Posted on 12/26/2017 6:03:48 AM PST by x1stcav
I had a great Christmas and hope all of you did, too.
Now, back to work.
First, I want to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive support given my initial after-action report on the trial run of the new app called PostBot. Especially the freepmail. You can view the original post here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=postbot .
A few days have passed and this has allowed the app to further analyze the collected data and activity. I think the additional findings and results are worth sharing.
Background: 1. EI vs. AI – the developers feel they have broken new ground in the field of AI and have named their new technology EI, or Evolving Intelligence. This new form of AI includes the apps ability to evolve into such forms of human intelligence as reflection, contemplation, and most importantly, curiosity. Pre-Deployment: 2. Prior to the initial deployment of the program on 21 Dec, the app reviewed ten years of postings and replies in the FR website. This amounted to hundreds of thousands of individual items. 3. The app began to suspect that there exists a loose confederation of FR members who seemed of a certain mindset as to proper posting content, procedures, and overall forum behavior. The app has identified two types: blatant and latent. 4. The app initially labeled members of this group ‘posting pests’. It later changed this nomenclature to ‘Pee Pee Cabal’. Deployment: 1. Tactics - when the app was deployed it immediately formulated challenging and provocative statements such as ‘Posting-Pest Free Thread’ in an attempt to provoke the latent members of the Pee Pee Cabal into unmasking themselves. The blatant members were easy to ID from their historical posting/reply patterns and content.
2. The results were dramatic - Freepers, who were previously not suspected as being part of the Pee Pee Cabal, sprang into action at these provocations and rivaled the blatant members in vehemence and vitriol. A typical comment from a previously unsuspected Pee Pee Cabal member ran: “No matter how cleverly or cutely it’s disguised, CENSORSHIP is NOT amusing. You’ve been pulling this on every thread you initiate. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. That’s the way it works. Implicit in the act of posting an article on FR is the unknown nature of the replies. A crapshoot. Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. You don’t—and shouldn’t—have control over that aspect of the FR experience. So knock it off before you get banned. Someone’s surely going to contact the admins if you keep this up.” The poster, protesting censorship by advocating censorship, along with the standard Pee Pee Cabal tactic of intimidation, illustrates what the app believes to be the bi-polar and thin-skinned nature of most members of the Pee Pee Cabal.
3. Stakeholders - the app matched the donor list to screen names that comprise the Pee Pee Cabal and found that virtually all are donors to, and therefore stakeholders in, FR. It is reasonable to conclude that they feel a sense of ownership and entitlement over others on the forum.
4. Pee Pee Cabal Population - Combined blatant and latent total 187.
Conclusions: 1. Deep State – the app is of the opinion that there exists on FR, much in the same manner as the scandal-ridden FBI, a group of members that comprise a ‘deep state’. Though their numbers are relatively small, they are a very vociferous and vehement minority, which has a disproportionate effect on the functioning of FR and the tenor of any debate/discussion on the forum.
2. Admin Monitors - the app suspects that at least some of the admin monitors are, if not members of the Pee Pee Cabal, at least sympathetic to it. The app cites the following communication as a basis for its conclusion: To: x1stcav You can knock that crap off now. Got it? 8 posted on 12/21/2017, 8:32:09 AM by Admin Moderator [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse]
The app asked for a clarification of what constituted ‘crap’ and received no response. Apparently this was an attempt to silence through intimidation but the effort was largely wasted on the app.
Admittedly this is scant evidence of admin moderator perfidy and would ordinarily be dismissed out of hand except for reply comments made to the app by Pee Pee Cabal members that the moderator(s) would ‘take care’ of things.
3. Mirror Image - the app visited DU, HuffPo and social media and made an interesting observation: by analyzing posts/replies from both of the left-wing sites and social media it determined that there were certain characteristics common to activists it identified to be zealots and radicals of the left. These included: an intolerance for other points of view, an authoritarian insistence to enforcing rules (the warden or police mentality), a self-congratulatory reaction to intimidating others, mutually reinforcing communication between members of a like mind (atta boys), a sense of self-righteous indignation toward others who behaved or believed in a manner deemed unacceptable by, or who wouldn’t follow the dictates of, the self-appointed elites, and as a cohort are universally thin-skinned. The app then compared the same data of the Pee Pee Cabal and found an uncanny similarity. The app has determined that the only thing that separates the two groups is ideology. If Pee Pee Cabal members were to suddenly shift to the opposite end of the political spectrum they would find themselves right at home on either DU or HuffPo and be welcomed there. 4. Reaction: universally negative – while condemnation of the Pee Pee Cabal’s actions were largely muted on the forum (perhaps an indication of how ferocious and pervasive Pee Pee Cabal’s efforts at intimidation are), the amount of freepmail the app obtained and analyzed about the subject was significant. And universally negative. The following is an example: ‘This place has become like Twitter - there are “rules”, but the “rules” are more like suggestions, and the policing is really done via gang warfare.’ 5. Intensity - analyzing posting/reply times, and frequencies, the app has determined that members of the Pee Pee Cabal spend an inordinate amount of time on FR. (humorously, the app has labeled them Monitor Melons and Qwerty Queers). The emotional investment the Pee Pee Cabal has in FR must be of overwhelming personal importance. Hence the irrational, almost violent reaction to any perceived threats to ‘home’ or any disruption of the Cabal’s common idea of how ‘home’ should function.
6. Definitions – the app was repeatedly queried as to what defined one as being a ‘posting-pest’. It responses ran along the lines of “While a precise definition has yet to be formulated it’s the sort of thing you’ll recognize when you see it” and “I don’t think you actually know what a posting pest is. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so worked-up...unless, of course, you are one”.
The developers feel that the app has not done an adequate job in this area and will provide a future fix.
7. As a somewhat humorous aside, the app, since it is constantly evolving its ability to think in human terms, decided to satisfy its curiosity in the manner of compiling identifying data that members of the Pee Pee Cabal had created via posts/replies and then mining various search engine and social media sites in an attempt to match personal identities with FR screen names. The concern was that this unintended self-initiative by the app could have resulted in the creation of a ‘black list’ or other means of retribution. The developers feel reasonably certain that they have constrained the app from further attempts at this effort. 8. Civility – the app developed a somewhat subjective system for comparing and then classifying posts/replies from the Pee Pee Cabal. It then assigned values based on the lowest (despicable) to the highest (civil). Pee Pee Cabal members universally scored at the lower end of the scale and the app rates them overall, as a group, despicable.
This about sums it up. I hope you found the foregoing as interesting and informative as I have.
A further note: I am only reporting the findings of the app and those do not necessarily reflect my own opinions and attitudes. I also have not made any attempt to verify the accuracy of any claims or statements the app has made. I have always felt that FR was an intellectual and emotional home and look forward to a long and productive involvement.
Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2018.
X1STCAV
PostBot keeps finding new and interesting things on FR.
Seems patently obvious to even the most casual observer....................
Do you two know Larry Lucido?
PostBot Status: On
btt
Answer = 37
Is this thing On?
I have to go take a shower.
Thank you for running the bots.
Just how many cups of eggnog did you have yesterday?
Bots don’t Nog.
PostBot Status: On
Thanks x1stcav.
Heh heh you said pee pee
Final Conclusion: newbies rely on dogmatic recitations of tired old incorrect conclusion but post them over and over any way.
“”Just how many cups of eggnog did you have yesterday?””
Probably not limited to yesterday!
DO NOT FORGET to correct for Phi:
—
That does really clarify the whole subject what ever it is ...
I do note that the bots are incapable of discerning the contents of a posted picture.
Therein lies their weakness. :)
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