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

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.’

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.

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.’

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I’m aware of their past behavior....But also aware they are trying, for what ever reason to change that behavior,....
***There is not much evidence of such an attempt to change the behavior.

We’ve had people with alcohol/drug abuse, mental problems etc etc on FR, I’m sure the moderator can tell some stories...
***And I’m sure it’s all a very sad story as well. But trolling is trolling and it is a disruption of this forum, regardless of what medication someone is on and whether it’s self prescribed. When 2 or 3 self-medicators get going on a thread, it’s a sign that the mods need to do something about it. It took months to get satisfaction with the tootyfruityrudybots.

Regardless read the rules on the from page and temember this is a classy place not the DOS. It has been a traditions here to NOT ATTACK ANOTHER FREEPER.
***JimRob seems to have set a tradition when he opened the bugzapper thread and directly attacked a long term freeper and zotted him. And the trolls (and everyone else) should be reading the front page where it says on the first sentence of JimRob’s Statement from the founder, we defend the constitution.
“Statement by FR’s Founder:
In our continuing fight for freedom, for America and our constitution...”

Later on in that statement is some telling stuff about the idealogy of this site, which RINOs have a lot of trouble with. Many of them hem and haw when they see this, and it’s on the FIRST PAGE.

“As a conservative site, Free Republic is pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-Constitution, pro-Bill of Rights, pro-gun, pro-limited government, pro-private property rights, pro-limited taxes, pro-capitalism, pro-national defense, pro-freedom, and-pro America. We oppose all forms of liberalism, socialism, fascism, pacifism, totalitarianism, anarchism, government enforced atheism, abortionism, feminism, homosexualism, racism, wacko environmentalism, judicial activism, etc. ....We believe in defending our borders .... We are not connected to or funded by any political party, news agency, or any other entity. “

If you attack you lower yourself to their level. JIm has said repeatedly to ignore it. I say chose your actions don’t react..
***When you’re dealing with one troll, it’s polite to let them dig their own hole. When you’re dealing with multiple trolls operating in tag team, that does not work. It’s significant that JimRob kept saying the same thing about the tootyfruityrudybot trolls until he went into the trenches with us, specifically I think it was CeltJewLibertarian who gave him a hard time and soon afterwards we saw the bugzapper thread.

Now the moderators have given you a method of dealing with people who meet the criteria on the post.
***The method appears to be incomplete and secretive. I prefer to operate out in the open. In our society you have the right to face your accuser and this site should reflect that tradition when someone is being accused of being a troll.

No where do I see name calling listed. I know from some friend that are no longer here at FR that even “good people” get sucked into behaviors that the Mods ban people for....Get in a fiasco even if you don’t start it and you’ll see the results.
***I’ve seen that myself. The process should be very open. In the end, bad behavior is bad behavior and the mods have the right to clean up the site. We should just be very upfront about what behavior triggers it and what behavior doesn’t, even if those behaviors change, as human nature is wont to demonstrate.

I’m just including in the list of recipients, the ones who has been talking back and forth on this in particular. I don’t know why there’s an increasing number of different “moderator” inclusions, but I’ve included them, too...

Moderators are included here, as “copied” from the other posts...

hoosiermama said — “I appreciate your ping. Star travelor had been away from the threads for severl weeks and was trying to join in the conversation....There was no reason for the name calling except you recognized the name... Maybe the poster had a change of style....maybe even a change of heart...

Sorry sir but you were out of line then and are out of line now in thinking that name calling is a respectable form of communication or debate...and I’ll stand by my original post for you to stop it.

It’s a form of invalidation and is not acceptable between adults. No matter which side of the issue you are on......”

The problem here is that certain posters don’t like the ideas that I’ve presented — regardless of what my “foundational beliefs” are, as they have always been founded on the principle (in my view) that conservatism stems *foundationally* from the Christian faith and principles of the Bible. That’s how I approach conservative issues. But, that doesn’t make any difference to some posters.

The problem that these certain posters have is that they don’t like *any* disagreement with their viewpoint, as if the only one that can be voiced is theirs — and if anyone voices another — then it’s got to be trolls, or Obots, or a “gang” of trolls and so on. It’s gotten to be *so conspiracy-minded* too.

What’s the issue that drives this (for those others)? Very simply that they don’t think that Obama qualifies under the Constitution. Now, regardless of the fact that I hammered on the very same issues *before* the election, and then saw that I lost (and I didn’t vote for Obama... LOL..) — I saw that this issue *was going nowhere* and not even our own President, Vice President, Republican legislators, Electoral College, or Supreme Court was going anywhere with the issue. It was all being turned down to defeat.

Well, my view on why that’s happening is that there is a *big hole* in the system, in the vetting process, that allowed it to happen *without* specific documents being produced. The problem here — is very simply — that no one can *produce* documentation to prove that there is a problem, and also, Obama has not been *required* to produce specific documentation *by law*. — That’s the problem. —

Now, I say that there’s a *big denial of reality* here — in basically *recognizing* that the problem is in the *system* that allowed this kind of vetting to go on. So, in pointing this out and saying that they’re going down the wrong track and not really achieving any results — that’s said to be a “troll” or an “Obot” (and a lot more, too...).

But, all this “common sense” is so much “nonsense” to those who are “rabid” in their assertions that Obama is violating the Constitution. The fact of the matter is that I haven’t seen any court take up the *legal documentation* to even prove such a thing. So, at this point — without any proof — it’s just a lot of speculation.

Now — I’ve proposed (for quite a while now) that the various states put forth legislation to *require* specific documentation (written expressly in the statute) so that either it’s produced and the Constitutional requirement is verified that way — or else — the Candidate cannot be placed on the ballot.

Here in Oklahoma, a bill was just put in doing *that very thing*. And I’ve said that I’m going to be working on that one, to see that it gets through, and gets through in a good form. That will be *exactly* the process we need to “close up the loophole” that has allowed all these questions to go *unanswered* (and they are “unanswered” because no one has any court acting on anything here, in terms of either *blocking* Obama from taking office, or *removing* Obama from office).

Another point that has been made is that the Constitution allows one method for removing a President from his office, and that’s by means of Impeachment and Conviction (the House and the Senate). Now, certain other posters have claimed that *since* (note that...) Obama is not qualified, he’s really *not President* (at that future time) — and thus — all that is needed is simply to have a Marshal walk into the White House, with court orders and “remove Obama from the premises” — and that’s how we get Obama out of the White House. I’ve also commented on that one, that it’s not possible because of the separation of powers between the three branches of government.

IN ADDITION — it’s getting to be ridiculous in that certain posters *absolutely fervent desire* to remove Obama from office is so *obsessive* (and compulsive) that they have lost touch with reality and have become like “Baghdad Bob” in that any “loss” (like what Berg said in his case was a *setback*, and he did say that, very specifically) — other posters say that is “good news”. Well.., that’s “Baghdad Bob” talk, and not facing up to the reality that a “loss” is a “loss”.

If a general fights a war and continually loses all the battles — it’s *time for an assessment* to see what to do differently *to win*. I’ve also said that some posters will be here, indefinitely, saying that Obama was never qualified and was “really” — *never President* in the first place.

Well, there’s an answer for that one, too.

We have an example in history of where a prior President (the 21st President) was *not qualified* to be President (per the Constitution) and covered up that fact by hiding paperwork, burning paperwork, lying about his birthday and also about his father’s citizenship, and so on. This was brought out by Leo Donofrio (you should know who he is). Leo *documented* that prior President who was not qualified — but — he was *still President* regardless.

This is the *reality* of the facts as we face them now.

And so — in the face of various “facts” and the refusal to face up to them (as they are “happening” in real life) then causes these various posters to lash out at those others who are bringing up these facts (and with these posters also acting like a group of “Baghdad Bobs” in the denial of all reality of “what is actually happening”).

So, that’s the reason why — when I bring up what is actually happening, why this thing or that thing won’t work, why it’s only Impeachment that will remove a President, pointing out that inauguration day is only a few days away, and so on — that this is considered to be “trolls” ... (instead of someone “pointing out the facts” of the matter).

It seems that certain posters no longer want the facts or reality — but rather — just a “wishful thinking” forum, where no one points out the “facts on the ground” to them. That’s not what I see Free Republic being about. It’s *recognizing* when something is not working, and figuring out *why* it’s not working — and then figuring out how to solve what is *not working*... That’s what it’s really about...

The other thing that has been brought up, too, is that the hoax over at API (African Press International) with the Michelle Obama tape, had Berg sucked in, too — because he signed up to be Chief Editor Korir’s attorney, here in the U.S. In addition Ed Hale (of that Internet radio program that some listen to) was also sucked into that hoax, by wanting to air that tape on his radio program, and then he said he was going to sue Chief Editor Korir for breach of contract for not following through with him. In the end, Chief Editor Korir actually showed how he followed a tactic called the “Dark Socratic methodology” in which you “punish” people because they believe such stupid things. And that’s what he was doing. I was also pointing out how if this sucked in Berg and Ed Hale, it’s this type of thing that is also sucking in a lot of other people, too (in various “hoaxes” about documentation or paperwork, or this being “out there” somewhere, or someone “has the document” and just has to transport it somewhere else to be safe, and so on...). There are all sorts of hoaxes out there and the courts are not going to take part in all these hoaxes...

And when Berg gets sucked into hoaxes (like Chief Editor Korir at API) and Berg takes cases where he is saying that President Bush was involved in the 9/11 attacks (i.e., in that he’s a “9/11 Truther”) — that does lead one to question what on earth Berg is doing... That’s a big consideration, too (and those are the facts of the matter).

It would seem that some posters would want to start paying very close attention to what Obama is going to be doing with Congress and what kind of bills and legislation is going to be put through and fighting against that — instead of going down these dead-end trails that have not panned out. The “real life” scenario that we have to face now — is happening with Obama *being in office* — and not so much with finding documentation that no one has been able to find and have a court act upon.

—

Oh, and one more thing... is being on Free Republic *fun* — yes it is. I’ve always enjoyed it here. BUT, certain posters are apparently “not enjoying” being on Free Republic and they think that no one should enjoy posting here, and simply be “extremely dour” in their postings... LOL... (that’s something that certain posters don’t like, the “LOL” either...).

But, it’s like Baghdad Bob, he was funny, too — when watching him and him saying that “everything is fine” — and behind him in the TV picture..., the war was coming closer to him... :-) There are *definitely* funny things being said and being posted on Free Republic, and that’s part of the “reality” of it, too.

Besides, as I’ve said before, good humor is better for one’s health. Instead, I see a lot of anger at pointing out the facts, instead of responding in humor in some of these postings. In addition, I just see a lot of name-calling, instead of responding in “thoughtful ways”.

So, that’s what is going on....

Some of the posts referenced are #74, #81, #84, #92, #93, #129, #131, #133, #135, #136, #143, #144,

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