Internet Forums: Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control...

[Lord Sidious]

Posted by CdnSirian (here)
Fear--oh so true. Nothing better than the likes of this whole thread to get a new-to-a-forum-person to bail immediately.

I would be disappointed if the new avalonuggets did bail.
If they did, maybe they shouldn't be on the net at all?
Why worry?
I care not a jot who monitors my posting.

[panopticon]

G'day Paul,

Thanks for pointing out the relevant posts in that thread.
It's so easy for a thread to get derailed by a simple comment and next thing you know it's "all gun blazin'".
I must admit though, sometimes the diversions that a thread takes can be interesting in themselves.
A normal conversation can evolve and develop and as you point out it is often up to the participants (in particular the person who started the thread and the active participants in it) to work out when a thread has "gone off the rails".

Kind Regards,
Panopticon

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by panopticon (here)
Thanks for pointing out the relevant posts in that thread.
It's so easy for a thread to get derailed by a simple comment and next thing you know it's "all gun blazin'".
I must admit though, sometimes the diversions that a thread takes can be interesting in themselves.
A normal conversation can evolve and develop and as you point out it is often up to the participants (in particular the person who started the thread and the active participants in it) to work out when a thread has "gone off the rails".

Good point.

Respectful and productive discussion can and often does wander around, and thread participants and the original poster can reach a consensus as to what's relevant and what not.

The problem isn't the wandering topic - the problem is the "guns ablazin'". One can sense, from very first post that I linked, that the mood of that thread was being shoved too the "guns ablazin" style. Just read it and see for yourself - that poster was looking to start a fight.

[Guest]

Posted by Lord Sidious (here)

Posted by CdnSirian (here)
Fear--oh so true. Nothing better than the likes of this whole thread to get a new-to-a-forum-person to bail immediately.

I would be disappointed if the new avalonuggets did bail.
If they did, maybe they shouldn't be on the net at all?
Why worry?
I care not a jot who monitors my posting.

May of this year dear friend of mine and I were chatting on the phone. He asked me if I had heard of the site PA? I said no, he said you might want to take a looksie they have a lot of the same info that we talk about and I think you would learn a lot and benefit from it and fit right in. Well here I am -not going anywhere. There are some very wise, intelligent and brilliant people here.

The post I posted a page or so back is very true -they really did happen and continue to happen and even on a spirit or energy level. Not a spiritual level -those things are not spiritual. Here I will stay on the forum that does its best for the people, earth and Universes.

I am but a small potato (nugget). My views are my own only and there is no reason these things should have happened at all. I have not ever broken any Natural laws -Those are what I must adhere to. This is where my heart is.

Nora

we are all related

[Carmody]

My specific concern is where the desire to enter a thread by a given poster, is to provide the one thing: and that is the self justification for readers with an already set mind to hear the words that they themselves project in their anger and fear, as being true. To see them in print and someone arguing them. To be the angry yes man of mental reinforcement for their set minds. A method of maintaining control with and in those given readers.

It is, in the end, A two pronged attack. One... designed to keep their ground and position in the minds of their 'held' audience and...

Two..disrupt the people trying to bring the given alternative view, especially a well fleshed out factual argument of persuasive depth; to prevent them from gathering their thoughts and understanding into a cohesive whole.

It is a human action of base consideration among the empathetic and thinking persons of the world, to give room for argument and discussion.

To flesh understandings out into given cohesive whole.... and in that door provided by reasonable people.... a purposely disruptive wedge is driven by the tactical aspects of disruption of discourse.

[SEAM]

"Knowledge is Power" - was true a thousand years ago.. and will remain true a thousand years from now.

I guarantee, that if an ostrich's brain were the size of a walnut instead of a peanut, he would no longer bury it in the dirt..

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."

For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.

"You can't make me afraid - I make me afraid" JL

[Dawn]

"You can't make me afraid - I make me afraid" JL

Yes! That is how someone else gains power over us. It is good to know their game... but deciding to voluntarily give them your power by going into fear over the game makes it easy for them to be in total control.

Look... we are infinite beings with many many bodies and many lifetimes of experiences. Being in fear just makes life miserable. Here is a quote that I will never forget. As far as I am concerned it is TRUE

"What you fear will appear", Lester Levinson

So... if you resonate with the fear frequency, then you will attract that which is fearful. What to do about it?

** Try meditating and watch the fear while you do. It will melt away and disappear as you put your attention on it.

** Light some sage or drink some chamomile tea, that will help you release the chords, and things that go bump in the night, which may be causing you to experience fear.

But, for heavens sake, don't let an idea of a 'game of watchers' still your voice! Your voice (and written words) are important. I want to hear all of your well thought out viewpoints, you enrich my life.

[panopticon]

G'day All,

As stated in the article:

Technique #1 - 'FORUM SLIDING'

If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum - it can be quickly removed from public view by 'forum sliding.' In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to 'age.' Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a 'forum slide.' The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a 'forum slide' and 'flush' the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account both real and fake and then 'replying' to prepositined postings with a simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list, and the critical posting 'slides' down the front page, and quickly out of public view. Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and unuseful postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.

While this is certainly an issue, at fast moving, high content forums there are lots of "noise" and it is not always a deliberate move on the part of those posting to "slide" posts into obscurity.
That having been said I reckon it is worth noting this technique and being aware of it.
Please consider this another

Kind Regards,
Panopticon

[wolf_rt]

Would it be possible to increase the number of posts shown per page? With the increasing number of 'stickies' the 'forum slide' appears to be rather easy to achieve...

[Lord Sidious]

Posted by wolf_rt (here)
Would it be possible to increase the number of posts shown per page? With the increasing number of 'stickies' the 'forum slide' appears to be rather easy to achieve...

Go to your settings, in the top right corner.
Then, in the menu on the left where it says My Settings, click General Settings.
Go down the list to Number of Posts to Show Per Page and you can select 40, that is the max.
I have mine set to that.

[wolf_rt]

Unfortunately it appears that the default setting is also 40.. bugger.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by wolf_rt (here)
Would it be possible to increase the number of posts shown per page? With the increasing number of 'stickies' the 'forum slide' appears to be rather easy to achieve...

Good point. I just unstuck four of the eight stickies in the General Forum, that no longer seemed to warrant being stuck on the first page. Thanks.

[Carmody]

the vast # of western (financially, thus procurement of 'modern' computer gear) monitors these days are going to be 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 16:9 or 16:10 format monitors. Thus, the forum could probably be best served with a thought of layout as being of a 1080 pixel height nature. Then the width adjusted to the 1680 standard width of a few years back, which leaves room for overlap of the higher pixel width monitors of the current 'norm' for the average peruser of the forum. This is the current 'window' of presentation, so to speak: 1680 wide by 1080 high. The only changes I expect to that window in the near (year or more) future is a slight increase in width, as the last of the 1680 monitors are switched out to 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 monitors.

I've had to format and plan through the creation of two different commercial websites, so far, and those are the sort of basic issues we had to and have to deal with. As monitor resolution norms changed, we had to think through the page presentation in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and format so as to 'grease' the psychology of the observer in as comfortable and sublime as possible way. Like hanging paintings in a room - a format and layout, designed to be the most effective.

[panopticon]

G'day All,

I like this thread so just in case anyone missed it...

Technique #2 - 'CONSENSUS CRACKING'

A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at http://www.abovetopsecret.com) is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favour is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favour is slowly 'seeded in.' Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.'

Kind Regards,
Panopticon

[Ishtar]

My life is an open book and I stand by everything I think, say and do. If somebody wants to burn me at the stake for it ... so be it. It probably won't be the first time that I've exited in that way.

[wolf_rt]

Posted by Carmody (here)
the vast # of western (financially, thus procurement of 'modern' computer gear) monitors these days are going to be 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 16:9 or 16:10 format monitors

Still rocking the 1280*1024 CRT!!! Haven't seen a LCD that comes close to the colour depth of the old girl!

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by SEAM (here)
If anyone thinks their posts aren't put under a microscope, think again!

A bit of awareness is all it takes.. Study these, and think, before you post.
The wolves are watching, and are not easily detected.

Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM.

http://www.picassodreams.com/picasso...net-forum.html

This good material has just been posted again on our forum, as the first section of a collection of related material on this topic. See further my post in the thread The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.).