6/21/2007

Nigel Swaby Seeks Internet Asylum

Since Casey Serin has kicked his former little buddy Nigel Swaby to the curb, the "Man of a Million Blogs" mortgage lender has been seeking internet asylum. Sticking to his old trick of trying to garner as much redirected traffic as possible, Nigel Swaby seems once again pulled into the aura of the ExUrbanNation crowd...the very same folks he has repeatedly gone out of his way to repudiate.

I haven't spent a lot of time at EN lately. The sheer volume of posts and comments have been difficult to keep up with. So imagine my surprise when I read through several posts and find Nigel and some Haterz yukking it up.

To clarify, in just March of this year, Nigel Swaby, a licensed mortgage broker who has access to financial and credit software, decided to post the identities of three frequent posters at EN. I don't know if he abused his professional position in order to triangulate his information. But it is incredibly unsettling that someone in this position would do that, particularly considering the "grand offense" that catalyzed his actions. Per Nigel:

"...Finally, one hater impersonated me on IAFF. Unfortunately for him, I knew who he was. So I made a comment at IAFF to clear my name. I “outed” said hater and EN erupted. They emailed my boss and some other people unrelated to my company. They “reported” me to the State board - Your action was childish and vindictive. I have reported you to your state board.

The “outed” hater called me the next day. Do you know what he did? He apologized. We had a good talk about the whole thing and he apologized. He asked me to remove reference to him at IAFF and do you know what? I did.

As far as my boss [at Integrity First Financial] goes, he had this comment - I looked at your post 109 and fell off my chair. Great humor, way to put the dweeb in his place. This whole blog thing is a frickin hoot! Happy traffic!"


So whomever Nigel spoke with apologized for utilizing the user name Nigel Swaby in the comments section of the website "I Am Facing Foreclosure." In return, Nigel Swaby posted pictures and brief bios on these people, who, to my knowledge, don't even maintain blogs...they were just regulars to comment at ExUrbanNation.

Considering this history, I was confused as I read through EN and noticed Nigel Swaby and some of the "Haterz" being pleasant to one another. I decided to poll the audience for answers:

"I'm unclear as to where all the Nigel love has come from of late. Do people have such short memories that everyone has forgotten the outings, the "full of hate" comments, the sneering "I don't like you" bullshit?

I'm just not on board. Because, Nigel, it seems you've been playing both sides against the middle since the beginning. This latest outpouring of hand-holding around the campfire seems to coincide with KC officially kicking you out of his inner circle. So is this just any port in a storm?

I don't see any grand revelations coming from you...merely confirmations of things already proven as fact. Why take so long to divulge what are some inconsequential factoids? Why still pandering (like way back on the SDCIA boards) with the "I'll post that later...patience" routine?"


The first person to respond said, "Congratulations are in order to everyone that caught on early, you clearly are more 'people smart.' Some of us are not. The shame of that is punishment enough, no?"

I can't answer that, because it's a logical fallacy. This isn't about kicking someone when he's down. Because Nigel Swaby wasn't just Casey Serin's biggest cheerleader. He was a vindictive, awful man-child who went out of his way to publish information about prominent Casey Serin critics in the hope of intimidating them into silence.

That's not an "oops!" offense.

In response to my query at EN, Nigel Swaby responds:

"Aspeth,

I think the change in attitude came from the 2nd haterzcast I called in on. Yes, I supported Casey publicly and privately for far too long. I probably would have continued to do so had he not abandoned his wife. I have a real problem with that.

The change in tone has come in part because people now see me as a real human being and no longer as some sort of character or caricature. I'm an honest person and have been sharing what I can to paint a clearer picture of what's been going on. I've protected Casey in the past when I probably shouldn't have.

Like Mark, Duane and even yourself I now think Casey needs to be stopped. I didn't consider him dangerous before, but now he's hurting real people. He's shirked all consequences to date and now I am doing my part as probably his strongest online supporter to show the world what he truly is: a deluded, selfish child that needs to grow up and face his mistakes."


So, wait...Nigel made a phone call, pulled a few jabs at himself and now it's all Kumbaya and s'mores?

"I Like M. Singh" pointed out that Nigel Swaby has offered no apologies for his previous behaviour, saying

"Please accept this note in support of your comments regarding MR SWABY. We have seen three of his 'outed' publicly "forgive", though not in so many words, MR SWABY's nefarious actions. My response to this is, for one, there remains the nice gentleman with the Scion and the Comics, and two, it was still a wrong act in principle and no public apology has been proffered- only a veiled suggestions that perhaps MR SWABY has grown from this experience, and so on.

I am one of those that MR SWABY compared to rats being shone light upon."


I was interested to hear Nigel Swaby's response to these, and other criticisms that have been levied against him. I asked the following, but not surprisingly, Nigel Swaby decided to lurk rather than respond.

"As I've stated before in my award-winning blog, I've always found it incredibly dodgy that a mortgage lender would befriend and defend a mortgage fraudster. And that was just confirmed with your comment, Nigel, that only now is KC "hurting real people."

Was he somehow not hurting real people by appropriating $2.2 million from various banks? Was he not hurting real people by letting those properties fall into disrepair and fall into foreclosure?

Lawnmower man, I appreciate your point but no, I didn't see any revelations. There had already been much talk of KC shopping for a million-plus w/cashback, even before the Utah trip. To say that speculation over Nigel's boss being "g" is what prompted that is utter bullocks. That speculation has been going on for months...again, it only comes out after KC kicks Nigel out of the clubhouse.

Thanks for the clarification, ILMS. I was wondering if an apology had been proffered for the outings. I mean, Jesus, Nigel...you outed a FED! The idea that someone with gov't-issued professional licensure would do such a thing is beyond the pale!"


Nigel Swaby has tried to make nice with with Casey Serin's critics several times before, most notably when Casey gave him the boot by tossing out their business agreement. In short order, Nigel returned to his petulant thin-skinned ways.

We are often, in life, required to suspend disbelief in order to grasp a clearer picture of any particular situation. For me, I suspend disbelief in the early stages of the relationship. And when behaviors repeat themselves, it becomes easier to determine who the person is behind the social mask.

If someone I knew of but didn't know personally were to walk up and slap the person standing next to me, I would not only form an opinion, I wouldn't avail myself to be party to such a circus again.

In much the same manner, Nigel Swaby could be a multi-faceted person that becomes more agreeable as you get to know him. But based on the past behaviour that Nigel has exhibited, I've experienced all I can stomach, and I'd rather stick with my well-formed opinion than volunteer to be batted about.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

murst!!!

Aspeth said...

Hehe...I can give you the Early Riser Award, but anon's can't call murst!

Just thought I'd clear that up before Akubi appears :)

Torcie said...

Aspeth,

I'm with you, I am just not buying the Nigel transformation.

Is he really just following the 'net traffic? Is that what motivates Nigel: Traffic and the notoriety it brings?


I feel *very* uncomfortable seeing Nigel joke it out with the folks on EN. Not that I can understand half of what is being said at EN with all the trolls and weirdos who have come out of the woodwork.

Aspeth said...

Good to see you, Torcie. Hope you saw the link to your post...what you said was brilliant and bears repeating.

I agree with you on all counts. Nigel makes my skin crawl. It just goes to show that those who were 'outed' far outclass him by not demanding an apology, as he did to the person who pulled such an inconsequential prank.

Yes, unfortunately EN has become a different place. It's too bad that the intelligent sharp edge that made it such a great place is too rare now. Hopefully it will come back.

Schnapps said...

::yawn::

I'm a perfect fence-sitter. Yeah, Nigel's trolling for traffic, but OTOH he may have seen the light.

Or been exposed to it. I think he's genuinely appalled at the way Casey has treated his wife. I don't think that warrants forgiveness for past behaviour.

Schnapps said...

Of course, the funny part was when I read the title, I read "Nigel Swaby Seeks Insane Asylum" :>

flailing forward said...

I can tolerate Nigel, but that doesn't mean he's ok in my book. He may have seen the light about Casey, but we've all seen the true nature of Nigel as well. He would change his tune in a second if he thought it would get him a sufficient surge in traffic. That being said, I've laid off since he stopped actively baiting us and traffic whoring.

But on another note, how incredibly awesome is it that Marty's previous publishing foray was his self-written masterpiece "The Lapdance Code"? Our attention is best focused on whoever is the most mockable at the moment.

Aspeth said...

I read "Nigel Swaby Seeks Insane Asylum"

Oh my, that's a good one.

Plus, there's always the fact that the insane asylum has, literally, been searching for him!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reminder. Collectively we *do* have a pretty simple view -- haterz good, supporterz bad -- and it's important to recognize that it doesn't always hold up. I think there's a tendancy to expect Nigel to be another Duane, when that's simply not the case.

Feeling any better?

Schnapps said...

Aspeth - indeedy :>

As for Nigel/Duane - I looked up Duane on the internet before he blabbed on Casey and quite honestly, he seemed like a decent enough guy. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why he was hanging out with snowflake.

Nigel is either incredibly naive or just a traffic whore. Or maybe a bit of both.

Either way, it doesn't matter. His prior behaviour, especially calling T "full of hate" and posting a pic of R-boy's fiancee are inexcusable.

Mouse And Pencil said...

Did I ever mention, one of my fave Tool songs is "Useful Idiot"?

lawnmower man said...

I am choosing to give the new Nigel the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm being played, but the new Nigel feels a lot more sincere to me.

And he *is* providing new information. As I said on EN in response to your comment quoted here, he revealed the "real" reason for the Utah trip: to investigate a 60%-guaranteed-return scam that Casey planned to "invest" $100K of corporate credit into.

Much to my surprise, too, there's intelligent -- and uncensored -- conversation going on in the comments at DHC.

I realize I'm sounding like a Nigel apologist. I have a lot of reservations about his past activities: the outings for one, but more than that the egging on of the DUI Cote idiot right around the time that RCS got really nasty.

How to reconcile that with the new Nigel? I'm not sure. Maybe I'm too blinkered.

Akubi said...

Quite busy, so this is a brief note for now. I'm definitely not in the "Kumbaya and s'mores" camp and suspect Nigel is mainly trying to clean up his Google damage. For example, someone recently pulled the YouTube video that was one of the top results. I still won't touch his blogs without Tor.

JohnDiddler said...

When I need someone to kiss my ass, Nigel's there for me. When I need bad investment advice, Nigel's there. When I want to talk to a real worm, I can talk to Nigel. If Nigel thinks I have profit potential, he'll be all up in my business. Then if I need the sky to be green, Nigel will try really hard to make it green. If that's the kind of buddy someone wants, he's ready.

Unknown said...

For example, someone recently pulled the YouTube video that was one of the top results.

Fear not, as the "Swaby is a Wretch" image stills shall remain on CaseyPedia in perpetuity. ;-)

Sprezzatura said...

Nigel will do what is best for Nigel. He's smart enough to realize that supporting Casey hurts him much more than helps him, so he has switched tracks.

*shrug*

The old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" comes to mind. He is providing useful informartion and has laid off the hostilities. It doesn't wipe away his past actions, I agree, but all in all I'd rather not fight a war on two fronts. Plus, I was very uncomfortable with the homophobic undertones of the Nigel-bashing that went on. That was unnecessary and made us look bad.

Making some sort of accord with Nigel is on balance more beneficial than continuing to pick a fight with him.

Anonymous said...

@ sprezz:

Making some sort of accord with Nigel is on balance more beneficial than continuing to pick a fight with him.

Are koi and solar algae jokes still kosher? Those have kind of taken on a life of their own.

NotAnOptimist said...

I remember reading Nigel's posts on IAFF and thinking that the guy was a major bootlicker (murselicker?) and just full of sleaze. I started following EN around the time T thrashed Casey. When the outings occurred, I thought that not only were they uncalled for, but that they were also the brainchild of a vindictive bully.

I do believe that Nigel was utterly appalled by Casey's abandonment of Galina, and it's nice to see that he's not a complete waste of a human being, but what I've seen of him so far makes me believe that he's remarkably chameleon-like and the perfect embodiment of "Looking out for #1". I wouldn't trust koi-boy with a butter knife.

Alan Smithee/gt said...

Sprezz,

I heartily agree with each of your points.

My feeling is that, in the end, despite the odd memorable or insightful nugget of late (his comment to KC about being the "Gary Coleman of real estate" springs to mind) Nigel—to his dismay-- will be relegated to the sidelines & and a side plot of CaseyPedia.

One, I think his insight into CaseyWorld (the new details, ect.) though interesting in the short term, is limited. The details that he is able to pass along (and parlay into blog traffic) will run out, and since he's apparently burned bridges with Casey, his "insider" information will be stale or non-existent.

(That is, hypothetically, unless he is called to give testimony of some type during a legal matter or otherwise remains in the loop.)

In agreement with lawnmower man and some other posters, there does seem to be some new sincerity/ a genuine-ish tone coming from Nigel—still, I second NotAnOptimist’s view…Sleaze is not so easily forgotten nor forgiven.

Ah well, I loose(tm) no sleep one way or the other regarding the koi-boy. Why bother when there are other individual Haterz worth a hundred of him? (Dawg, Duane, LossMittens, and the usual suspects @ EN)

And, as if I have to spell it out, please know that the last thing I mean is “financial net worth”.

What blows me away through all this is how long I’ve/we’ve stuck around and kept following the blessed wreck; a year in September, for me.

Oh, would that I could show the same commitment & consistency in um, going to the gym, or something like that.

-g

T said...

Nigel posting that I was "full of hate" didn't really bother me cause I know I'm not and haven't been since the beginning when I first began watching the CS Trainwreck. He just picked me cause I posted my pic on EN. He was grasping. No biggie. Sticks and stones and all that.

Trust and believe, I've been called worse by better.

Aspeth said...

Thanks, T. I was waiting to hear what you thought of it. As one of the outed parties, your feelings on the topic certainly carry more weight than mine. Of course, you also put yourself out there on the talkcast to try to parent KC onto a more realistic path (I think you and Duane would have some interesting conversations!) so you've proven that you've got a wealth of 'benefit of the doubt' to share.

T said...

He didn't really "out" anything juicy about me, tho. Like I said a long time ago, I have a checkered past. Info on that would be the equivalent of discovering troll gold. Yet all that 411 never surfaced. He couldn't even find my private message board where I've posted lots of personal shit including where I work and live and more pics of myself and my boys. My myspace page is not viewable to anyone who's not a "friend" and when you Google my first and last name the only thing that pops up is the fact that I gave some money to my old community college.

IMO, Nigel's harmless. He packs absolutely no punch. And he probably wasn't very popular in high school. He's like a sheep in wolves clothing (or is it wolf's?).

Plus, WWJF? :)

T said...

ARghhh! That should be WWJD. I'm so going to hell.

T said...

In other news.... am I the only idiot that's become addicted to "So You Think You Can Dance"?

Anonymous said...

"--My good opinion once lost is lost for ever."

I can't really reconcile the behaviour of someone who would do what Nigel has done with someone I can see in a 'social' light. I mostly lurk, because I rarely have anything intelligent to contribute, but I have been bothered by the fact that no one seemed to feel that a public apology, at the very least, was necessary.

Schnapps said...

Kimi, that's what I mean. He made accusations in public; he can own it in public and make an apology.

Anonymous said...

Nigel posting that I was "full of hate" didn't really bother me

Similarly, I was utterly unfazed by Nigel calling me an asshole on DHC - in fact, I laughed out loud, as it laid his "post without fear" hypocrisy bare for all to see.

T said...

It was rather amusing wasn't it, Miguel? He was talking all this shit about you and I and we were one of the few that actually spoke out about others posting his personal (family) information, etc.

It was like, "dude... you're totally barking up the wrong tree here" which just made him look like more of an idiot to anyone who'd been following things for any length of time.

What a doof. LOL

T said...

Oh, and to kimi - Nigel apologized to me over the phone. I accepted. As far as I'm concerned, that was good enough. To demand a public apology would suggest that I give a shit what others think. And I don't. So I didn't.

lucidiocy said...

My gag-relex just kicked up some bile.

I suspect the only reason Nigel supported KC in the first place was because Nigel saw himself in the newly budded conman that was/is Casey Serin.

Aspeth said...

Kimi...great point. You so succinctly said what it took me a page to blather out. Thanks for coming out of the woodwork.

Lawnmower Man, Sprezzie and M&P...I completely understand your POV, but I'm still skeeved out by the guy. I just think that if his motives were strictly pure, and not driven out of a desire for blog traffic, why not just tell these little stories at EN? Like I said, there's nothing earth shattering in his so-called revelations. From what I've seen, Nigel's True Confessions could each be summarized with a one-line confirmation in comments.

Miguel...I remember that. It was funny. And it reinforces that KC's bad behavior was acceptable, as long as Nigel could benefit in some way, as John Diddler's luvly comment points out.

Ogg...great point that Nigel's no Duane, who also thinks Nigel's a bit of a scumbucket. (and yes, thank you, mostly feeling better but still dragging a bit.)

Anonymous said...

well said.

T said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
T said...

Ogg the Caveman said...
Are koi and solar algae jokes still kosher? Those have kind of taken on a life of their own.
Yup.

Also, I re-read some of the comments here (cause I sorta scanned through them the first time) and some of you are acting as if people are gonna start inviting Nigel over to kick it or some shit. I mean, seriously.... he's just some guy we came across on the internet.

I disagree with his views on the housing market, the economy, and many other things. But I do believe he has changed his stance on the KC situation and feels regret for his past actions.

Hell, I've done and said things in my lifetime I wish I could take back. I've also backed the wrong horse once or twice and learned from it. I'm sure Nigel's no different.

Is he still kinda cheesy? Yup. Will he be our new best friend? Hell fucking no. So what's the big deal?

I'm not the type to hold a grudge. I think it weighs a person down and for real, life is too short.

PS: Aspeth - I am LOVING the book. Almost done and ready for a new recommendation.

Anonymous said...

t-

glad to hear you received an apology. And that you feel okay about what has happened. Of course I don't think you should care what I, or anybody else so entirely unconnected with you, thinks. I just have an opinion because well, a lot of stuff happened very publicly. I also think that Nigel cares what people think. (Totally an opinion).

I'm not saying that I think people are inviting Nigel over for tea, nor that people should continually harp on one action, but he was unnecessarily obnoxious. For him to become part of the EN community seems weird.

Ogg the Caveman said...

@ kimi:

I also think that Nigel cares what people think. (Totally an opinion).

Oh, absolutely. His entire participation was a reputation-building and PR exercise that went badly out of control.

I'm not saying that I think people are inviting Nigel over for tea, nor that people should continually harp on one action, but he was unnecessarily obnoxious. For him to become part of the EN community seems weird.

Like most communities of strongly like-minded people, EN has developed a certain amount of groupthink and us-vs-them mentality. It's not anywhere near as bad as I'm used to from elsewhere, but it's there. The idea that ENers judge somebody's character by whether they're a supporterz or haterz has formed the basis of some of the more successful trolls because there's a kernel of truth to it.

Online communities are fascinating to me because they lay bare some of the mechanisms that are present in all communities but perhaps not obvious. One of my pet theories is that communities get their vitality from shared crisis. In the absence of an external focus, a community will either produce internal conflict to keep going or fade away into irrelevance. The Caseysphere has a very obvious external focus, and the haterz good/supporterz bad mentality is a natural consequence.

Akubi said...

I don't know if R-boy comments here, but I think what Nigey Poo did with outting him (once including fiance photo) was by far the worst offense.

Anonymous said...

The amazing evolution of Nigel Swaby


10/31/06:"As I kept reading his story, I realized he’s very intelligent and pretty shrewd about reaching his goal of avoiding foreclosure" (Press Release)


11/5/06: "You can call him stupid, you can call him crazy, you can call him a dreamer, but you can’t call Casey Serin a quitter." ( SLC "Exclusive" Article)


11/7/06: "I don't think Casey meant to defraud anyone and at least he's got a conscience." (SLC)


1/27/07: "Nice victory Casey. I sense a comeback!" (IAFF)


2/19/07: "Our justice system is overburdened and there are much more dangerous criminals out there than Casey Serin." (SLC)


3/30/07: "EN is the digital equivalent of Lord of the Flies." (DHC Anti-Hate Manifesto)


4/24/07: "Casey has taught me how to "fail-forward!" " (DHC)


5/31/07: "Casey is finally starting to undo something he never should have undertaken in the first place. He's placing his family first. A good decision." (DHC)


6/22/07: "I simply ask supporters and advertisers alike to consider the people that Casey Serin has hurt; his wife, his family, and even the businesses involved with him. With that in mind, how can you continue to support Casey Serin?"

R-Boy said...

Aspeth,

To clear one thing up, I only forgave him because I couldn't care less about him.

The inner circle of Haterz has much bigger things on its plate. Bust your your Kelly Clarkson, I hear Independence Day is a great song.

R-Boy said...

I beleive I sent Nigel a request to remove my Fiancee's picture from his blog through my actual email address, which some folks find scary because of its TLA.

Aspeth said...

"0 Comment"...a funny reminder.

R-boy...Thanks for the note. I'm going to put that in the "all things good" folder :)

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Anonymous said...

This Nigel Swaby?