3 ms·

This reads less like a genuine guide to a disrupting a forum, and more like an imitation of one, produced by a participant of such a conspiracy/anti-government

This reads less like a genuine guide to a disrupting a forum, and more like an imitation of one, produced by a participant of such a conspiracy/anti-government forum or some such, in an attempt to convince others that such activity was happening. As if the author was upset at the typical properties and pathologies of such forums frustrating his attempts to push his own agenda, and decided they must be the result of a co-ordinated effort to disrupt it. Like fringe political groups that are obsessed by the bogeyman of establishment infiltrators, not realising their own true believers' lunacy and internecine tendencies is often far more disruptive to their efforts.

jnbiche 11y ago
Agreed. Not enough obscure acronyms for a genuine government document, and insufficient count of the word "cyber".
- Elrac 11y ago
  Also, poor spelling. I'd expect members of an intelligence community to be more [drum roll] intelligent. "precidence" instead of "precedent?" Really? And this, I think, is an even bigger giveaway: "... and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms." "Freedoms" is one of the hot-button words of conspiracy theorists. As far as I've been able to tell, even the most heavily oppressive American 3 letter thugs tell themselves that they are indeed struggling to _preserve_ the citizens' freedoms.
- krapp 11y ago
  Are you implying that an anonymous, unsourced pastebin could possibly not be authoritative? How much does the government pay you to distract people from the truth?
cryoshon 11y ago
Well, JTRIG exists whether or not this article is real-- and it probably isn't real. There are people who do this for their full time job. Additionally, your dismissal of "conspiracy" wholesale is troubling; conspiracy is merely another interpretation of reality that draws intense dislike because it questions the accepted story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intelligence_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intellig... It's also undeniable that the government does try to disrupt dissenting groups, even if they are nonviolent. In the light of the modern version of this, it's hard to say exactly what movements failed due to internal disruption, and which failed due to not having popular appeal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
- maze-le 11y ago
  Keep in mind that it is not always the government(s) using strategies like this. Political groups (left and right alike) do know about it, and use it, as well as the occasional 'troll for the lulz'. And there is the whole issue of corporate wikipedia-editing networks, if they exist, you can reasonably assume some shadowy businesses also do operations like that.
  - cryoshon 11y ago
    I think that corporate PR constitutes a larger (maybe even the largest) source of deceit/propaganda like in the OP. It's no secret that on reddit there are a large corpus of Monsanto shills (people who sit around and respond to Monsanto-related topics to defuse critcicism).
    - wooter 11y ago
      except they presumably pay for their own PR and don't have a monopoly of force, unlike the Gov.
sixtypoundhound 11y ago
Wow, textbook application of forum sliding. +1 <pragmatic comment: I doubt the establishment really cares what is said on Internet forums>

jnbiche 11y ago

Agreed. Not enough obscure acronyms for a genuine government document, and insufficient count of the word "cyber".

Elrac 11y ago
Also, poor spelling. I'd expect members of an intelligence community to be more [drum roll] intelligent. "precidence" instead of "precedent?" Really? And this, I think, is an even bigger giveaway: "... and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms." "Freedoms" is one of the hot-button words of conspiracy theorists. As far as I've been able to tell, even the most heavily oppressive American 3 letter thugs tell themselves that they are indeed struggling to _preserve_ the citizens' freedoms.
krapp 11y ago
Are you implying that an anonymous, unsourced pastebin could possibly not be authoritative? How much does the government pay you to distract people from the truth?

cryoshon 11y ago

Well, JTRIG exists whether or not this article is real-- and it probably isn't real. There are people who do this for their full time job. Additionally, your dismissal of "conspiracy" wholesale is troubling; conspiracy is merely another interpretation of reality that draws intense dislike because it questions the accepted story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intelligence_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intellig... It's also undeniable that the government does try to disrupt dissenting groups, even if they are nonviolent. In the light of the modern version of this, it's hard to say exactly what movements failed due to internal disruption, and which failed due to not having popular appeal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

maze-le 11y ago
Keep in mind that it is not always the government(s) using strategies like this. Political groups (left and right alike) do know about it, and use it, as well as the occasional 'troll for the lulz'. And there is the whole issue of corporate wikipedia-editing networks, if they exist, you can reasonably assume some shadowy businesses also do operations like that.
- cryoshon 11y ago
  I think that corporate PR constitutes a larger (maybe even the largest) source of deceit/propaganda like in the OP. It's no secret that on reddit there are a large corpus of Monsanto shills (people who sit around and respond to Monsanto-related topics to defuse critcicism).
  - wooter 11y ago
    except they presumably pay for their own PR and don't have a monopoly of force, unlike the Gov.

sixtypoundhound 11y ago

Wow, textbook application of forum sliding. +1 <pragmatic comment: I doubt the establishment really cares what is said on Internet forums>