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I'm a bit confused. Isn't it possible that they actually were lonely/bored weirdos who are bad at social boundaries and host a (probably mind-numbingly unintere

I'm a bit confused. Isn't it possible that they actually were lonely/bored weirdos who are bad at social boundaries and host a (probably mind-numbingly uninteresting) discussion group? Don't get me wrong, I shut these sorts of people down at the first conversation because I hate dilettante philosophy with a passion and have a strong distaste for any hint of spiritualism. But there are underemployed folks at all my regular coffee haunts who are always chatting up willing patrons and will ask to exchange numbers if someone is patient enough to engage. But AFAICT they aren't nefarious, just bored and weird. One hocks CDs of his bad garageband compositions, but again, he's harmless. How did you jump from "cringe" to "cult"?

BizarroLand 5y ago
I would say the most likely scenario is the one where they were attempting to get something from them. Based on the authors account, they weren't meeting for the purpose of talking to each other, they were using social engineering to strong-arm the author into their group. It's kind of interesting knowing that if you can get a few people to do a thing that other people will go along with it because that seems to be the thing to do. For instance, if you and a few other people start regularly working out in a park there's a good chance regular passers by may ask to join in at some point.
kelseyfrog 5y ago
There is a vague conversational sense that something is off. For me, this has occurred several times just prior to receiving masonic handshakes. It's happened enough that I take notes quickly afterword in order to compile a list of keywords/phrases in order to help identify what's going on. jc, this sounds absolutely unhinged after typing it out.
- Infernal 5y ago
  Well, can you help us identify these situations by sharing some of your notes?
- rdtwo 5y ago
  Yeah I’ve gotten this wired vibe from religious leaders. Just a little too friendly and steering conversations into odd areas. I try to refocus the conversation back on them as the interesting subject and that breaks the pattern but with 2 it’s difficult.
Trasmatta 5y ago
The one thing that makes me think "possibly not a cult?" is that they met up 4 times before the "private meeting" idea was introduced. I feel like cults usually try to start getting you integrated into the larger group earlier than that, especially if you're just some rando they met at a cafe. Some of the other points in their interaction do heavily hint at cult, though. Could just be a group that does recruitment differently than I'm used to. I did missionary work in a cult once (not going to name which group, because I don't want to derail this thread arguing over whether this particular group is a cult or not), and the described behaviors and conversation topics certainly ring a bell.
- ac2u 5y ago
  >I feel like cults usually try to start getting you integrated into the larger group earlier than that Maybe they've been taking lessons from online marketers and have found out that striking early gets them in the first meeting, but the churn is too high and they started a drip campaign instead ;)
cf100clunk 5y ago
The author implies that those strangers set off alarm bells at several times, and that is what is important. Giving those strangers the benefit of the doubt would never have made that doubt go away, from what I could tell. If they actually were just ''lonely/bored weirdos'' the writer would still be ahead by trusting the doubts and behaving circumspectly based on them.
- thwayunion 5y ago
  Given the title, I expected the story to end with positive confirmation that the two people were in a cult. Not "and then they invited me to join a private discussion group, I ghosted them, the end". Again, I'm in material agreement that talking with weirdos is generally a losing proposition for any number of reasons. But I don't understand why he's so certain these people were in a cult. They could've been in an MLM. They could've also just been weirdos with a private discussion group. Heck, the "sex" possibility listed at the beginning isn't even proven false. We don't know. The story has an inconclusive ending, which is odd given the title of the piece. The bait-and-switch of the title gives me the same bad vibes that the author got from the people in the story. And the end of the post feels... forced and perhaps even dissonant. I dig deeper and the guy has a formula for the good life. A personal subreddit (?!) and a substack that all appear to be about nothing in particular? Does this guy want something from me or is he just a harmless oddball who likes talking into the void / to his small audience? Probably the latter. Most weirdos are harmless and I'm glad they exist even if I don't want to engage with most of them. In fact, maybe he's aware that he sometimes comes across like this and that's why he wrote the post? And the title is, I guess, pretty mild as far as clickbait goes. No harm, no foul. It's kind of funny that I get the same vibe from him as he got from these people. And even funnier that I'm commenting on a post that gives me odd vibes claiming I never engage with people who give me odd vibes :) In any case, I remain unconvinced that these people were definitely recruiting for a cult. But maybe that's not even the point of the post.
  - to1y 5y ago
    I got a feeling it's all clickbait, and the author is desperately trying to make a story out of essentially nothing.
Ansil849 5y ago
Yeah, this was my read too. There are plenty of bored and lonely people who also fancy themselves armchair intellectuals, who'd love to talk to you for hours. It may make them annoying and irritating, but it doesn't make them a cult. I don't see anything in the article that this was "attempted cult recruitment", more just "lonely people discussion group".
toast0 5y ago
"I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members." --- or something similar, Groucho Marx, maybe. I'm not so obviously desirable to be in a group that someone with no social connections to me should be inviting me in. It'd be different if the invite comes with context, but a cafe has little context; most people eat, and a lot of people drink coffee. Anyway, on the subject of cults, if you want to join a quality death cult, that's stress free, with no social obligations, might I suggest the Internet Death Cult of Fun, https://deathcult.fun/ https://deathcult.fun/
p1necone 5y ago
Even if that was the case they were still being manipulative. The whole "you can't talk about this stuff with other people" shtick is pretty transparent. I don't think you can say they're /just/ socially inept.
- galaxyLogic 5y ago
  Rule number one of Fight Club: You don't talk about Fight Club

BizarroLand 5y ago

I would say the most likely scenario is the one where they were attempting to get something from them. Based on the authors account, they weren't meeting for the purpose of talking to each other, they were using social engineering to strong-arm the author into their group. It's kind of interesting knowing that if you can get a few people to do a thing that other people will go along with it because that seems to be the thing to do. For instance, if you and a few other people start regularly working out in a park there's a good chance regular passers by may ask to join in at some point.

kelseyfrog 5y ago

There is a vague conversational sense that something is off. For me, this has occurred several times just prior to receiving masonic handshakes. It's happened enough that I take notes quickly afterword in order to compile a list of keywords/phrases in order to help identify what's going on. jc, this sounds absolutely unhinged after typing it out.

Infernal 5y ago
Well, can you help us identify these situations by sharing some of your notes?
rdtwo 5y ago
Yeah I’ve gotten this wired vibe from religious leaders. Just a little too friendly and steering conversations into odd areas. I try to refocus the conversation back on them as the interesting subject and that breaks the pattern but with 2 it’s difficult.

Trasmatta 5y ago

The one thing that makes me think "possibly not a cult?" is that they met up 4 times before the "private meeting" idea was introduced. I feel like cults usually try to start getting you integrated into the larger group earlier than that, especially if you're just some rando they met at a cafe. Some of the other points in their interaction do heavily hint at cult, though. Could just be a group that does recruitment differently than I'm used to. I did missionary work in a cult once (not going to name which group, because I don't want to derail this thread arguing over whether this particular group is a cult or not), and the described behaviors and conversation topics certainly ring a bell.

ac2u 5y ago
>I feel like cults usually try to start getting you integrated into the larger group earlier than that Maybe they've been taking lessons from online marketers and have found out that striking early gets them in the first meeting, but the churn is too high and they started a drip campaign instead ;)

cf100clunk 5y ago

The author implies that those strangers set off alarm bells at several times, and that is what is important. Giving those strangers the benefit of the doubt would never have made that doubt go away, from what I could tell. If they actually were just ''lonely/bored weirdos'' the writer would still be ahead by trusting the doubts and behaving circumspectly based on them.

thwayunion 5y ago
Given the title, I expected the story to end with positive confirmation that the two people were in a cult. Not "and then they invited me to join a private discussion group, I ghosted them, the end". Again, I'm in material agreement that talking with weirdos is generally a losing proposition for any number of reasons. But I don't understand why he's so certain these people were in a cult. They could've been in an MLM. They could've also just been weirdos with a private discussion group. Heck, the "sex" possibility listed at the beginning isn't even proven false. We don't know. The story has an inconclusive ending, which is odd given the title of the piece. The bait-and-switch of the title gives me the same bad vibes that the author got from the people in the story. And the end of the post feels... forced and perhaps even dissonant. I dig deeper and the guy has a formula for the good life. A personal subreddit (?!) and a substack that all appear to be about nothing in particular? Does this guy want something from me or is he just a harmless oddball who likes talking into the void / to his small audience? Probably the latter. Most weirdos are harmless and I'm glad they exist even if I don't want to engage with most of them. In fact, maybe he's aware that he sometimes comes across like this and that's why he wrote the post? And the title is, I guess, pretty mild as far as clickbait goes. No harm, no foul. It's kind of funny that I get the same vibe from him as he got from these people. And even funnier that I'm commenting on a post that gives me odd vibes claiming I never engage with people who give me odd vibes :) In any case, I remain unconvinced that these people were definitely recruiting for a cult. But maybe that's not even the point of the post.
- to1y 5y ago
  I got a feeling it's all clickbait, and the author is desperately trying to make a story out of essentially nothing.

Ansil849 5y ago

Yeah, this was my read too. There are plenty of bored and lonely people who also fancy themselves armchair intellectuals, who'd love to talk to you for hours. It may make them annoying and irritating, but it doesn't make them a cult. I don't see anything in the article that this was "attempted cult recruitment", more just "lonely people discussion group".

toast0 5y ago

"I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members." --- or something similar, Groucho Marx, maybe. I'm not so obviously desirable to be in a group that someone with no social connections to me should be inviting me in. It'd be different if the invite comes with context, but a cafe has little context; most people eat, and a lot of people drink coffee. Anyway, on the subject of cults, if you want to join a quality death cult, that's stress free, with no social obligations, might I suggest the Internet Death Cult of Fun, https://deathcult.fun/ https://deathcult.fun/

p1necone 5y ago

Even if that was the case they were still being manipulative. The whole "you can't talk about this stuff with other people" shtick is pretty transparent. I don't think you can say they're /just/ socially inept.

galaxyLogic 5y ago
Rule number one of Fight Club: You don't talk about Fight Club