"Plants" in internet forums

reply to post by Hefficide

To sew dissent within any group. one need only plant the suggestion that members of the group may be interlopers or agents-provocateur.

Reminds me of that old Twilight zone episode where aliens pit the towns people against each other.

"The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street"



Full episode - Hulu.com

Just my opinion, but I suspect you're much more likely to find this type of antics on newspaper web pages and the like.

A lot of news outlets have a comments section with up and down vote functionality at the bottom, and a ready filled comments section with heavily up voted comments (several hundred votes) will scare off anyone with an opposing view point or give the idea that everyone is leaning a certain way.

Also there are several software applications readily available that can quite quickly fill one of these comment threads in an automated way without the requirement for several 'shills' spending a lot of time. A few people running an efficient bot net is 10x more secure than paying several individuals to have certain opinions.

I suspect a large amount of this type of thing is actually related to marketing, social engineering, and politics more than the type of scary CIA style shills we seem to always be discussing. Taking someone and paying them to 'correct' information about an obvious crime seems like a very efficient way to get caught, and as a community we make a lot of our own disinformation without any particular assistance.

Making a bot to get a few hundred up votes and positive comments though when you're in politics or a wannabe celebrity ... I imagine in their mind they justify it by thinking it's what the opposition does, and they're just evening the field.

This type of behavior is epidemic (and obvious at times) on places with review components such as imdb, amazon, and metacritic. Like I say though, I think for the vast vast majority of big conspiracies such plants or tactics would only draw attention.

I also just don't think ATS is a good demographic to target for most of these strategies ... not because we're special or immune to them, but just because we're such a niche group. Why bother the tin foil hat persons when you've got the entire mainstream population at your favorite news sites?

Do shills/stooges exist on this forum? Yes, I think so. Do I have proof? No, but I've seen so many users in threads that set off alarm bells instantly. They make it so blatantly obvious sometimes.

Here are some of the things I've noticed about these suspicious members. They will always be a very new member to ATS and have no avatar, very few posts, very few stars. Their mini profile beside their posts looks very incomplete. When you check their post history you can see that they joined very recently and have only been posting in threads that are specific to one topic only, such as The Aurora Colorado incident, Sandy Hook incident etc. They seem to have interest in one specific topic, and when they discuss that topic they will do anything to derail the thread(s) like a freight train being driven by a stroke victim.

reply to post by Xaphan

You'tre avatarist against people who dont have avatars . Unfair.
I want a cool exciting Avatar that makes people stand up and take note , but I dont know how to get one

reply to post by Anusuia


Visit this thread and ask some of the members to help you.

BTS : Avatar Creations

Originally posted by XaphanThey will always be a very new member to ATS and have no avatar, very few posts, very few stars. Their mini profile beside their posts looks very incomplete. When you check their post history you can see that they joined very recently and have only been posting in threads that are specific to one topic only,

I just don't have time for that kinda malarkey I just like to watch alien/supernatural threads.. post little.. think alot.

oh and what heff said earlier is probably closer to the truth than anything.

I'm pretty safe my posts flag me as a nut, most of the time there's a reason for that as i know the shills are shillin and i want to throw some *theory* around in the crazy space... get em thinking.. sometimes it works. most of the time it's totally ignored in the noise.

Seems there's alot of noise around, sadly i don't swing here much, but that other site is crawling with it.

I gave up trying to understand the why.. but i do believe they exist.

reply to post by MagicWand67


I kinda succeeded on my own following instructions on that page. I picked a basic Pix , but its too wide anyway . At least there is some colour in my life now.
Cheers

reply to post by forgetmenot

Nine times out of Ten, anyone getting labeled as a "plant", shill, dis-info agent, and any other variation of, is only labeled that way for disagreeing with another poster.

reply to post by Anusuia




Nicely done.

You need to re-size your picture (smaller)

then re-upload it.

EDIT:

Sorry for being off topic

I re-sized the pic for you



Copy and paste this code below into the "Your avatar" box on your "Tools" page. Then remove the space between the h and the ttp. Click submit and you should be good to go.

h ttp://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/mh512374f1.jpg

reply to post by MagicWand67
Thats a bit taxing to do . it was a real effort just to get some colour up and now i went and clicked on background profile pix
So have we worked together as an example of thread derailing trolls ? So I used your smaller version and fixed the background . So how do you like that work ? Thanks for the help

Originally posted by Anusuia
reply to post by MagicWand67

 

Thats a bit taxing to do . it was a real effort just to get some colour up and now i went and clicked on background profile pix
So have we worked together as an example of thread derailing trolls ?

Not to worry, I'm trying to get my background and avatar in too.

reply to post by Anusuia

So have we worked together as an example of thread derailing trolls ?

Yes, I'd say we are setting a good example of how a "plant" might attempt to derail a thread.

You can private message me U2U if you want some more help with your avatar.

I got the dimensions wrong when I re-sized the pic. It should be 170 pix wide. I made it 240 pix

reply to post by lynxpilot

Just follow the instructions that our friend posted and Im sure he will help you too . If I managed , anyone can

Originally posted by beezzer
Does it matter?

Does it matter if a poster is just a pro-NWO type sitting at home vs a paid disinfo specialist sitting in a government office?

Either way, their debate tactics will run similar to each other and any anti-NWO types will have to argue the same points.

Just keepin' it real, folks.

Beezer just admitted he was a "paid shill" ahhhhh run away .

I see this way too much, people are passionate about one thing or another, and all of a sudden the labels come out "You're a Shill" or "You're a Paid Disinfo Artist" and while they very well may exist, you aren't going to be able to pick them out just because they are passionate about one topic or disagree with an Op vibrantly...

thanks

Originally posted by guanyu
It's not about being noticed, it's about derailing conversation about the OP.

This is another claim about alleged "shills" that makes no sense to me.

If the point is to silence a point of view the logical thing to do is to NOT post and let the thread slide off the front page and into obscurity. Most of the time those with opposing points of view wind up bumping and extending participation in a thread.

if the government is actually paying someone to be a shill or disinfo agent, wouldn't you think it would be for sites that are alittle more... uhmm...."extreme" ?...even though there are some genuine scary nuts on this site, i have been to some others that make this site look like a mundane scholarly debate group. there are sites out there where all they talk about is a violent overthrow of the US government, or out and out killing people.

Originally posted by Evil_Santa[/i

I ask this because i'm often called a shill, disinfo agent, mindless drone, etc - on here and by others who are heavy into conspiracy theories. The irony is that with my past (mental illness) there is no chance of me getting a in the government with any form of secrecy, so to think that I am hired for the purpose of being a secret agent to push a government agenda is pretty absurd.

What I have noticed from a hard-line conspiracy theory group, is that ANYONE who hold different views from that group is automatically called any of the above names. It's sad to see happen, because that group is trying to define their own reality, claiming some kind of moral - and intellectual - superiority, where they demand recognition for their views. And the entire time they're doing that, they are dismissing anyone who has opposing view's experiences, opinions and thoughts on life.

i totally agree with evil santa here i believe conspiracies happen and i believe false flags happen but i love to take a chunk of reality ground with me when i go exploring new solar systems of conspiracies. call it a good luck charm

edit on 19-2-2013 by GRS1234 because: (no reason given)