Well, so far so good. No genuine "disinfo agents" on the sight [
looking through binoculars, checking on the surroundings]...
Therefore, I conclude that we are (so far) safe to discuss this matter. A post or two of (amteurish) attempts at raising the temperature will not pose
any significant threat. Observers are welcome to join.
Just a couple of minutes ago, while reading some of the responses, an idea came to my mind. Maybe we have been using a wrong term all along.
"
Disinfo agents"?
Hmm... It does sound like it describes someone who is payed to post on online forums. How silly does that sound? Pretty silly to me, I must admit. How
about this instead...
"Information cleaners"?
Someone, whom I've recognized (by my impression; no proof for it, whatsoever) as a genuine government-employed-guy (a very sincere, disapointed, even
tricked-into-service guy), mentioned the word - "cleaners". A perfectly logical and valid word from my perspective.
So, let's assume a following scenario...
When a piece of information (that is not supposed to be in public domain) surfaces somewhere on the net, a BIG
RED flashing flag
(something like on a planet ticket scanner monitor, on airports) pops up, a guy is suddenly awaken from his hours-long slumber (after all, how often
do these things happen? not very often, I would guess).
He quickly jumps to his chair, and starts browsing through the topic being discussed. And, bingo! There is something worth his time after all!
"Oh, joy and happiness! I get to do SOMETHING today!" [
the guy thinks to himself]
So, the guy, depending on how much he likes his job, starts pulling all the tricks he was taught in his "evening school of counter-intelligence"
(provided by the "service"... as a replacement for the hollidays he'll never get), and by doing so, inevitably, he reveals those tricks to the
observing public (some may notice, some may not, but nevertheless, it's all there in plain sight).
But, he's a clever student of counter-intelligence, yes he is. He knows that his job is not to draw attention to himself. That would be
counter-productive (and not counter-intelligence), so he just slips in to give a point or two, derail a topic even if just for a little, and then
quietly sneak away, leaving all those kids eager for recognition to use this mis-info and try to make some names for themselves.
Counter-intelligence agent will never use the same nick more than a handful of times. It would beat the purpose of his job if he could be identified
on the spot. Thus, what you can see is nikcs and nicks being created out of thin air, many on the same day they are being used to post, all of them
pulling the topic in, more or less, the same mis-direction.
Someone mentioned examples? Well, fortunately for both you and me, here's one perfect example. See if you can spot those nicks on first sight. I give
a small hint somewhere in the middle of that thread.
[
Disclaimer notice: Again, this is all purely from my own impressions. There is
absolutely no proof that what happened in that thread is
what I have just described here.]
www.abovetopsecret.com...
[
Added after ATS came back online...]
And how strange is that for a coincidence!
This is (only) the second time I am trying to post something (reasonably) worthy, and ATS falls down on its knees. Let me see... The time between my
first "Preview Post" and ATS going down...
Hmmm... Under 5 minutes.
Hey, that's a one heck of a result! Real-time scanning of forum posts, all the processing of keywords, phrases etc... in
less than 5 minutes!
I am impressed! I trully am! Someone could even calculate the processing power of those servers that are being used for monitoring. Couple of
teraflops perhaps? Dozens of teraflops? Hundreds? Wow! How much ahead of commercial application is that?
Can you do simulations as well? I've heard A.I. is pretty intelligent now. Can it emulate a living person? You know, like "pattern recognition",
and "behaviour prediction", and stuff...?
Hey, maybe we're not dealing with flesh-and-blood guys here at all! Skynet has taken over the control, and we're all doomed...! Doomed I tell ya!!!
Sorry, I just have to poke fun with these people. They have absolutely no idea what direction they are heading in... so I like to give them a hint or
two in jokes I know they won't get.
Too stiff they are... Yessir... too stiff... for their own good.
[edit on 14-4-2008 by elendal]