6 ms·

Nuclear weapons secrets exposed via flashcard apps article insta-dead?

• aww_dang 5y ago
  Look at the submissions from that domain. A large amount are marked as [dead]. I would assume the filter is by domain name. I've seen similar activity with other domain names. I'm not familiar with this site, so I can't guess as to why. https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=bellingcat.com https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=bellingcat.com
  • lumpa 5y ago
    Ah, thanks, the simplest explanation didn't occur to me: all articles from domain start as dead and a few are vouched. So it seems like a normal outcome for an article a dozen of HN users would submit from such a domain.
  • jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
    Bellingcat themselves are... for lack of a better word, good. They do open source intelligence investigations into current world conflicts. They're pretty solid about transparency and showing how they arrived at various views. But their audience can be problematic. They tend to attract the crowd that screams "false flag" after every banal news event, so it's not surprising it'd be default spam suspect here, irrespective of the site itself. Also, I doubt this is a hnews concern, but for folks currently holding clearances just reading that story could put them in hot water.
    • mhh__ 5y ago
      I've seen a lot of contrarianism here wrt Bellingcat - i.e. this is the only place outside Tankie forums where the benefit of doubt was given to the FSB/GRU rather than Bellingcat during the Skripal affair, regardless of whether you think that's appropriate or not, I think it should be categorically stated that just because hackernews is more civil than Reddit it is not subject to bias and groupthink: In particular I would like to challenge an undercurrent I've felt here since the day I started commenting, that just because hackernews is a good forum to discuss things properly that one's beliefs shouldn't be challenged or put on a pedestal by virtue of where they are said.
    • quercusa 5y ago
      > for folks currently holding clearances just reading that story could put them in hot water. Can you elaborate on your last point - why?
      • jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
        It's part of how classification law works in the US DoD. Note: I do not hold a clearance, but I've had to sign affidavits for others, so I know a bit about how it works. Basically, the rules put the burden on the holder of a clearance to not expose themselves to information they shouldn't. If and when it does happen, you need to report it. The way the system works is of course horridly bureaucratic, but on the whole if you report things with honesty early it'll be handled without being a big deal. In any case, this means when you participate in forums/venues where open source intel and clearance holders are likely to interact, you'll see people giving that sort of warning as a courtesy, so that the clearance holders can just dodge the issue. It's sort of like putting a content warning in one of your early slides if you're going to discuss something that could be highly distressing to some people. Probably the most glaring example of this sort of content is the snowden archive. As a clearance holder you would not want to get noticed holding onto some of the documents that are in there, no matter their veracity.
        • quercusa 5y ago
          Very useful - thank you!
• hfjgltkrlrm 5y ago
  > Q: what are the authenticators on the Restricted Area Badge? > A: VOLKEL is missing the first L I find this funny, the badges have typos on purpose. The funniest thing is that I googled "restricted area badge" to read more about what they are, and the second result on google is a link to these flash cards. Article says they were all removed, so not sure what this means.
  • unanswered 5y ago
    > I find this funny, the badges have typos on purpose. It's not a bad strategy. Just as uncareful attackers may introduce accidental typos to documents, attackers who are taking care to avoid that pitfall are likely to remove assumed-accidental typos.
• ChrisArchitect 5y ago
  what does that mean 'going dead'? like you even said, other articles from 'bellingcat' seem fine, so just wait for it to be upvoted if it's actually interesting
  • ChrisArchitect 5y ago
    but also, let's wait for a proper news source rather than belling cat
    • lnwlebjel 5y ago
      Is there a difference? https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972837924/how-bellingcats-online-sleuths-solve-global-crimes-using-open-source-info https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972837924/how-bellingcats-onl...
  • lumpa 5y ago
    You can go into your profile, then set "showdead" to "yes". Once you look at bellingcat's domain submissions, you'll see they're mostly "dead" and that makes them hidden from unlogged and most logged users, so it's like they're automatically taken out of the pool of articles available to receive votes. Only once someone "vouches" for a dead post can it be voted on again. Usually posts go dead when downvoted enough, but it seems posts from that domain are automatically set to dead, and a few of them are resurrected. Btw, the best place to find dead posts is the newest page, as they are uncommon in other places. Edit: sorry if I sounded condescending, I might have misread that as you not understanding what "dead" meant, rather than "why would that be an issue".
    • ChrisArchitect 5y ago
      fairplay, yeah, never ever noticed that option on the profile. or heard anyone reference things 'going dead'. There's no downvoting on the site at the top level of posts tho. So things rise up only based on upvotes. Dead = noninterest or perhaps numerous flags? Just getting at that it's probably just the ebb and flow of system and not some conspiracy. Well, other than maybe being singled out by bad faith actors for flagging but what can you do. It did eventually get going/upvoted