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

Posted on 01/16/2009 12:36:53 PM PST 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.


TOPICS: Announcements; Free Republic; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abuse; definitionoftroll; freerepublic; garbage; howtotroll; pl; repository1; trolling; trolling101; trolls; zot
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To: DoughtyOne
Am I logged in?

L

61 posted on 01/16/2009 1:28:58 PM PST by Lurker ("America is at that awkward stage. " Claire Wolfe, call your office.)
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To: xcamel

Oh? Do share...


62 posted on 01/16/2009 1:29:23 PM PST by null and void (Hey 0bama, now that you've caught the car, what are you going to do with it, hmmm?)
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To: null and void

sent by fr mail.


63 posted on 01/16/2009 1:35:44 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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I thought they were called Obamatrons. They come into a website or blog to make sure the information is discredited or out of view. There is a whole team of Obama’s that scours the website and sends people in.

On Fox news a few of Obama’s action wire trons come in and just post the same word or line a million times so the whole page is taken over. They do this over and over. Finally posters tire and the website becomes hard to manuever.

On one conservative website they have moderators who choose what can be posted. You can threaten others in the forum but do not go against the moderators or theur friends. Speaking out against moderators is cause for being barred. You are never allowed to explain that possible the moderator has a ulterior motive. Once banned you are banned. From someone who believes in the ultimate right to free speech, Ann has moderators who do not share her ideology. I rarely go in anymore because it seemed a little nazi to me.

The McClatchy newspaper blogs have moderators who will bring the forum in favor of their political communist agenda. The liberal moderators have followers who keep the posts along their agenda of socialistic health care, more social programs and handouts.

We know the ones who come in with talking points to dispute what is being posted. The same old tired one liners, they can never explain themselves because they are told what to say and not deviate in their email or cell phone action wires. Like, I am a lifelong republican and for the first time in my life I am voting democrat. Never heard that one a million times. sarcasm.

The most recent one I found is they come in and ask questions about everything posted. They want you to search for what they request. If you are searching then the discussion stops. I no longer play this game and ask them in return what they are asking but in reverse.

The article is extremely interesting and it deserves everyone’s attention for sure. Obama said he would be asking for help even after he was in office and many said they would be sitting by their phone waiting for his call.


64 posted on 01/16/2009 1:36:35 PM PST by MirandaRietz
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To: OKSooner; honolulugal; Killing Time; Beowulf; Mr. Peabody; RW_Whacko; gruffwolf; BlessedBeGod; ...

ping for good information.


65 posted on 01/16/2009 1:37:51 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: xcamel

You said — “The worst is when you nail a moonbat hard, and then they post personal information on FR about you - yes - it’s been done to me. I could not believe the poster was not banned for life for that one.”

Yeah, it does show you the character of the people involved in doing that. It’s too bad that FR didn’t do something about it.

So far, all the stuff that I’ve posted about myself is okay for people to know. I mean, they know (from my previous postings) how old I am, what city I live in, how I think about many things (of course... LOL...), about my parents, and a whole bunch of stuff like that.

I haven’t posted addresses, phone numbers, location of job, type of job, etc — like that.

I’ve had troubles, in the past, where posting on a newsgroup (opinions that were not appreciated about a business, an ISP that was not doing a good job...) — my own ISP provider was threatened, information was dug up (at least they thought they had the personal information; they went after the wrong guy... LOL...), they tried to shut down a website I had, a massive automated “cancel” routine was put out on my account (on the newsgroup..., if you’ve ever had that one happen to you... LOL...), and it went on and on... hoo-boy!

That was back around the mid to late 90s or so...

[ Remember... “They don’t know you’re a dog on the Internet.” — that was a New Yorker cartoon... ]


66 posted on 01/16/2009 1:38:24 PM PST by Star Traveler
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To: xcamel

I was expecting pictures of you with a camel...


67 posted on 01/16/2009 1:39:41 PM PST by null and void (Hey 0bama, now that you've caught the car, what are you going to do with it, hmmm?)
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To: tubebender

Guess I could dilute this thread talking about pigs, but I’ll save that for another thread.


68 posted on 01/16/2009 1:40:53 PM PST by SouthTexas
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To: Admin Moderator
Here endeth the scriptures.

Good post (for a noob!)

LOL

69 posted on 01/16/2009 1:44:59 PM PST by Col Freeper (FR is a smorgasbord of Conservative thoughts and ideas - dig in and enjoy it to its fullest!)
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To: null and void; xcamel

I thought his secret identity was that he was Joe Camel.


70 posted on 01/16/2009 1:45:14 PM PST by mnehring
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To: mnehrling

think ‘x-files’


71 posted on 01/16/2009 1:46:00 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: Sidebar Moderator
immigration...

I have been in the shower...

Pro-Life mention...

< img src="a_cat_picture.jpg">

birth certificate...

No I'm not...

Yes, you are...

Here's what they're saying at DU: blah...blah...blah...

tin foil beanine

What gun should I buy?

immigration

.

. You said "immigration" twice.

"Immigration" is twice as likely to derail the thread!

Duh-Oh

IBTZ

72 posted on 01/16/2009 1:50:24 PM PST by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: Lurker

Jiiiim!... ;-)


73 posted on 01/16/2009 1:54:01 PM PST by DoughtyOne (I see that Kenya's favorite son has a new weekly Saturday morning radio show.)
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To: Gondring; Sidebar Moderator; little jeremiah

This sounds like a reasonable definition. LJ has a list of 25 or so thread-specific (certifiGate) trolls. How do we get JimRob and the mods to move on them if this is the accepted definition? They fit the definition to a T.

troll: v.,n.

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.”


74 posted on 01/16/2009 2:05:53 PM PST by Kevmo ( It's all over for this Country as a Constitutional Republic. ~Leo Donofrio, 12/14/08)
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To: Admin Moderator
“You should use the words “ad hominem””

This term is good for responding to a name calling troll...

“Your ad hominem attack leads me to believe that you are a closeted homosexual with a latent bestiality complex.”

75 posted on 01/16/2009 2:05:53 PM PST by Poser (Sexual Chunky Monkey and willing to fight for oil)
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To: Sidebar Moderator

bookmark


76 posted on 01/16/2009 2:06:52 PM PST by darkangel82 (I don't have a superiority complex, I'm just better than you.)
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To: Sidebar Moderator

Thailand?


77 posted on 01/16/2009 2:09:32 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Sidebar Moderator

78 posted on 01/16/2009 2:10:37 PM PST by CholeraJoe ("They taped over your mouth, Scribbled out the truth with their lies. You little spies!")
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

lol internet


79 posted on 01/16/2009 2:20:17 PM PST by happinesswithoutpeace (You are receiving this broadcast as a dream)
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To: Sidebar Moderator
You're a newby, aren't you?

Ok, nothing better to do today than poke the bear. Poke, poke, poke...

5.56mm

80 posted on 01/16/2009 2:21:30 PM PST by M Kehoe
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