3 ms·

It's origin can be fake, but there are real people who believe in the fakery.

waterheater 6y ago
I find this line from the article quite interesting: "It has no central leader and encourages its followers to do their own research." Well, we do know that someone or a group is making those Q posts. That is factual, indisputable. Digital signatures on anonymous messaging boards work. So I'm confused as to why the article never mentions the Q posts. They even misrepresent what it is: "QAnon can be confusing for the outside observer." Actually, it's quite clear: a person or group who identified as "Q" started posting that a bunch of stuff is going on behind the scenes. Whether or not Q is truthful or not is not the problem. The Vice article doesn't represent the origin of the QAnon "movement" correctly.
- core-questions 6y ago
  Is there a good summary somewhere of the chain of assertion that gives Q-followers a reason to believe that whomever it is that says they're Q now, is the same person/group that said they were Q a year or more ago?
  - waterheater 6y ago
    I've looked into Q a fair bit and tried to tease out what's correct and incorrect, because it's actually quite fascinating. Of course I remain highly skeptical that what Q is talking about will happen, but here's what I've put together. Q validates their posts with what's called a trip code. Urban Dictionary actually explains it pretty well: "A trip code is a code used in anonymous threads like 4chan to determine whether or not the anonymous poster is authentic or not. It assigns a code to the end of your name. When you add the pound (#) symbol to the end of your name followed by a word, like a password that only you know, it scrambles the word into a code. That way it's undetectable and can be used over and over again." [1] As long as you keep your password secret, trip codes are quite reliable. Now, Q has apparently changed tripcodes over time. A good resource for looking at Q posts is qmap.pub. I just did some searching to find out how Q does these changes. https://qmap.pub/read/1311 https://qmap.pub/read/1311 https://qmap.pub/read/1312 https://qmap.pub/read/1312 This is just one example, but the poster claiming to be Q (1) says a change is coming and (2) announces the change. It's clearly imperfect, but the old trip code isn't used again. I would have to look at all other trip code changes to be certain. However, there's no reason to automatically assume other trip code changes would be different than this. Here's a big weakness: Q didn't use trip codes at first. Ultimately, you have to believe that the Q today is the same as the one from 2017. However, the chain of trip codes does demonstrate at least some continuity for the last two years or so. Sources: [1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trip%20Code https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trip%20Code
    - GaryNumanVevo 6y ago
      Trip idea can be broken in a few days with a proper GPU. The original q-anon trip was cracked within a month. It’s a giant larp

I find this line from the article quite interesting: "It has no central leader and encourages its followers to do their own research." Well, we do know that someone or a group is making those Q posts. That is factual, indisputable. Digital signatures on anonymous messaging boards work. So I'm confused as to why the article never mentions the Q posts. They even misrepresent what it is: "QAnon can be confusing for the outside observer." Actually, it's quite clear: a person or group who identified as "Q" started posting that a bunch of stuff is going on behind the scenes. Whether or not Q is truthful or not is not the problem. The Vice article doesn't represent the origin of the QAnon "movement" correctly.

core-questions 6y ago
Is there a good summary somewhere of the chain of assertion that gives Q-followers a reason to believe that whomever it is that says they're Q now, is the same person/group that said they were Q a year or more ago?
- waterheater 6y ago
  I've looked into Q a fair bit and tried to tease out what's correct and incorrect, because it's actually quite fascinating. Of course I remain highly skeptical that what Q is talking about will happen, but here's what I've put together. Q validates their posts with what's called a trip code. Urban Dictionary actually explains it pretty well: "A trip code is a code used in anonymous threads like 4chan to determine whether or not the anonymous poster is authentic or not. It assigns a code to the end of your name. When you add the pound (#) symbol to the end of your name followed by a word, like a password that only you know, it scrambles the word into a code. That way it's undetectable and can be used over and over again." [1] As long as you keep your password secret, trip codes are quite reliable. Now, Q has apparently changed tripcodes over time. A good resource for looking at Q posts is qmap.pub. I just did some searching to find out how Q does these changes. https://qmap.pub/read/1311 https://qmap.pub/read/1311 https://qmap.pub/read/1312 https://qmap.pub/read/1312 This is just one example, but the poster claiming to be Q (1) says a change is coming and (2) announces the change. It's clearly imperfect, but the old trip code isn't used again. I would have to look at all other trip code changes to be certain. However, there's no reason to automatically assume other trip code changes would be different than this. Here's a big weakness: Q didn't use trip codes at first. Ultimately, you have to believe that the Q today is the same as the one from 2017. However, the chain of trip codes does demonstrate at least some continuity for the last two years or so. Sources: [1] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trip%20Code https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trip%20Code
  - GaryNumanVevo 6y ago
    Trip idea can be broken in a few days with a proper GPU. The original q-anon trip was cracked within a month. It’s a giant larp