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COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum. (Trolling 101)

E-Mail and Freepers

Posted on by Sidebar Moderator

Thanks to many FReepers who have sent us this information. Apparently, this is floating around the Internet now. It is a guide to trolling. While it may or may not be fake in its origins, we do see these techniques all the time and felt it would be good to share with everyone.

______________________________________________________ COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum..

There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of a internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of a uncontrolled forum.

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.

Technique #2 - CONSENSUS CRACKING

A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at *********) 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.

Technique #3 - TOPIC DILUTION

Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a RESOURCE BURN. By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a gossip mode. In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to drive in the wedge. By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.

Technique #4 - INFORMATION COLLECTION

Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them. In this technique in a light and positive environment a show you mine so me yours posting is initiated. From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered. An example is to post your favorite weapon and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon. This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favorite technique of operation. From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities.

Technique #5 - ANGER TROLLING

Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present a image to the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction. From this the most violent in the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking. To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing there powers and the taping of the activity can be then used for intelligence gathering purposes - without the requirement to stage a fake abuse video. This method is extremely effective, and the more so the more abusive the video can be made to look. Sometimes it is useful to lead the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you do not care what the authorities think!! inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.

Technique #6 - GAINING FULL CONTROL

It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavorable postings - and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public. This is the ultimate victory as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms. Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed. However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a honey pot gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes.

CONCLUSION

Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM. Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal precedence to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline. This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them. Many other techniques can be utilized and developed by the individual and as you develop further techniques of infiltration and control it is imperative to share then with HQ.



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A few things to note. Just because someone is new, doesn't make them a troll. We have hundreds of new sign-ups each day and very few are trolls. Remember the abuse button. Please use that as your first option instead of pinging or FReepmailing mods. This gets to us faster. Please respect the site and her rules like excerpt restrictions, banned sources, etc. Please also try to categorize threads correctly. The less time we have to clean those up, the more time we can go after trolls. Have fun.



To: Sidebar Moderator; Admin Moderator; Jim Robinson

ping



To: Sidebar Moderator

IBTZ!



by 3 posted onby OSHA (I want to meet the man that put the cat IN the bag.)

To: Sidebar Moderator

Let's talk about homosexual minority humpback whales...



by 4 posted onby 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)

To: Allegra

You should see the socks I have on today... L



by 5 posted onby Lurker ("America is at that awkward stage. " Claire Wolfe, call your office.)

To: MaggieCarta; indylindy; roamer_1; calcowgirl; djsherin; Sunnyflorida; SoConPubbie; Sybeck1; ...

fyi



by 6 posted onby rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" ÂPatrick Henry)

To: Lurker; 2banana

I thought mentioning Forum Sliding would cause us problems. :->



To: Sidebar Moderator

Examples can be seen on any 0bama birth certificate thread.



To: Sidebar Moderator

Oh, hai! What’s going on in this thread? j/k ;)



To: Sidebar Moderator



I highly recommend.. Hook that big one, first time, every time.. Thanks for the guide.



To: Sidebar Moderator

Just nuking the gay whales for Jesus... L



by 11 posted onby Lurker ("America is at that awkward stage. " Claire Wolfe, call your office.)

To: Sidebar Moderator

bfltr



To: Sidebar Moderator

I am thinking this should have a sticky category. Thanks for putting this info together, its time to reorganize America even if it means burning the fields and silos.



by 13 posted onby Eye of Unk (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! SA)

To: 2banana; LucyT

homosexual minority humpback whales ping



To: Sidebar Moderator

GAINING FULL CONTROL Shouldn't that be 'GAINING FULL CON-TROLLING'?



To: Sidebar Moderator

That is a very useful post. Thank you. I saw obvious (to me) efforts to manipulate this forum during the Republican primaries -— efforts from both the various campaigns themselves and, I believe, from outside interests who desired to damage candidates that would have been more effective than what was ultimately offerred. All of these methods were used. Reminds me of the “Rules for Radicals” approaches.



To: Sidebar Moderator

Some newbie posters aren’t familiar with the forum when they first get here. That’s why I’d rather challenge their beliefs and see the reaction before going postal and mentioning they are newbies right off the bat. If they’re up to no good, it will generally show soon enough. If they’re up to no good, they’ll be outed. If they’re here to mingle and learn, we won’t have run them off without cause. I’ve seen people mention a person is a newbie for just about no cause at all. I think that’s unfortunate when I see it take place. We want new blood here.



by 17 posted onby DoughtyOne (I see that Kenya's favorite son has a new weekly Saturday morning radio show.)

To: Sidebar Moderator

Funny how few know what the term "Trolling" refers to anymore. It's probably the most misunderstood and misused term online these days. As a public service reminder... troll: v.,n.

1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT.

2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll."

3. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS students. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.



Some people claim that the troll (sense 1) is properly a narrower category than flame bait, that a troll is categorized by containing some assertion that is wrong but not overtly controversial. See also Troll-O-Meter.

Jargon File, version 4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000







trolling To post a purposely facetious, flippant, or aggressively dumb article. Its purpose is to dupe the gullible or the self-important into responding with follow-ups that make them look foolish. --Useful Usenet Jargon, Copyright © 1995-2008 Paul McFedries and Logophilia Limited



by 18 posted onby Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)

To: NormsRevenge

Buck Perry?



To: Sidebar Moderator

Interesting!



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