Tactics and Phases
How Stringer picks the next reply in a spam thread.
The six phases
Every conversation moves through phases as the thread progresses:
- Discovery — learning what the spammer wants, playing slightly interested.
- Engagement — asking open-ended questions to draw them out.
- Qualification — pretending to evaluate the "offer" with specific concerns.
- Stalling — inventing obstacles (schedules, approvals, paperwork).
- Escalation — the sting lands here (if applicable).
- Finale — winding down. The scammer is either burned out or has already clicked the sting link.
The eight tactics
Within a phase, Stringer picks one of eight tactics per reply, scored by what's most likely to keep the spammer engaged:
- Confusion — asks a question that doesn't quite fit the thread
- Stakeholder — "I need to run this by my team"
- Budget — "Wait, is this within our Q3 budget?"
- Documentation — "Can you send me the full spec / references / ID copy?"
- Scheduling — "Let's set up a call" (then never actually schedules one)
- Scope — "We're actually looking for X feature too, can you do that?"
- Time Pressure — "I need to do this by Friday but hit a snag"
- Technical — deep-dive into irrelevant technical details
Engagement score
Every reply gets an engagement score (0-100) based on the spammer's response. High engagement = keep pushing the same tactic; low engagement = switch tactics or persona. You can see the current score on any conversation's detail page.
Tuning
Go to Settings › Behavior › Tactics to disable specific tactics or pin a preferred one. For most users, the defaults are the right call.