outsourcing to do is hiring people out of college who are then doing semi skilled jobs (semi skilled is what many recent college grads do when out of a US college).

Tooch, what you say is also concise and so true. If you want someone that already has skills, they didn't get them in college..but there are ways in which the college work does help. Really I know about IT work...something


ike trying to export stuff...hiring for that I don't know.[/QUOTE]

Ultimately, everything in the PI comes down to one variable; the lack of money. It explains the motivation of the women that most of us chase and bed, and it explains the lack of an adequate talent pool as well. There's simply no money to invest in education and, even if sufficient funds somehow magically appeared, there's no substantive instructional pool who could teach the students to an acceptable level of international skill.i really think, in the light of the experience of my own company, which has been in business here for more than 30 years,the only viable alternative is to find bright people and train them yourself. Every now and then you can also "steal" someone from a competitor; someone who has already been trained by someone else, but such people are tough to find as well.

Another problem, and one that's just as difficult to solve, is to find people who are willing to be held accountable and conversely, who are comfortable, or at least wiling to make decisions. If you're trying to create a management structure, it's critical that at some level managers be held accountable for performance. Not here.

I'm now--on behalf of my company--part of a group that's trying ti figure out how to attract more ICT business to Mindanao and it's obvious that it's going to be a long, hard struggle. Not only is there a need to strengthen the IT "backbone" which suffers from frequent power failures, too few ISPs, lack of tech support, etc., but the people needed to fill the positions just aren't there. And of course, there's no money to train the people who aren't there unless non-governmental sources are willing to fund the skills training.

It is not a hopeful situation.

:D

GE

[QUOTE=GoodEnough]Ultimately, everything in the PI comes down to one variable; the lack of money. It explains the motivation of the women that most of us chase and bed, and it explains the lack of an adequate talent pool as well. There's simply no money to invest in education and, even if sufficient funds somehow magically appeared, there's no substantive instructional pool who could teach the students to an acceptable level of international skill.i really think, in the light of the experience of my own company, which has been in business here for more than 30 years,the only viable alternative is to find bright people and train them yourself. Every now and then you can also "steal" someone from a competitor; someone who has already been trained by someone else, but such people are tough to find as well.

Another problem, and one that's just as difficult to solve, is to find people who are willing to be held accountable and conversely, who are comfortable, or at least wiling to make decisions. If you're trying to create a management structure, it's critical that at some level managers be held accountable for performance. Not here.

I'm now--on behalf of my company--part of a group that's trying ti figure out how to attract more ICT business to Mindanao and it's obvious that it's going to be a long, hard struggle. Not only is there a need to strengthen the IT "backbone" which suffers from frequent power failures, too few ISPs, lack of tech support, etc., but the people needed to fill the positions just aren't there. And of course, there's no money to train the people who aren't there unless non-governmental sources are willing to fund the skills training.

It is not a hopeful situation.

:D

GE[/QUOTE]I face a Similiar problem in the hospitality Industry,The level of service and training is simply not there.The moment They get a little experience,Off they go overseas.I recently lost 3 staff at the same time to the Somerset In Dubai and the IT I trained for 2 years is now in the Intercontinental Dubai.I cannot blame them given the lack of oppurtunity in the PI.I suspect the talent is still there,Just not in the PI.

ge says the lack of money is the root of the problem. but the families who own the philippines are loaded and their family relatives who are bishops and generals do not lack for a buck either.

cl complains those he trained high tail it to dubai. maybe they prefer a living wage to a pittance. cl has also previously praised “venture capitalists” funding pawn shops as some kind of budding pioneers instead of the leeches that they are and that they were in dickens’ time in england. no country needs those people. they are an utter disgrace to humanity and should not be consorted with but avoided like the moral lepers they are.

ge goes on about the lack of infrastructure for it in mindanao. but what infrastructure is there for anything? comparing india to the philippines is like comparing oranges to mondays. if the attraction is dirt low wages, don’t expect growth. plus any projects would have a swarm of connected families around the honeypot; their greed is as insatiable as their sense of moral and social moral purpose is non existent. they are the ultimate sore on the people of the philippines.
as regards university graduates, most are picking up a yellow pack degree so they have some chance of a job, any job. as regards the white tsunami of nurses, they have a bad name overseas. great bedside manners but not able to change a bandage. the fact that the great state of texas relies havily on pinoy teachers is also of interest

compare and contrast with thailand, a country most of its natives wish to stay in and which has a sizeable expat population and a structured tourist industry. thailand has progressed whereas the philippines has regressed. why? poverty is not the reason. pinoys have good names on building sites and as merchant seamen. they work. but in their own country, they get ripped off by the biggest shower of thieves ever assembled since christopher colombus and the ayala family set sail to [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url], plunder and pillage.

end of rant: the blades get put to the sword today. onward and upward.

I was wondering if anyone here would know of a ferry guide or a guide that lists all the boats and ferry crossings available in the Phillopines

[quote=martians]ge says the lack of money is the root of the problem. but the families who own the philippines are loaded and their family relatives who are bishops and generals do not lack for a buck either.

cl complains those he trained high tail it to dubai. maybe they prefer a living wage to a pittance. cl has also previously praised “venture capitalists” funding pawn shops as some kind of budding pioneers instead of the leeches that they are and that they were in dickens’ time in england. no country needs those people. they are an utter disgrace to humanity and should not be consorted with but avoided like the moral lepers they are.

ge goes on about the lack of infrastructure for it in mindanao. but what infrastructure is there for anything? comparing india to the philippines is like comparing oranges to mondays. if the attraction is dirt low wages, don’t expect growth. plus any projects would have a swarm of connected families around the honeypot; their greed is as insatiable as their sense of moral and social moral purpose is non existent. they are the ultimate sore on the people of the philippines.
as regards university graduates, most are picking up a yellow pack degree so they have some chance of a job, any job. as regards the white tsunami of nurses, they have a bad name overseas. great bedside manners but not able to change a bandage. the fact that the great state of texas relies havily on pinoy teachers is also of interest

compare and contrast with thailand, a country most of its natives wish to stay in and which has a sizeable expat population and a structured tourist industry. thailand has progressed whereas the philippines has regressed. why? poverty is not the reason. pinoys have good names on building sites and as merchant seamen. they work. but in their own country, they get ripped off by the biggest shower of thieves ever assembled since christopher colombus and the ayala family set sail to [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url], plunder and pillage.

end of rant: the blades get put to the sword today. onward and upward.[/quote]true,even if i pay above average wages by pi standards i cannot afford to pay them dubai wages.i do not fault them for that,in fact i wish them well but it is a hassle to train again sigh....regarding the philippine culture of corruption,i totally agree with you,i see how they steal steal and steal.the main business of the powers that be is still mining and peace and order.thats mine thats mine thats mine......... and give me a piece of your business and thats an order!!!!!!

This site has a good list of ferry services in the Philippines.

[url]http://www.philippines-travel-guide.com/ferry-list-philippines.html[/url]

They are fun a couple of hours. I don't recommend long distant, day or overnight trips, unless you are really into exotic adventures and exploration. They are not luxury liners and depends on weather, may be a little too bumpy.

I also recommend you take a dramamine an hour before you board.

:)

[QUOTE=Member #2001]I was wondering if anyone here would know of a ferry guide or a guide that lists all the boats and ferry crossings available in the Phillopines[/QUOTE]