Text-messaging: It's so convenient! But also so inappropriate in certain social situations—like when proposing marriage, proposing divorce, proposing litigation...hm, am I missing one? Oh yes, this one: When telling friends to erase text messages that might derail your Justin Bieber-related baby scheme. Looking at U, Mariah Yeater.

Twenty-four-hour BieberBabyMamaDrama news station TMZ reports that Yeater sent her friend a text yesterday in which she asked him to "ERASE ALL MESSAGES from my mom" because some of the MESSAGES indicated that her ex-boyfriend Robbie—not Bieber—was the father of her baby, Tristyn. If the friend abided her request, Yeater wrote, "Ill kick u when we get paid." (Hey Mariah, we just ERASED ALL MESSAGES from your Mom—please send the check c/o Gawker.) But that's not all:

And TMZ has seen many other texts between Mariah and John. In one text, Mariah writes, "[John], would you please stress to Robbie how important it is for him to be in his son's life?.." Apparently, Mariah forgot about this text, because she didn't ask John to erase it.

Bieber's lawyer contends that this string of messages "proves" that Yeater's story is false—making her chances at acquiring Bieberbucks seem slimmer than ever. Planning a successful Justin Bieber paternity scheme requires careful planning and enough discipline to resist the temptations of convenience when it will thwart your ambitions. Yeater should not have discussed the text messages in a written, "easy to share with representatives from a popular Hollywood gossip website" format—she should have met with the friend in person, like at the local shopping mall food court or something. Smoke stacks would have also worked.

[TMZ. Image via Shutterstock, AP]