I think there are certain times when ATS is infiltrated by disinfo agents.

There was a thread (by SkepticOverlord, I think) right before this last election that talked about a rash of new members who were coming from the same ISP or something - I can't remember the details. But it seemed they had a purpose in acting in concert to sway people's votes.

I don't think they're here all the time or are long term members. They join ATS when there's a reason to be here and leave when there's not.

I don't think it's arrogant to think that ATS is being "watched" at all. It would be a perfect way to have one's finger on the pulse of what's going on it the conspiracy world and a great means by which to get a message out there. "They" know the power of the Internet.

Of course there are -

why would it surprise anybody that with the amount of propaganda we've been bombarded with for decades as American citizens and with fellow citizens paid by our taxes either as police or private security to disrupt and discredit Americans exercising their democratic rights to protest peacefully and disagree with our govt and their allies, that people are also acting here?

As far as I am concerned they're welcome to - it's part of the democratic process and it's a free board that whoever owns it admirably keeps as a very open forum. It's hard to see that any of the democracy here will rub off on Obama's little eavesdroppers/# stirrers/cold water pourers/troublemakers but there's not much that's democratic about the man in the first place.

I favor conspiracies on some issues, am skeptical on others. But I know that as people increasingly question Obama then he and his employees/followers/thugs will do what they can to disrupt the free flow of information and carry on the work of Bush and his cronies in eroding our rights under the Consitution.

To any Obama supporters/lackeys who are spying etc here - what really disgusts a lot of ordinary Americans like me is the sheer hide of the man in covering up his past and sealing records etc. I take exception to his manufactured history, his self serving books that contain many inaccuracies.

To compare Obama to Kennedy is ridiculous - by the time he was in the Presidency Kennedy had served in what was fundamentally a moral cause against the Nazi war machine and been in the Congress and Senate. We also know who his family really was.

I will say it here and I will say this many times to as many people as I can - those so bitterly opposed to Obama may turn off some because of their political connections but they sure have the dirt on him and the information that could potentially see him lose office. Who is this guy really? He was groomed from way back including when he was supposedly some brilliant student at Ivy League Universities.

Yet surprise, surprise - we can't read his records. This brilliance allegedly led to his being given a prime spot in a prime law firm and again we have no way of seeing just how good he supposedly was because he won't let us have access to the records. There are cries of racism from the Obama supporters but being Black has helped him evade the hard questions and scrutiny that white presidents undergo.

Throw into the mix his wife ceasing law practice because of apparently being disbarred (again missing/sealed record, censorship at work) and their association with a scandal in Chicago re corruption, word of which was circulating in the Republican/conservative minded media (and some very credible sources in that area, not scandal sheets or reflex right wing stuff) but somehow the mainstream managed not to report on during the primaries and you have all the makings of yet another corrupt, morally bankrupt snake oilsalesman for all that is bad about the power structure in this country and world.

Oh and the constant slipperiness just like a lube that's produced any time Obama is #ing us over by censoring information, refusing to give it (birth certificate)and making sure he does the same things as Bush and co did except with an emphasis on gay rights, makes many of us distrust this guy. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Obama trawlers on this board.

Enjoy the democracy of free thought because if you had your way then boards like this would not exist.

Nobody knows everything.

To a certain degree ALL of us are dis-info agents!

Considering the huge quantity of ads for "Join the CIA" that we've been seeing lately it would make sense. The government has unlimited money and wants to spend more to destroy the economy so hires a lot of people to do weird things and spy on us. We know they record our telephone conversations and internet communications but they need a lot of people to decipher all that in order to categorize who gets red blue or yellow dots on their mailboxes., or was it white. I got so upset when I found a white spot of paint on the gutter in front of my mailbox that I removed it, I had to chip most of it off. But the census person calculated my gps just a few days later. I threw out my Obama shirts and a copy of his book, I would have kept it if I had known it was written by Ayers, but I threw them into a goodwill type pickup drive and the guy came back a few hours later to ask me questions. He said he was looking for someone else but I knew someone had sent him to find out who were the Obama-haters. You think I am paranoid and this is silly, but they plan to get rid of a lot of people. You don't have to be dangerous to them, just disagree with them to be on their list. Wait and see

There are no disinfo agents on ATS please carry on discussing conspiracy theories.

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If you say no there are not disinfo agents you are in fact a disinfo agent.

Why wouldn't there be dis-info agents on the net? Those in power have been using such tactics in order to control the flow of information in all areas of media for decades... long before the net was even invented. So why is it so hard to imagine they are paying a bunch of goons to do the same thing on the the internet? Which is just the newest media, but also the greatest arena of information and knowledge.
In fact I feel it is very naive for one to believe that they aren't involved in such campaigns.

Im not sure if ATS is directly targeted but I sure as hell know social networking sites like digg, facebook, and myspace definitely are.

I haven't been here long enough to spot specific users (maybe even me I am new) but I do know that there are dis info agents on the net. Most of the ones I've disagreed with here have been passionate, but I see them as simply having another world view. That said, this is the classic example of a website where the dis info agent would be effective.

In my short time I have seen threads derailed quickly, and even disappeared from the board entirely. I have suspected political motives for these actions. The quickest way to accomplish this seems to be spouting off topic and hate speech. Is this a conspiracy, or just a simple act of a desperate worldview that cannot grip an opposing viewpoint?

As for whether they watch this site? I believe they would. Not to see what we have figured out or what we know specifically, because I believe getting to the ultimate truth would be so slim, that they may watch simply to see what kernels do get through. The little pieces of truth that fall through the cracks of the propaganda machine. I do believe there is a propaganda machine, and I believe observing a site such as this would be the perfect way to fine-tune it's workings. When you watch an msm show quote from conspiracy sites as a way to heckle the freethinkers, even the more anti government ones, you realize that they do watch sites like this.

Either that or I am completely insane, paranoid, and quite harmless.

I'm a disinfo agent!

I admit it.

Nah..

Actually I'm a bot.

Now, where did I put my my tin foil hat? Oh yeah - its in my underground bunker.

You can get paid for posting on forums. Your posts have to be approved by a particular sponsor, I believe. Do a Web search on "pay per post" - sounds very much like that sort of thing.

I frequent a forum about Peak Oil. One very regular contributor makes several long posts per day that argue the toss with pretty much everyone else on the forum. His replies are detailed and sometimes quite clever, but - as someone else here put it - the poster seems cleverer than his opinions. I can imagine that someone in the oil industry has a small budget that they're using to pay posters to spread disinformation in this way. Newcomers to the Peak Oil site might see this character's arguments and take them seriously. The thing about him is that he doesn't seem particularly impassioned, he just seems to regard it as a game of wits. And why would he spend so much time on a forum where it's quite clear he's not going to convince anyone?

I would guess that similar people are being employed to pooh-pooh, say, swine flu and 9/11 conspiracy theories. Many people who might be casually interested in these things are likely to seek out forums about them, see the disinformation "counterarguments" - which may well be what they want to hear - and go away, reassured that it's all nonsense.