How does Above Top Secret handle forum gangs?

reply to post by MajorDisaster


Well, I'm sure it IS monitored.
In fact, I know it is.

But, but... 90% or more of the content on these boards is absolute crap.

Or maybe the number is much less than 90%. It doesn't really matter. Because in all honesty, the crap far outweighs the "good stuff." At least in the public's eye.

That being said, there is no motive to conduct any of the scenarios you outlined in your previous posts.

The only thing I could consider being worthy of such a response would be a simply sick and twisted "show of force" in which nobody gets the "joke" but those involved.

Or do you actually believe that truly sensative material would be allowed to remain posted on these boards?
No way. If anything was ever actually posted here that posed a risk to national security, it would be struck down REAL quick. And they wouldn't need internet thugs to do so.

Originally posted by JayinAR
But, but... 90% or more of the content on these boards is absolute crap.

Sure, but this site has a ridiculously huge volume of information coming in all the time. Even if only 10% of it is real, sensitive stuff - that's still a LOT of sensitive stuff!

That being said, there is no motive to conduct any of the scenarios you outlined in your previous posts.

Sure there is. The motive is to scare the out of people.

It doesn't happen to everyone, but really really determined and persistent guys like me, well........ yeah it does actually.

Or do you actually believe that truly sensative material would be allowed to remain posted on these boards?

Are you serious??

Originally posted by MajorDisaster

It doesn't happen to everyone, but really really determined and persistent guys like me, well........ yeah it does actually.

That's pretty serious stuff, do you have any evidence? You should show it to staff. I don't post that much because I worry about this kind of thing. I would hate for any forum gang to go after me.

reply to post by MajorDisaster


Of course I'm serious.

I mean sure, there is "sensative material" (ie, 9-11 was an inside job)... but it isn't truly detrimental to national security... making it not really all that sensative, as you can find it on countless sites.

The reason is because the damage control was worked out well in advance of the real "intel" by way of the depth of the programming that WAS 9-11.

Now, if you were to ever outline the exact plot of the attack, with perps named and evidence given as to their guilt, and it was gaining "attention"... it would simply be wiped out...

And the amigos of this site's ownership would be powerless to stop it.
We see it all the time in "media blackouts."

Make no mistake, if anything here ever actually posed the same sort of threat (and this is where you have to think in terms of viewership and legitimacy of the subject source) it would simply be no more.

As far as I can tell, there is no reason to have a "gang" of intell agents here on this site to achieve these results.

However, this isn't actually what I was laughing at in my initial posts.
I must apologize that I didn't read the entire thread. I was laughing at the prospect of your average debunker "ganging up" with other average debunkers in order to tar the person who may be onto something.

I didn't consider the angle of paid "gangs" as it wasn't really outlined in the OP.

But I think the argument still stands, at the risk of calling you a "liar"... I don't mean it that way.
Perhaps you ARE, in fact, paranoid.

If not, I apologize.

[edit on 13-1-2010 by JayinAR]

Originally posted by haterproof

That's pretty serious stuff, do you have any evidence?

No, as I described, it's always done in a plausibly deniable way. The people who do this never confront me directly, they just follow me around and shout aggravating "coincidences" at me all the time. They taunt me with all the information that they know about me.

Originally posted by JayinAR
Now, if you were to ever outline the exact plot of the attack, with perps named and evidence given as to their guilt, and it was gaining "attention"... it would simply be wiped out...

And the amigos of this site's ownership would be powerless to stop it.
We see it all the time in "media blackouts."

Make no mistake, if anything here ever actually posed the same sort of threat (and this is where you have to think in terms of viewership and legitimacy of the subject source) it would simply be no more.

I don't agree. I don't think the CIA control the owners or anything like that. I actually think the owners are good people.

Hot stuff gets posted on here all the time - but you'll notice that there are whole teams in place ready to debunk/discredit whenever something really sensitive pops up.

reply to post by MajorDisaster


Hey man, I can empathize with what you are saying, but I'm more curious about the people who you feel are set against you.

The reason I say this is because I have often established an idea only to have it met with stark criticism... yet I have never had people actually confront me in life outside of the internet divulging secrets about my "other life"...

I'm concerned for you, brother.
I have a good friend that was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I'm still hoping that he returns to his therapy... as of now, he and I don't talk.

Originally posted by MajorDisaster

Originally posted by haterproof

That's pretty serious stuff, do you have any evidence?

No, as I described, it's always done in a plausibly deniable way. The people who do this never confront me directly, they just follow me around and shout aggravating "coincidences" at me all the time. They taunt me with all the information that they know about me.

Scary stuff. You think it is somehow connected to people on ATS? That's why I said you should tell the owners, I'm sure they wouldn't like that. I don't like that.

If you people want to see, “forum gangs” go to my 911 thread:

Did the USAF Help pull off 911?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Then go to other 911 threads and tell me if you see the same insulting, ridiculing, and the same people posting nothing but negative post against good people who question the 911 OS .

You will notices this is not about a different of opinions this is about railroading information that circumstantial evidences points to our government being behind the 911 attacks. It is always the same bunch of negative posters, who never bring sources to the table.
They always make assumptions and claim them as facts, again without sources.
Their behavior is unacceptable, mostly full of anger, and immaturity ; these people enjoy attacking on an emotional level and not on an intellect level.

You will notices it is mostly the same bunch playing tag team and giving each other stars or points for teaming up against a poster.

I go through this all the time, sometimes it is a different of opinions but not most of the times. If you disagree then say you disagree and leave out the insults, then show with creditable internet sources creditable evidences that can back up your claim.

No, these Trolls or “internet forum gangs” who mostly hang out in certain forums have a history, check their public profiles and you will get the picture.



[edit on 14-1-2010 by impressme]

Originally posted by impressme
that circumstantial evidences points to our government being behind the 911 attacks.

except that there is zero evidence pointing to the government being behind 9/11, just conspiracy theories not based on any facts

They always make assumptions and claim them as facts, again without sources.

it is the ct's who do not bring sources, or the source that they do bring is a ct site full of lies and stuff that was just made up

then show with creditable internet sources creditable evidences that can back up your claim.

that is something ct's can never do!

No, these Trolls or “internet forum gangs” who mostly hang out in certain forums have a history,

you could say the trolls are those who just make ct's up, not based on any fact!

reply to post by someotherguy


I have had it happen to me, concerted attacks on me as opposed to the thread content, attempts to psychoanalize me, and "call me out", insults, demeaning remarks about my personality, and all of them have successfully derailed and ended the threads. Usually, the threads had a great deal of hearty discussion early on, with differing opinions - but in a legitimate civil discussion.

I also noticed that typically, the respondents had hardly ever posted, even though they had somewhat older accounts. Then, the totally expected voices of opposition showed up, and took over. Always the same group, always the same insults, but the instigators were always odd accounts you never see again.

So, IMO, saying it is just like minded people with differing opinions doesn't float. I can name the names of the people that do this, and seem to target my posts, as they are always the same. It does hinder me from participating, as I dread these attacks. It is hard to pinpoint it exactly, it is a very hazy area, and would be quite time consuming for a mod to follow. As it stands, I simply refrain from posting often, to avoid the trouble.

Ironically, since I have DSL, I can appear the be logged in for long periods of time, even though I may actually be at work, if I just leave the browser open. I have also noticed these attacks seem to only happen when I log out, or close the browser window. Basically, if they feel I won't be on to "hit the alert button".

The last time this happened to me, I actually logged out intentionally to test that theory, and came back a short time later to find it in progress, and managed to hit the alert, and got a great response from a Super Mod. It still killed the thread, though, which I am sure was the intent.

Originally posted by JayinAR
The reason I say this is because I have often established an idea only to have it met with stark criticism... yet I have never had people actually confront me in life outside of the internet divulging secrets about my "other life"...

I'm concerned for you, brother.
I have a good friend that was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I'm still hoping that he returns to his therapy... as of now, he and I don't talk.

LOL. Right.

Well at first I had thought that these attacks were being orchestrated simply by old enemies from work, school and other situations. Occam's Razor kind of thing.

It was only when I noticed that some of the attacks seemed to be tied in to use of my cell phone that I realized it goes much deeper than that.

For example I could be texting back and forth with a friend or relative and I'll go "okay I'll meet you at x place at y time". And then I'll get an attack on the way there or when I get there, precise as clockwork. So that could only be possible if there's someone monitoring my cell phone. That person, whoever they are, then contacts one of the lower-level minions and instructs them on where to find me and what aggravating crap to shout at me.

reply to post by MajorDisaster


Good luck ! I mean it , I really hope these scumbags dont get you to change direction. Keep on keeping on as they say .

Originally posted by dereks
except that there is zero evidence pointing to the government being behind 9/11, just conspiracy theories not based on any facts

Except for that small fact that only 2 airplanes crashed but 3 buildings collapsed

Say hi to the rest of the "team" for me!

I haven't had any concerted attacks on me personally here, but then I haven't posted much of the stuff that attracts these gangs here.

On two other large forums I've had a dozen of them at a time suddenly descend on a thread like a pack of snapping jackals. As well as disrupting threads they pm'd threats and put up a hate page about me on an unrelated site.

Typically these people use hatred and ridicule to bully people out of posting and repeat their own unsourced or disproven arguments over and over. The repeated use of key phrases in their posts suggests they are being rewarded for publicising specific points. Curious about this, I got to know an accountant in a major advertising-placement firm, and he says that paying posters now comes under the heading of "Interactive Advertising," and is their one growing area of business in these straitened economic times.

There is no knowing what pressure the management here could be put under to allow this to continue, so my attitude is, "innocent until proven guilty." They've made a great website, but, like everything in this world, it's flawed. However it's possible that the website could not flourish without those flaws, so we might as well make the most of what we have and work around the problems.

The best answer is for more of us who are aware of this problem to help out those being attacked by supplying calm, well sourced arguments to support their threads. It's the solidarity between certain disinfo typres that gives them power. We are never going to form groups like they seem to have, (Megaphone, anyone?) because group-think has it's own downfalls. But we can keep our eyes open and reach out to others needing support.

These "forum gangs" may even be from the US government, here to prevent the spread of "naughty thoughts."

As head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Sunstein is in charge of "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs," according to the White House Web site.

Sunstein, whose article focuses largely on the 9/11 conspiracy theories, suggests that the government "enlist nongovernmental officials in the effort to rebut the theories. It might ensure that credible independent experts offer the rebuttal, rather than government officials themselves. There is a tradeoff between credibility and control, however. The price of credibility is that government cannot be seen to control the independent experts."

Sunstein argued that "government might undertake (legal) tactics for breaking up the tight cognitive clusters of extremist theories." He suggested that "government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action."

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by Flakey
I know I can hit the alert button. I have read about that in the gods are not mods thread. What I was wondering is how to deal with a situation where I see pairs or groups of people who consistently work in tandem to distort facts and mess with members thus promoting ignorance rather than denying it.

Other members may have seen this to and may understand exactly what I am talking about. It is not that these individuals are swearing or posting outrageous insults. Their libel is normally "soft core" but their distortion of facts can be outlandish and when they work together to attack members it can really discourage a persons interest in contributing quality material or any material for that matter.

If I would hit the alert button would I push it on both members I find working together? Also how could I show that with one alert? What I talk about here something that shows up over time and multiple posts and threads and not in one single posting. It seems like it is a complicated problem and I do not know how to address it or what , if anything, can be done about it.

Here is my issue with your issue. The forum is providing an opportunity for strangers, most of us have never met another member, to discuss a topic and debate the facts. There are and always will be two sides to every debate so if two or three or even ten members agree on one point and another ten agree on the opposing view than there is your debate. Distortion of the facts are only distortion if you believe a different set of facts on any given topic.

Originally posted by someotherguy

Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum
[edit on 14-1-2010 by someotherguy]

That link references ATS as a source of dilution, misdirection and control.

Referring to the situation early in this thread, about a gang attacker threatening to "out" the real name of someotherguy... I back up everything someotherguy said happened because I witnessed that post and it was a veiled threat. It was something like "we know your real name and we could have revealed it on ATS but we haven't"... it was like that.

So yeah, someotherguy got that veiled threat and a few days later I notified the mods that it had happened. I got no reply from them at all. So, look it up, I did report this T&C violation to staff and as far as I know, nothing was done about it.

someotherguy has been telling the truth on that subject