Look no further~ The Gentleperson's Guide To Forum Spies

reply to post by SamLuv


I think that -- if we are not careful -- if we head any further down that particular road, top posters will eventually be able to redeem their stars and flags for deluxe vacations, home theater systems and tiny impregnable vaults.

reply to post by ADVISOR


Thank you sir or madem, I have noticed this when I have posted things now my suspicions where confirmed.

reply to post by SamLuv

Do you think if there was a 'thumbs up/down' counter on each comment or response, that would help gauge the general consensus of the readers?

Like on YouTube? Yah. Wish people were more forthcoming when they type at you. Speak plainly. Quit talking in circles. Answer a direct question. Adress the issue. Tell me what you think. So many people on the internet refuse to do that. They consider themselves the smartest people on the web. Because they aren't honest. Or open.

Its like this. "I think otherwise" (ambiguous). You think what? "Some people on here are very clearly sheep, trolls, spies." (more vague insults). Everybody up the page is blamed. "So (wink, wink) we all know who they are." But we don't. It's just anyone, everyone.

Can't be honest (they are watching).
Cant' be direct (thats frowned upon, might get you banned).
Can't disagree ( break out the labels).

This crap is going on in most every church in America today. That is a fact. If you attend church, then I suggest that you open your eyes to it. There is a reason for it. Your pastor may be a Smith.

reply to post by stirling

Sometimes it is useful to 'lead' the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you 'do not care what the authorities think!!' inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.

If a "terrorist" really admits here their true intentions, then they are too stupid to really carry anything out in the real world. At worst they will get caught telling somebody about their "plan". At best they will just carry out a noisy version of suicide.

Direct threats will get staff pinged and then the cops and then "ding dong" goes your front door. Have we ever seen that here (besides that one guy)?

Originally posted by SamLuv
Do you think if there was a 'thumbs up/down' counter on each comment or response, that would help gauge the general consensus of the readers?

I think the best answers rarely get stars. I've also noticed that where some sincere, informed and intelligent discourse is happening that none of the participants star each other. It doesn't appear necessary... I think that's your answer too.

I hate all the psychological descriptions of 'conditions'...all those words that make you a narcissist.

Reading that it seems like 90% of people online are. Myself included. The problem with psychology is that everything is SUCH a continuum and science usually demands quantifiable information and it is hard to quantify what makes a person's MIND.

Just think independently and keep your eyes open and don't worry about it. Just don't be a sheep or a flocking chicken or a stampeding bull.

If you ever find yourself led, and you don't like it, analyze why it happened so it doesn't happen to you again.

Jeez.

Originally posted by MDDoxs
. Most members are inheritably curious, cautious, critical and intelligent.

Sorry to be cynical but have you looked into the paranormal section here at ATS at all? People there think they have super powers for example and a are convinced little photographic anomalies are ghosts with no basis to believe. Or the religious section? Those sections I'd have to say contradict your analysis, the ratio of stupidity versus common sense here is much higher than I'd like.

reply to post by ADVISOR


Amazing.

If any member were to post a thread with so few original thoughts or opinions and then jump right to a source with a link, we'd be spanked for doing so.

And because of this, many of us spend a lot of time laying out the OP.

Maybe you could put a little more effort into it next time? I mean after all, you are supposed to set examples.

Peace

BTW, good read.

Originally posted by Hecate666
You call them 'techniques' [see list above] but they are also genuine human traits. I am guilty of doing a few things on the list but I have done that because those were genuine feelings. How do we know that someone isn't just passionate or misinformed or uneducated rather than having an agenda?

here we have a gen-you-wine example of what this thread is all about. they are indeed human traits..the traits of a narcissistic sociopath, adding the word "human" to the topic doesnt make it any less depraved. Also Nice Avatar.. is that some form of parasite? You chose a parasite to represent your online presence?? interesting..

The purpose of these techniques are to make unsuspecting sheep into willing tools of the status quo police. To brainwash them into thinking THEY came up with the idea instead of it being implanted. are you not familiar with brain washing?

reply to post by TiM3LoRd


The problem here is the whole "brain washing" term. If you think about it, what isn't "brain washing"??

It is too ambiguous a term to even be used in a practical sense. If I'm not being brainwashed, am I being brainwashed into not being brainwashed?



IMO - Can the word. It's useless.

We have been engaged in net centric warfare since the dawn of 9/11 and the campaign that followed to subvert the democratic process by our elected. They used our enlisted to set up centers of information management. Our retired enlisted went on a campaign of disinformation in the media advocating for war with Iraq as "specialists". Every death of our people because of that war is on their hands as well. I hope those checks were worth it.

Then in these nerve centers where people wore the uniform of our armed forces, the public was lied to , criticized for caution, and generally led to believe that war was what they wanted. The reality is that we did not want it, need it, or even think of it. They, using OUR OWN PEOPLE who are there to defend us, made us a worse country.

Every member of the armed forces that has logged on to sway his people´s voice while on duty, has contributed to subverting the democratic process. They are just as responsible for our loses as our enemies. Sounds rough huh...?...

Well it is that bad. They have unnecessarily placed their people in harm's way . That IMO is just as bad as our enemies doing it.

I bet their parents never sat around talking about the soviets, how they used propaganda because they lacked truth or OUR VALUES. Looks like their kids are F-ing retarded or were not paying attention.

reply to post by Hecate666

You call them 'techniques' [see list above] but they are also genuine human traits.

That is correct.

These are called "Logical Fallacies", and they stem from human biases (Those innate to our perception of reality)

And here is a list of all of the ones we know.

en.wikipedia.org...

As well as Cognitive Biases:

en.wikipedia.org...

And Memory Biases:

en.wikipedia.org...

Disinformation is a clever usage of logical fallacies to convince people of a particular position, perspective, or belief, by way of leveraging their innate cognitive, and memory biases.

IT would behove us all to learn more about Formal Argumentative Logic.

reply to post by ADVISOR
None of this comes as any surprise to me as I have said several times that "Disinformation Agents" have been working the ATS Forums for years and never more than now. Of course Bill has repeatedly refuted this and frankly he has convinced me that he/they are simply obvious to this fact but I will add that in one case it was obvious that ATS was giving a forum and special treatment to one Disinfo Person..I think his username was Johnny Utah but there have been so many that have come and gone, changed their name, played musical chairs/forums amongst themselves that I stopped wasting my time calling them for what I knew they were, i.e. paid, as well as wannabe disinformation agents. I will add that contrary to one post here, the intelligence and discernment levels have dropped dramatically over the years and many grown intelligent people with something to contribute have walked away from ATS..I have a couple of times but I won't go into why I still chime in..it won't be for much longer as I will be sailing away before the big implosion happens.

Whatever the case, I appreciated the link and information, even though I am a primitive vs Gentleman at heart.

I must add that on ATS, there are two types of Disinformation Agents that irked me the most, the 9-11 and Obama Counterpros who I wish a warm place in hell when they get there..

PS. For the record, I have been here from the beginning so spare me the pointless corrections.

Thanks, man. It is good to know about these techniques. I find it interesting that people are interested in suppressing knowledge and truth for some reason, for if these were shared, the world would be a better place for everyone.

I am an educated person, so when I post, I try to back up my opinions with facts, data, and, when I can, links. This, and listening to different points of view, are good skills to have in a forum. Being able to stay on topic is important as well, as is discussing the merits or flaws of ideas rather than the flaws of the people that hold them.

I think it's bad to be paranoid, though. Better just to assume that people who post misleading data or try to derail the forum just aren't very intelligent.

ATS needs to hire a team of COMP SCI's whom can implement protective measures in prevention of each and every one of those techniques.

reply to post by ADVISOR


What an Exhausting read...


i felt like i was held after class in 1 hour detention again
(now, that voluntary statement does not make me a disinformant, provocateur or anything disinfo...
just a mentally acute person)

Originally posted by Jadette

We also need to learn to have a conversation - a thing sadly lacking around here.Please read through a thread before contributing, our efforts must be collaborative in order to be strong. Otherwise you're just singing in the wind to yourself.

ADD this footnote

* this reply is to a post on page 4, now if i read this (the above statement) first
- then my mindscape concerning the thread would have been altered to accomodate this line of reasoning...

and probably would have been lost in the collective mishmash of a meandering thread focus....
but keeping up to snuff on the threads evolution allows me to address points i may otherwise have sluffed off as inconsequential fluff...
~thanks~

Here is where i am completely opposite you...
as the thread replies generally wander all over the place and the issues raised in the OP are usually modified as the pages of replies increase.

i prefer to state my position ... then go back and read the meandering path of the thread
in that way my initial thoughts are presented,


to each their own, amen

edit on 13-7-2012 by St Udio because: (no reason given)

They are everywhere, even in this thread

This thread made me feel the need to post my first post ever.

Damn spies!

reply to post by ADVISOR


I thought these were referred to as trolls or at least a form of internet trolls