The Gentleperson's Guide To Forum Spies

Hey all, I came across this recently and thought it would make for good reading. It is a guide to manipulating discussion and opinions on internet forums. It details several strategies for misdirection, and dilution of discussion.

http://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm

  Quote

12 July 2012

The Gentleperson's Guide To Forum Spies

 

1. COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum

2. Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation

3. Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist

4. How to Spot a Spy (Cointelpro Agent)

5. Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

Naturally, this is very interesting to read. It can be enriching in it's plain analysis and may, hopefully, raise awareness of how these tactics are utilized. The discussion and dissemination of such techniques should make a for a sharper and less susceptible group of members. Perhaps we'll even recognize techniques that we may unwittingly employ ourselves when having a discussion.

Anywho, please enjoy. This is fascinating stuff.

weed

CUP

zelah

PLUM

Just saw this on Reddit, interesting stuff. I'm conspiranoid enough already, didn't need this...

this is a stupid thread and you should feel bad for posting it.

when normal people not on any government or corporate payroll choose to voluntarily shill for either one ,it eliminates the need for this kind of astro turfing. There is an endless supply of people who play right into status quo propaganda without doing it intentionally

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:44 AM, kaini said:

this is a stupid thread and you should feel bad for posting it.

I hate that the internet is becoming all memes. Its reddit's fault.

BAN MEMESPEAK

\

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:48 AM, YO303 said:

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:44 AM, kaini said:

this is a stupid thread and you should feel bad for posting it.

 

I hate that the internet is becoming all memes. Its reddit's fault.

 

BAN MEMESPEAK

 

\

WHY NOT ZOIDBERG?

nah, i may have chosen a convenient meme-capsule for my sentiment, but the sentiment is genuine.

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:50 AM, kaini said:

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:48 AM, YO303 said:

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:44 AM, kaini said:

this is a stupid thread and you should feel bad for posting it.

 

I hate that the internet is becoming all memes. Its reddit's fault.

 

BAN MEMESPEAK

 

\

 

WHY NOT ZOIDBERG?

 

nah, i may have chosen a convenient meme-capsule for my sentiment, but the sentiment is genuine.

that sentence is a meme?

but yeah, i reckon i'm a forum spy

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:50 AM, kaini said:

nah, i may have chosen a convenient meme-capsule for my sentiment, but the sentiment is genuine.

So you're serious?

Having the content of the guide fresh in my mind, my first impression was that you were playing a crude caricature of someone trying to disrupt discussion of the thread by first denying it's validity then making me feel guilty for bothering to bring it up.

But it seems that you're serious; just without any pernicious intention.

  On 7/24/2012 at 1:20 AM, Wall Bird said:

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:50 AM, kaini said:

nah, i may have chosen a convenient meme-capsule for my sentiment, but the sentiment is genuine.

 

So you're serious?

 

Having the content of the guide fresh in my mind, my first impression was that you were playing a crude caricature of someone trying to disrupt discussion of the thread by first denying it's validity then making me feel guilty for bothering to bring it up.

 

But it seems that you're serious; just without any pernicious intention.

OR AM I?

no, i am.

the "everyone's a dupe; everyone who isn't a dupe is playing a character" is some pernicious, forum-destroying shit. just accept that some people are idiots, some people are assholes, and some people are idiotic assholes. then proceed with your day and have a nice one. this shit is not important and nobody should waste even a minute of their time worrying about it. the end.

  On 7/24/2012 at 1:20 AM, Wall Bird said:

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:50 AM, kaini said:

nah, i may have chosen a convenient meme-capsule for my sentiment, but the sentiment is genuine.

 

So you're serious?

 

Having the content of the guide fresh in my mind, my first impression was that you were playing a crude caricature of someone trying to disrupt discussion of the thread by first denying it's validity then making me feel guilty for bothering to bring it up.

 

But it seems that you're serious; just without any pernicious intention.

You are well-spoken, be proud of that.

I'm an idiot.

i will add one more comment, and that's the person who wrote the link in the OP is a forever alone neckbeard who spends 75% of his free time on 4chan - specifically /b/ - and lives in his mom's basement. the 25% of the time he doesn't spend berating other anons for being a noob is spent reading geocities sites that recreate CIA manuals and seduction manuals that passed into the public domain ten years ago. tl;dr not being like the person who wrote the link in the OP is a start towards being a normal person.

I'm a spy.

lol noob

  On 7/24/2012 at 1:25 AM, kaini said:

the "everyone's a dupe; everyone who isn't a dupe is playing a character" is some pernicious, forum-destroying shit. just accept that some people are idiots, some people are assholes, and some people are idiotic assholes. then proceed with your day and have a nice one. this shit is not important and nobody should waste even a minute of their time worrying about it. the end.

Well the thought had crossed my mind that the whole thing might incite slight paranoia and speculation among members of the forum. That's not my intent.

I understand your sentiment about people being ignorant, provocative, or both and I agree that it manifests itself in ways that are detailed in the literature I posted.

Of course this is important. It's important to know the ways in which people can and do manipulate each other. Awareness of these techniques reduce our susceptibility to them.

i read like a third of it and it all seemed very obvious and way below watmm and even reddit standards, it's all very high-school. it basically follows a very simple line - all of the tactics mentioned simply steer clear of scientific method (as i see it..)

maybe some internet amateurs will find some use in it but most of watmm will definitely not.

  On 7/24/2012 at 10:31 AM, eugene said:

i read like a third of it and it all seemed very obvious and way below watmm and even reddit standards, it's all very high-school. it basically follows a very simple line - all of the tactics mentioned simply steer clear of scientific method (as i see it..)

You lost me on the part about the scientific method. How would the scientific method apply to a topic like this? Or put another way, how might someone apply it to an activity like this?

  On 7/24/2012 at 12:44 AM, kaini said:

this is a stupid thread and you should feel bad for posting it.

read this in mikes voice

machiavelli the prince

  On 7/24/2012 at 5:43 PM, Wall Bird said:

  On 7/24/2012 at 10:31 AM, eugene said:

i read like a third of it and it all seemed very obvious and way below watmm and even reddit standards, it's all very high-school. it basically follows a very simple line - all of the tactics mentioned simply steer clear of scientific method (as i see it..)

 

You lost me on the part about the scientific method. How would the scientific method apply to a topic like this? Or put another way, how might someone apply it to an activity like this?

well it deals with cheeky tactics on winning arguments on internet forums, and most of those tactics simply contradict the basics of scientific way of arguing something, so people who have had just a tiny bit of academic education should be immune to those i believe.