# Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214 "2023-07-18T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/61 "2023-07-19T23:05:17Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Did he threaten people’s reputations unless they bought his product? I don’t think so. He threatened anyone who questioned any purchase or asked for money back. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/62 "2023-07-19T23:09:50Z")
Did he sell his products on an ebay like platform that allows user reviews and threatened to give other people bad reviews if they complained about his bad products? Or Dox them? Or otherwise libel them? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/63 "2023-07-19T23:55:05Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Did he sell his products on an ebay like platform that allows user reviews and threatened to give other people bad reviews if they complained about his bad products? > > **NO. Just a website.** > > Or Dox them? > Or otherwise libel them? > > **No doxing.** > > **Libel? No.** Some people have weird ideas. Igor went against conventional wisdom, let’s just say. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/64 "2023-07-20T05:02:08Z")
Was the trolling purely to get people to buy his stuff? Was he trying to goad people into doing something, other than buying his stuff? Did he troll people before they bought from him? After? ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/65 "2023-07-20T11:52:19Z")
To sum up, we know Igor was a real person not named Igor who sold knockoff eyeglasses online. He acted rudely to discourage returns, but also for other reasons. He was feared by people who met him online and offline, sometimes that fear was for the physical safety of themselves or others. He trolled people to increase demand for his eyeglasses as well as some specific unknown reason, scaring them in the process, but they did not know he was associated with the eyeglass company. He ran this scam for a few years, taking people’s money. He was caught and jailed for his crimes. Is the trolling related to convincing people of something related to eyeglasses specifically? For example, that they have bad eyes when they don’t? Or that something is wrong with their current eyeglasses? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/66 "2023-07-20T12:22:01Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Was the trolling purely to get people to buy his stuff? > > **YES** > > Was he trying to goad people into doing something, other than buying his stuff? > > **NO** > > Did he troll people before they bought from him? After? > > **AFTER** wordcheck ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/67 "2023-07-20T12:25:00Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > Is the trolling related to convincing people of something related to eyeglasses specifically? For example, that they have bad eyes when they don’t? Or that something is wrong with their current eyeglasses? NO to all. Final hint and I can give the answer later today if we can’t get it: Why would Igor be rude to the people who are buying his product? That’s the opposite of almost every company’s policy on customer interaction. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/68 "2023-07-20T12:32:10Z")
Not a question that can be answered, but something to consider: How would his trolling work to get people to buy his product, if he only did it to people who had already bought his product? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/69 "2023-07-20T12:46:50Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@tofor](#): > > > > Is the trolling related to convincing people of something related to eyeglasses specifically? For example, that they have bad eyes when they don’t? Or that something is wrong with their current eyeglasses? > > NO to all. > > Final hint and I can give the answer later today if we can’t get it: > > Why would Igor be rude to the people who are buying his product? That’s the opposite of almost every company’s policy on customer interaction. SDMB conventional wisdom is that a troll’s motive is to get attention. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/70 "2023-07-20T13:01:07Z")
Did his victims enjoy being trolled? Was the trolling part of the “experience” of buying his product? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/71 "2023-07-20T13:34:09Z")
A dunk tank clown, or something similar ? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/72 "2023-07-20T14:37:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not a question that can be answered, but something to consider: How would his trolling work to get people to buy his product, if he only did it to people who had already bought his product? What a great question. Yep, a darn excellent question. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/73 "2023-07-20T14:37:33Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Did his victims enjoy being trolled? Was the trolling part of the “experience” of buying his product? **NO** > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > A dunk tank clown, or something similar ? **NO** ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/74 "2023-07-20T16:19:48Z")
Did he pretend to want to rob people of their newly-purchased garbage in order to make it seem more valuable? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/75 "2023-07-20T16:51:00Z")
Was the trolling a type of experiment? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/76 "2023-07-20T17:05:46Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Did he pretend to want to rob people of their newly-purchased garbage in order to make it seem more valuable? NO > [@Rebo](#): > > Was the trolling a type of experiment?.. NO ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/77 "2023-07-20T17:08:00Z")
Trying less specific. Was the trolling meant to make the product seem more desirable? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/78 "2023-07-20T17:09:06Z")
NO, it really wasn’t. Hint: Think about the fact that this was an online business. Think about the aspects of that type of business and see if it helps nudge you along. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/79 "2023-07-20T17:15:05Z")
Was the trolling in the reviews or comments section of the site where the product was sold? ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/80 "2023-07-20T17:20:43Z")
Was the trolling in the form of a followup email? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=5)