Study proves existence of paid disinformation agents.

Originally posted by freedomSlave
I wonder if they get paid by piece work or by the hour . I am sure people there are people whom just do it for free and get off misleading and disagreeing with everything.

I imagine there are two camps. One is for the very menial task of repeating information on a mass-scale, something a bot could do, but human interaction would be required to stay afloat and not get banned. That's probably payed by the hour. Basically just a typing job for people who can barely think for themselves.

The second would be anyone with the ability to write and influence arguments or straight manipulate an entire community. They probably get paid for "piece work", or by contract.

Look into firms providing services for publicity, and agents for business or public figures. They typically have a darker side when they're not doing publicity stuffs for their clients. Typically they sabotage and spread rumors on people, sometimes it is extremely illegal activity like theft of sensitive documents, medical records to embarrass "counter-clients" and so on. It's basically corporate espionage.

I don't think you can spot them so easily. I am NOT a paid disinfo agent but I can tell ya I'm a strange guy. I have strong opinions that many times goes against the "normal accepted way of thinking" ( yes, even for a bunch of nuts like us conspiracy buffs) Because I so strongly oppose, some may think me a disinfo agent.

I'm not surprised a study found this out. I am surprised some fool had to pay for a study to find this out. LOL

Yea there's all kinds of dis-info agents in many spectrums thought i came across one on some other site so there out there and who knows where.

Originally posted by cripmeister
Disinfo agents on ATS are easy to spot, see they all have this orange frame around their posts

Seriously though, some of these people are so prolific one has to wonder sometimes...

*sob*
I only do it for the dental plan!

Originally posted by InfoKartel
It's easy to spot them,

Yep ... I could tell ya' of a few who are (supposedly) in Iran. And from what I've observed, at least one seems to be an account instead of a single person. The 'person' posts for a few weeks, throws a ton of qu'ran verses at everyone about how 'evil' they are and how 'god will get 'em' ... and then they disappear for a few days and come back as some sweet talking jesus-is-love person ... and then after a few weeks that person disappears and an entirely different personality comes on ... all with anti-American propaganda STRAIGHT from the official Iranian government media (full censored) sources. Really, It's a hoot to watch ...

Up until very recently I thought all the talk about paid disinformation agents was hooooooooeeeeyyyy.

Not anymore.

Wow. This is really cool. Thank you for the article.

It's going to be fun when people start linking this thread in reply to others' posts they suspect to be purposeful disinformation.

Whatever the case, people can dis-info-agent-proof themselves by fact checking any and all claims made by suspect posters, while back up their own positions with credible source material.

Of course, some debates, especially as it comes to many topics here on ATS that lie on the spooky fringe, 'proof', and 'truth' comes down to relative personal perceptions/biases, and even faith or lack of it.
In which case, accept another's position as being contrary to yours, and agree to disagree.

Oh yeah, erm, in regards to the below:

Originally posted by cripmeister
Disinfo agents on ATS are easy to spot, see they all have this orange frame around their posts

Seriously though, some of these people are so prolific one has to wonder sometimes...

Just what is that orange frame?
I've never noticed until just now when it was pointed out.

Some posters are so stupid, to a point where you wonder if the person is realy that dumb. These are some of the disinfo agents I suppose, because I´ve read things here my 3 year old son would shake his head. To stupid to be true, would be the best saying

Originally posted by nineix
Just what is that orange frame?

I've never noticed until just now when it was pointed out.

It's to identify the disinfo agents versus the real people in this si-. . . . .ooops!

Well Hmdphantom works for the Iranian government for a start.

reply to post by InfoKartel

It's easy to spot them,

you see...ANY human listens to reason. Unless they are paid not to.

It's as simple as that.

Sadly, no.

Originally posted by michael1983l
Well Hmdphantom works for the Iranian government for a start.

Do we know this for a fact ?

Hmmm.

Originally posted by beezzer

Originally posted by nineix
Just what is that orange frame?

I've never noticed until just now when it was pointed out.

It's to identify the disinfo agents versus the real people in this si-. . . . .ooops!

uh-huh.
I got off my lazy booty and did a search. Now I knows.

Then again, since your answer to my question was technically disinformation, you might be onto something there.

reply to post by Essan

But it would explain why every year we get a fresh influx of new people coming up with the same old nonsense that's been disproven so many time before.

Whoa there. Mustn't assume that just because you learned about it five years ago, so did everyone else. Remember, we are trying to get through to people who are still blinded by the lies...
every year, heck -- every DAY -- people are wising up...or being made aware that they might be victims of LIES, and then, we would hope, they would join here and start asking questions.

Right?

Always remember that at one point you, too, were deceived and starting looking for answers to your questions.

OTOH, there are posters who are absolutely legit who use these same methods as the 3rd link (The 25 Rules) to make their own points, and there are legit posters who are vulnerable to becoming defensive....

it can work both ways.

THANKS to the OP....s/f...
I learned a LOT from this thread! (Even if it's "old news" to some of you vets here)

I know about disinformation agents because I battle them all the time. I am a JFK truther, and I have a video about it on Youtube called Visible Proof That Oswald Was Innocent. And there and on other forums, including the Amazon JFK forums and JFK Lancer, I get incredible resistance and acrimony from other, supposed, conspiracy advocates. My good friend Dr. James Fetzer, who is one of the leading JFK researchers in the world, tells me that half the conspiracy advocates on the web are what he calls "ops" which is his term for disinformation agents.

Anyway, if you'd like to see the 5 minute video on Youtube, I wish you would. And please tell others. Here is the link:

www.youtube.com...

Always remember that at one point you, too, were deceived and starting looking for answers to your questions.

I like your perspective. Especially that one.

"Newbies" can come across acting like trolls or these agents that we're talking about.

It helps when you can read between the lines, and some people are better at that than others.

I've noticed before that someone who I thought was just being argumentative was actually just being defensive, because whatever truth it was that they were "woken up" to came as kind of a shock to their system. Personally, I had to be drug out kicking and screaming when it came to certain things. But the fact is, I must've wanted it.....right? Here I am.

Most other people can't see something like that and they start arguing with the poster and that's typically when the conversation degenerates and nothing constructive takes place. That's when it's best to just sit back and let nature take its course.

Before the mudsling starts it's always smart to try and figure out WHY someone says what they do.

A little understanding can go a long way.

Originally posted by Firsk
I know about disinformation agents because I battle them all the time. I am a JFK truther, and I have a video about it on Youtube called Visible Proof That Oswald Was Innocent. And there and on other forums, including the Amazon JFK forums and JFK Lancer, I get incredible resistance and acrimony from other, supposed, conspiracy advocates. My good friend Dr. James Fetzer, who is one of the leading JFK researchers in the world, tells me that half the conspiracy advocates on the web are what he calls "ops" which is his term for disinformation agents.

Anyway, if you'd like to see the 5 minute video on Youtube, I wish you would. And please tell others. Here is the link:

www.youtube.com...

Um....yeah..........I don't know if doing this is against the T and C or not.........but it's really annoying to me.

It is a form of advertising after all and that's one of the perks of being a member here. No advertising.

reply to post by Taupin Desciple

Before the mudsling starts it's always smart to try and figure out WHY someone says what they do.

A little understanding can go a long way.

Hear, hear!!
Thanks for the acknowledgment.

I think the prob with some members is that they are so ingrained and steadfast in their thinking that even when one tries to decipher WHY they say the things they do, they become defensive and belligerent. So, yeah, no understanding can be gleaned except by watching/reading their offerings for a while, looking at their thoughts as expressed in various threads, and then trying to put together a picture of where they're coming from.

Ain't always easy.

And even asking nicely for the "wherefores" doesn't always succeed in drawing them out. Depends on the level of self-awareness and defensiveness in the member whether or not it is readily understandable.

(PS - I like your posts and you avatar Taupin, have admired them for some time now! -- wild)