DisInfo agents, bogus members posting threads...why?

Originally posted by Dustytoad
Disclosure:

I was in the ARMY. I trained with ALL PsyOps... I was not psyops but that is another story that I cannot go into.
The main guy they had around me from before MEPS until after basic, was an internet programmer.. He was tasked with controlling internet opinion, making "Honey pot" websites, keeping tracks on users to watch, and changing the debates...

Almost everyone I met was psyops, and it was mostly INTERNET focused activities/training.

edit on 12/13/2012 by Dustytoad because: (no reason given)

I was never in the military or had anything to do with PsyOps, but I have more than a passing, amateur connection to web / software development and digital technology in general, and what you describe is 100% accurate. Honey Pot sites are well established and if people installed and spent some time learning net debugging proxy software (Fiddler, Wireshark, etc.), they'd be shocked at how much, and what type of information gets distributed whenever they visit seemingly innocuous web sites. And that's just the stuff we can see through the operating system TCP/IP stack ... God knows what's being hidden by the operating system or networking hardware that we never see.
Systems like Tor are a bit better but still mostly a band-aid on a gaping wound. As I was building a peer-to-peer distributed network running over the internet I realized that even as I was adding a strong NSA crypto system in there I could ultimately and easily be thwarted by the operating system (key logging, etc.) It's unsettling.

Yea, I notice their is a lot of disinfo or cointel people on ATS. ATS use to be a lot better, but now their is a bunch of mainstream media zombies all over the site trying to discredit anything interesting.

Originally posted by lambs to lions
Inevitably there will always be those who create accounts on ATS for less than sincere interest in alternative news or conspiracy theories. I'll go ahead and disregard the bored pimple faced teenagers looking for a giggle and focus on the others... My question to you guys is 'why?'

Lately, I've noticed more and more pop up. Typically their threads and posts stick out like a sore thumb. It's obvious there is no real interest in the topic, and by and large the posts are quickly thrown together or even incoherent. What's confusing is many of these bogus members aren't posting out of this world claims for attention, or other obvious reasons.

Are they phishing attempts? Profiling? Gauging members interest in a topic?

Does it have something to do with the 2012 popularity?

What gives????

In one word: BOREDOM.

Originally posted by lambs to lions
Inevitably there will always be those who create accounts on ATS for less than sincere interest in alternative news or conspiracy theories. I'll go ahead and disregard the bored pimple faced teenagers looking for a giggle and focus on the others... My question to you guys is 'why?'

Lately, I've noticed more and more pop up. Typically their threads and posts stick out like a sore thumb. It's obvious there is no real interest in the topic, and by and large the posts are quickly thrown together or even incoherent. What's confusing is many of these bogus members aren't posting out of this world claims for attention, or other obvious reasons.

Are they phishing attempts? Profiling? Gauging members interest in a topic?

Does it have something to do with the 2012 popularity?

What gives????

Well, ATS is probably one of the (if not THE) most well known online places to go when you want to talk conspiracy or alternative stuff. It wouldn't surprise me if there are a lot of government employees on here. Of all the places online where you'd expect to find a few of them, I guess this place would be close to the top of my list.

What's interesting to me is that I have noticed more than a few suspicious posters on other forums I visit regularly. Those are forums that have nothing to do with conspiracies.

I have seen people who appear to be regular posters one minute but then they pop up in the polls section and ask a question like "What do you think is the optimal population in a given country?". Now maybe it's just me but that doesn't seem like the kind of question that just pops up in the average person's mind. It seems like a strange question to ask people in a rather lighthearted forum where people don't typical discuss population control.

I could write a few pages about these kinds of posts in random forums. I believe there are various types of government people in almost every forum but as you say, the question is, why? What are they up to?

reply to post by BrianFlanders


Exactly the types of questions that are randomly posted on here. I am especially wary of the threads that are asking, "what types of guns do you own?" I saw one similar to that a few weeks back.

reply to post by transmundane


That's awesome that you know what that all means.

Originally posted by Cosmic911
reply to post by Dustytoad

 

I think you missed my point. Im saying people are lazy, and those terms have been used as a surrogate for intelligent conversation. They are used inappropriately at times.

Yea I know, but there were a few posts like that, I just found yours first. It wasn't meant at you really.. Reading back over it I should have picked a different one, since you actually did mean sometimes that happens.. I'm not good at starting posts, so when I have an idea I just look for the first one I find that I can jump off from.

I'll read a little slower next time.

A saying that fits this thread about dis-info:
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you."

Originally posted by lambs to lions
reply to post by BrianFlanders

 

Exactly the types of questions that are randomly posted on here. I am especially wary of the threads that are asking, "what types of guns do you own?" I saw one similar to that a few weeks back.

Yeah. I saw a post on a different forum a couple of years ago that asked specifically "Do you have any guns in the house?".

Now it could always just be a random question from someone who is just curious and decided to ask the oddest question they could think of but it just struck me as weird. This person was a regular poster on that forum but he hardly ever posted much information about himself and almost never posted polls. He tended to post news stories about random things in the section designated for randomness.

That definitely gave me chills. I decided right then and there not to answer weird questions on the internet.

Originally posted by BrianFlanders

That definitely gave me chills. I decided right then and there not to answer weird questions on the internet.

So, where were you born, and what's your birthday? Just taking a poll. I swear.

"Come, tell to me your name, likewise your occupation, and where and whence you came"

Originally posted by lambs to lions
reply to post by BrianFlanders

 

Exactly the types of questions that are randomly posted on here. I am especially wary of the threads that are asking, "what types of guns do you own?" I saw one similar to that a few weeks back.

I saw it too and was just as put aback by it.

Originally posted by Bedlam

Originally posted by BrianFlanders

That definitely gave me chills. I decided right then and there not to answer weird questions on the internet.

So, where were you born, and what's your birthday? Just taking a poll. I swear.

"Come, tell to me your name, likewise your occupation, and where and whence you came"

Funny .

reply to post by bigern


Maybe I should clarify here but I'm not into to the who dis-info agent thing though I fully believe it's possible and most likely a real thing.

It's what ATS has become and allows through freedom of speech (although some would dispute the freedom bit)

I'm here for the humor. I enjoy the thinking of some as I'm sure some get a laugh out of me and my beliefs or thinking. It's all good, I don't care what people think of me. If anyone gets super upset, they need to chill out.

But to suggest people join here to seek out the opinions of people to mark them for the future is just paranoia...and once again, its humorous, so thank you.

Originally posted by zedVSzardoz
reply to post by lambs to lions

 

this has always been the case. When I first joined (first profile) the immigration issues in the US were insane, and so the equally insane members popped up with barbed wire, american flag avatars and then went away with the issue and interest. Every election they pop up, act out and then disappear.

But this can also be explained by the notion of 'single issue' posters. All forums on here have them: people who predominantly post on UFOs, contrails/weather, politics, and so on. They are even a phenomena unto themselves in political elections. I'd hedge a bet that the majority of people on ATS have a relatively small spread of interests on here, considering how many possible forums there are to post on.

They don't have to be shills or disinfo agents.

Originally posted by Merriman Weir

Originally posted by zedVSzardoz
reply to post by lambs to lions

 

this has always been the case. When I first joined (first profile) the immigration issues in the US were insane, and so the equally insane members popped up with barbed wire, american flag avatars and then went away with the issue and interest. Every election they pop up, act out and then disappear.

But this can also be explained by the notion of 'single issue' posters. All forums on here have them: people who predominantly post on UFOs, contrails/weather, politics, and so on. They are even a phenomena unto themselves in political elections. I'd hedge a bet that the majority of people on ATS have a relatively small spread of interests on here, considering how many possible forums there are to post on.

They don't have to be shills or disinfo agents.

This is absolutely true but then again, almost anything can be explained away pretty easily if you think about it. We come to this place because we are suspicious about the world around us and the people who inhabit it. It is not very surprising that a few people here are suspicious of the motives of other posters.

It doesn't have to be anything anyone has to take personally. For example, I'm not a frequent poster on here. I don't have an avatar. I don't start many threads (In fact, I don't know if I've started any). I would not be surprised if someone was suspicious of me. I wouldn't take it personally. I do kind of fit the profile of someone who may have other reasons for being here. That isn't the case but how should anyone know that?

reply to post by Merriman Weir


exactly. Some people only post on subjects that interest them or that they know something about.

I have had specific subjects which I obsessed over and then completely forgot about. It is only natural for people to gravitate to certain subjects that interest them for what ever reason.

They are not shills.

reply to post by Dustytoad


Yeah, sorry dude. I was a bit vague with my first post. I tend to type stuff and just expect everyone to know what I'm on about. *Note to self*~ Elaborate my thinking in more detail in future.

Respect to you Toad, no harm done.

The best agents are the ones that seem the most real.

They have details in there profile and contribute interesting posts and seem involved in the subject matter. They may even establish personal relationships with other members and work themselves into a moderator position.

The best ones are directing the project and you'd never suspect them or if you do, it would be impossible to prove.

These are the ones to worry about if they focus their attention onto you.

This is I believe the highest level of paranoia and I may need some help now.

reply to post by TheCanuckian

Hello friend. Youre right on most points. I do think as well that pointless posts, threads and the like and intentional disinfo are a sign of the times, thats all. And youre right as well about the available search functions here and elsewhere. It appears this case is a changing one.

There is coming a day...and we are seeing it now...where it's mostly "Look at what I found!" and "Hey! I dont know if this has been mentioned (posted, discussed, whatever...)'...when in fact...It WAS posted, discussed, and hacked apart already....but the poster has not...nor cared not...to search their subject matter... that at ATS we were anxious enough at the mention of the topic...and then disappointed that the thread starter didnt bother enough to see if we've discussed it previously...and in fact...a simple search for example....wouldve provided even more information than the OP did in the new thread.... had they just looked 1st..

Include some bogus members and disinfo agents along the way...and we get a whole different world here at ATS. It was informative members discussing mutually interesting and well researched topics...and that made it interesting to learn something brand new we hadnt heard before.

Cynically (Im guilty here of that) Ive often responded frustratingly to some with a "Did you know the Kennedy Assassination was a conspiracy?"...and that" 911 was an inside -false-flag job?" And that the"Illuminati runs the world?". Throw in a good dose of disinfo here and there and its disappointing.

I wish there was a way to get rid of the "Mods? Please move this....etc,etc..because I couldnt be bothered to search the thing..."...and a way to diseminate whats false, untrue, pointless, bogus, disinfo or real info. Thats all changing here now. And its getting harder and harder to tell who the players are without a score card...and often enough....thats bogus as well.

Disinfo, wrong info, fake members what have you...Im learning to look at the OP 1st to see how many posts they have made...and if its under say 50 or so...I just move on. And its becoming a lot easier by the sarcasm to see who may still be in high school and living in front of their PSPs...with a "Oh my GOD! Facebook and Twitter is DOWN!"

There used to be a high percentage of quality here when I 1st joined....and of course yes, there still is...but the tables are turning...and it seems it's becoming another "chat room" with way too many insults and joke and off-topic rambling responses.

Sad to see at such a wonderfully diverse and informative website as ours...that with repetetive unresearched topics and disinfo and yes...some bogus members..thats its changing the way it is.

Thanks....MS