New way of browsing r/conspiracy
84 2013-02-09 by JelqMaster777
How many of us determine the validity of a post by the number of upvotes it receives or by a quick glance at the top comments? I know I used to. But in the advent of all the Reddit Gaming that's been going on, with the shills, the trolls, and the buying of upvotes to influence popular thought(whether it be political or a marketing ploy), the only thing left for us is our critical thinking; our abilities to read between the up and downvotes and discern between the lies and the truth.
There's no more room for half-measures on this site, especially on this subreddit. In fact, our half-assed, wishy-washiness is what they are after as it leaves us vulnerable to a quick and easy, surefire method of deception - tricking us into thinking a false idea is held by the majority. Quite frankly, if you're not willing to put in the time and effort into fully researching a topic - with an open-minded and unbiased attitude - just do everyone a favor and go back to browsing cats and bacon.
I don't mean to pin anyone against each other; my only aim is to challenge everyone to see through the bullshit and wear the proper lens in ascertaining real against illusion; facts against disinfo.
Rather than being a lurker, comment and discuss. Your help is required. A sure way of spotting a troll or shill is by the show of their attitude when challenged for open and honest discourse. People who hold opposing views who are willing to be civil and engage you in conversation are not shills, they are there to learn and contribute. But if a comment centers on childish bullshit like ad-hominem attacks that detract from the points being discussed, you are mostly likely dealing with a shill/troll. Comments like, "This is why this subreddit isn't taken seriously anymore," don't help. How about offering up an explanation for such arrogance? If you see a well written comment that makes a lot of sense being downvoted into oblivion, without any attempt at presenting the opposing arguments, it's most likely something of value being targeted by the shills.
One last thing that blinds many from seeing clearly is our own ego; our pride. Pride just like fear is the mind-killer. The shills and the trolls know this. That's why they throw out insults and low blows. They tactically target what's bound to incite a defensive attitude. Realize that they are doing this with a purpose. To suppress any critical thinking and rational discourse. They want you to stoop down to their level and appear irrational to the other readers. Don't ever lose your head with people that seek to offend you. Shill/troll or not, if they don't want to act like grown-ups, ignore them. There is an agenda to make all conspiracy theorists look like crazy, unstable, paranoid neurotics. Don't fall into that trap and help them further their goals. If you always keep your composure, none of their tactics will have any power over us. Always remember that the truth is on our side.
Have you ever read the sidebar for this subreddit?
This subreddit is a thinking ground, above all else we respect everyone's opinions and ALL religious beliefs and creeds. We hope to challenge issues which have captured the public’s imagination. From JFK, UFOs, gulf of Tonkin and of course 9/11. This is a forum for free thinking - not hate speech. Respect other views and opinions, keep an open mind. Our intentions are aimed towards a fairer, more transparent world and a better future for everyone.
There are thousands that read this subreddit. If you're one of those people, my message to you is this: unlike what's evident with all the shilling and the trolling, the majority of us - just like you - are sound minded men and women who have broken free from the brainwashing that our governments have subjected us to. We are the brave and enlightened minority that care about humanity and the flourishing of our race and home planet; those who share in the mutual goal of exposing evil.
TL;DR: Don't trust the upvotes/downvotes on this site. Don't trust the top comments. Measure up all truths against your own critical minds. Don't ever let anyone else do your thinking for you. Lastly, don't let chaos weigh you down. The truth is on our side.
Edit: Old school Reddit wisdom: Be excellent to each other.
27 comments
17 Nebz604 2013-02-09
Always make up your own mind.
Don't let the stupid karma score inform your opinion
Don't be afraid to state your opinion.
Be willing to change your mind if the right evidence comes along, sticking to dis proven nonsense makes you look like an ass
Don't worry when people downvote you, karma score means nothing
But you really should listen to rule number 1 - paradox...
10 jimmyb207 2013-02-09
I am a huge believer in this philosophy. In fact, I encourage everyone to dive headfirst into an establishment mainstream "official story" circle jerk subreddit/thread and and hit them upside the head with all you've got, but stay classy as an r/conspiracy representative. You will get downvoted into oblivion...it only means you are doing your job. Wear it like a badge of honor. You may have changed someones mind and woke them up.
Karma is a mindfuck that prods us to stay within the boundaries of socially accepted schools of thought. To stay among the herd. I say fuck that.
1 [deleted] 2013-02-09
I like the way you think.
1 Lagavulin 2013-02-09
I downvote you, Sir, to show my support for your philosophy.
//justkiddingididn'treally
3 KonDon 2013-02-09
-1 Nebz604 2013-02-09
I already admit it. I am working for one of the big bubble gum companies. I help cover up bubble gum spills and I help sway public opinion to allow us to drill in environmentally protected areas for more of that pink gold.
1 IndependentSession 2013-02-09
Keep up the good work.
-2 spaghettigod 2013-02-09
What, think for yourself? obvious shill guys
14 immadodis 2013-02-09
TLDR - OP starts thinking for himself
10 [deleted] 2013-02-09
Achievement Unlocked
Edit: Here's my TLDR
8 Sarah_Connor 2013-02-09
This is a very timely post - I was just doing the same investigation.
There is a user that has been getting an ok number of upvotes to offensive statements in a very recent, active thread.
Irrespective of the OP he was replying to, the many upvotes were both out of character for his particular account which has a net negative score as well as the comments they made typically do not get upvoted like this here in /r/conspiracy.
hmm.... I need to look at how many new signups we had in the last two day:
Nothing out of the ordinary thus far. ~300 new subscribers yesterday, which is around our daily average. We typically have about 18K unique visitors a day with around 80K pageviews. Yesterday we had 122K pageviews, but not a significant increase in uniques.
Hmm:
This is interesting, on 1/22/13 we have 1,497 new subscribers. Our highest subscription rate in a single day, ever. with another 649 on 1/23/13 and 549 joining on 1/15/13...
Need to message the admins though and see if we can figure out who some of these accounts are...
Looking into this further....
1 Mudvaynian 2013-02-09
I think I joined somewhere around the 15th. I read way more than I post because I never really have anything to add.
7 [deleted] 2013-02-09
[deleted]
8 Sarah_Connor 2013-02-09
Shillception!
But seriously - its really not ok for "fuck off shill comments"
At the same time - I am not going to ban every user on the first "fuck you" comment as I need to be sure they arent just having a bad day, particularly emotionally attached to the story/their opinion, drunk etc...
I have had many moments where I had too much to drink and thought i was being a clear and rational debater only to find the next day i looked like an ass...
Anyway - I do think people need banning, and even recently I have lifted bans on some accounts appealing after several months.
Also, its tough to monitor all 100K+ subscribers - so we will ban users, but we have to not be a nazi about it.
5 shwanky 2013-02-09
well I would suggest ignoring them and if it really bothers you respond with well stated and or sited reference to your argument. A good way to respond, if your inclined, is with kind or neutral words. That usually bugs them.
2 [deleted] 2013-02-09
With the powers endowed to me as OP, I fully endorse this message.
2 sizzletron 2013-02-09
You edge, bro? Or straight jelq?
7 CollectCallFrom 2013-02-09
I stand with you I've noticed a lot of the same shit
4 shwanky 2013-02-09
Well said.
4 ACapitalizedCursiveL 2013-02-09
Been trying to find a way to word this, thanks for taking the the time to write it. Well said. I'm in with you brothers & sisters, till the bitter end. Love and truth shall prevail!
2 [deleted] 2013-02-09
Hopefully none. I barely even read usernames, I read posts, I read content.
If someone up votes content, it should be for the right reason.
2 David_Porter 2013-02-09
We should have only up votes on this sub and disallow down votes. That would sort a lot of wheat from chaff.
2 xenoglossus 2013-02-09
Great post OP. Lets make this subreddit a place where we can all express opinions without fear of retaliation.
2 GuiltByAssociation 2013-02-09
Very well put. The thing is that only the ones new to conspiracy theories get distracted by group conformity and majority votes. But you passed that point when you started to disbelieve in mainstream media and from there on on alternative media it even gets harder to decide who is decent and who is not and which information you can trust. When you reached the point that you can evaluate the evidence from a random source by yourself without any help from the so called experts you will know that you are an independent, critical investigator.
1 jablome 2013-02-09
Just use the rss feed. This way you can archive all the headlines and easily search them.
For instance, I can see that "Sandy Hook" has been in the headlines on /r/conspiracy 210 times since the day it happened.
Lots of verbatim reposts, lots of reposts of the same video with different post title, etc , etc.
1 Prometherion666 2013-02-09
Goddamn, TL:DR Got to the part about cats and bacon and said "HOLY SHIT CATS AND BACON" gg
0 [deleted] 2013-02-09
Up vote for you my friend.
-3 [deleted] 2013-02-09
[deleted]
5 shwanky 2013-02-09
isn't that the type of response he suggested we avoid?