This should tell you that you are on the right track.

There appears to be a small group of very aggressive fascists monitoring every post, as if they were sitting around doing nothing but hitting 'refresh' and waiting for new posts to pop up. Then they immediately defend the status quo's position. Their downvotes are always multiplied. When you look through their history, you will see that they defend the status quo in every aspect, not just the current topic. You will also see that they spend an inordinate amount of time with people that they label as 'stupid'. That's the real stupid part.

I saw more of that yesterday then ever. I think the only thing we can do is confront them and ask openly why they are here if they're not a foil headed crackpot like they rest of us, and remind them that the purpose of this sub is to make outrageous claims and entertain wild notions.

Either expose them or ignore them. Do not feed the trolls.

I've actually spent a little time on a few specific posts playing the skeptic. This is specific posts, mind you. Though, not in any trolling or hateful manner; just as informatively as possible.

Some "theories" or conversations here are detrimental to the argument that there may be a conspiracy(ies). When we start assuming barely researched, hardly analyzed subjects and topics as truth or proof, then we start to lose a lot of credibility -- at least among ourselves. We absolutely should be questioning, but there's almost just as much finger-pointing going on as there are questions.

Throughout this subreddit, people have been labeling the men with the black backpacks, black pull-over half-zips, and tan pants and boots as Craft International, Blackwater, or private contractors instead of describing them as we see them, which is, vaguely, uniformed men. Here, people have foregone actually identifying these guys, and delved straight into possible explanations of their involvement, all the while completely dismissing any information that would suggest the opposite or a different explanation. They're Civil Support Team btw (edit: most likely). I don't know why it has been said almost nowhere in this entire subreddit, and sure, they could be disguised as CST as well. Everyone's more focused on analyzing photos and posting conjecture, before ever actually researching anything. Hell, that is probably the main problem here. related National Guard CST image/article

Whether theorizing of conspiracy or trying to debunk evidence or information relating to conspiracy, the two divided parties are on either side the fucking spectrum, and nobody wants to meet in middle and accept information that doesn't support their argument.

"Why did they say they were "pulling" him out if he got out himself?"
Fuck, I don't know! Why do people say they're "running late" when they're actually DRIVING?! Something's not right!

Sure, there are people just "shushing" the "crazy conspiracy theorists," but goddamnit, there are also just some fucking stupid arguments being made here. If we could all make arguments for and against certain information without indulging ourselves in confirmation bias and emotion, then maybe we can actually sift through the shit.

edit: Case in point: http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1crr9y/proof_that_craft_international_aka_blackwater_did/c9jcogw

Only 6 upvotes, but whatever. 2 downvotes. We're downvoting someone because they completely disproved someone's faulty and deceptive information.

Don't act like the "shills" or the "skeptics" are the only problem here. Just about everyone's acting more on bias than they should.

edit: in this very thread now:
http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1cr2dl/something_very_wrong_on_this_sub_lately/c9jenfx

He's simply stating, in no spiteful tone or harsh demeanor, that the information that was being tossed around wildly during the last few days' events, might just have been simple misinformation, in response to this:

while evidence of any earlier reported stories are disappearing from most news sites, youtube and etc.

Both of these statements are likely to be true and false in their own varying degress, and on a case-by-case basis, but we will only upvote the one we want to be true, or whichever follows our argument.

OP says, "Why the sudden hate and spite over people trying to convey useful information?" Yes, actual, useful information is being attacked, but that shit is going both ways, and sometimes the "useful information" is just faltering conjecture.

ya' know how there's a /r/gaming and a /r/truegaming? A /r/music and a /r/truemusic? a /r/reddit and /r/truereddit?

Well, if this subreddit followed the same convention, this subreddit would certainly be the circle-jerker that all the bullshit gets diverted to, while all the actual discussion happens elsewhere.

this is exactly right IMO

I can swear I read an article that was talking about the CIA hiring people to carry out misinformation/disinformation and smear campaigns on forums and social media.

"According to Lynnae Williams, former CIA clandestine service trainee and DIA analyst, the FBI and CIA use trolls to monitor social media and interact with users to discredit information disseminated on the web. Williams explains that the CIA provides training videos to new recruits on how to troll the internet. Once a target is locked-in, all open source information is obtained on the individual, and then any angle to discredit them in public forum is used on social media sites.

Software is used to sift through the “mountains” of users on social networking sites. At the Atlanta CIA branch where Williams was trained, she personally witnessed CIA-sponsored and sanctioned trolling of Americans on social networking sites."

Source: http://www.occupycorporatism.com/cia-sponsored-trolls-monitor-social-media-interact-with-users-to-discredit-factual-information/

Not completely related, but this was interesting: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-18/in-virginias-fairfax-county-robbing-banks-for-the-cia#p1

I've only been here since Dorner and I can see the same effects.

Pay attention, read opinions and formulate your own.

This is so meta. It's an /r/conspiracy conspiracy!

This.

Right in the feels.

Commenter delivers.

Restored my faith in humanity.

Bunch of other reddit cliches that would make you sound like a twat if spoken aloud.

Or, it could be some of these half-baked theories are really just bad theories. It's no reason to insult the OP, but let's be honest here, some of the questions posted on this sub can be answered by googling it finding a link to at least 3-4 reliable but not main-stream sites or eye witness reports.

I think its a form of "forum sliding", where you post a bunch of nonsense to drown out the good stuff. A "poisoning of the well" if you will.

I think you just defined exactly what I was thinking about this sub these days. I tip my metaphorical hat to yee

Agreed. And I would rather just skim through and not up-vote the latter in your comment than to have plausible or possible conspiracies get immediately down-voted out of existence by shills or others who just don't like or can't accept what they're reading. REMEMBER - This is a conspiracy thread. You should be up-voting things that seem like conspiracies and only down-voting those things that don't contribute to them.

What about things that challenge conspiracies? Isn't that what conspiracies are all about, challenging the status quo and digger deeper, even if it's the status quo of a subgroup?

Agreed! I misspoke in my last sentence. I meant to say only down-vote things that don't contribute to the conversation. But the conversation should be had. Don't down vote something out because you disagree with the claim, instead, refute it, offer counter arguments, and overall let the dialogue run.

Please don't dispute the consensus of the natives. It will not be tolerated.

So anyone that disagrees with a post is a fascist?

labeling someone a fascist because they openly disagree with you is stupid. This subreddit isnt about believing every single conspiracy theory that gets posted.

OP is a shill

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Seeing the same thing.. Every relevant thread is getting instantly derailed and the sub is getting spammed with disinformation. Seeing the same thing on 4chan.org/pol/ ... Clearly the internet has become the battle front in this war and what we are all seeing is the influence and power that is being used to control very key parts of the internet. Look at Reddit frontpage.. it's nothing but propaganda and diversions. They want another post-9/11 uprising against "terrorists".

This is a crucial time for our freedom. Once the mounting legislation over this incident passes truthers will lose the power they currently have to fight this regime. NOTHING about how this entire thing was executed is legit. You'd have to be a complete fool to fall for it.

Those of you too naive to even consider what is really going on are only supporting those oppressing you. Step out of that social norm that has been created, use you're brain, put this puzzle together like you would in a video game or anything else you're passionate about. Ask the right questions. Look at 9/11, the Iraq war, the central banking, the situation in Israel, the excessive show of power and force America is making. You know this system is broken. You know things don't add up. This society is tailor-made to keep you in the dark. Brilliant individuals have been studying the human mind and how we tick long before you were a thought. Every war has taught them more, every person is a number and a statistic in a massive pool. Consider you're daily life and where all of you're motive and desires begin. It's not all chance nor by choice. Ask the questions, get the truths. We are contributing to the oppression of ourselves and our entire species.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKjuQrHp3A0 FTFY

Dammit, that was well written. I wish I had more than one up-vote for you. And just to reiterate what you're saying, billions and trillions of dollars have been spent to keep folks in the old paradigm. Operant conditioning was penned in 1937. Oh, and the father of operant conditioning left psychology and went to work for a marketing agency. Think McFly, think. Break the chains. If you think about something and your response is an automatic cliche, think about how conditioned you are.

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Can you blame them? They don't want their paradigm shattered. They want Obama-change not change-change while pretending to be upset about it.

I'm sure that even they learned in health class that making fun of a group is a way to make themselves feel better.

Granted, some of the stuff here is wacko which seems intentional by trolls. That's the fuel that's used to discredit this sub.

It's been proven that the FBI has been solving their own terror plots and for that reason alone, the Boston bombing can't be ruled out as a government op.

You're missing the point. The OP highlights a group with an agenda, not the usual zeitgeist of delusion.

[deleted]

Aw I thought it was at least 11th grade level. I see that you can't take the same type of insults that you give.

If people make condescending remarks, they're going to get them in return. They even dedicated a subreddit to be condescending towards r/conspiracy, I'm sure you'd be welcome there.

What's a bigger waste of time? Speculating about how an event occurred or making fun of people on a dedicated subreddit for the sake of it?

Sorry that you take everything here seriously. Some people just post stuff for fun or have a wacky speculative idea of what might have happened from a conspiratorial viewpoint. It doesn't mean that the OP fully believes what they wrote. The fact that I have to explain that makes me feel that I really am dealing with immature people.

I wish people wouldn't respond to condescending remarks with more condescending remarks. Pissing contests are what end up ruining ANY site like this on the internet, no matter the subject, at least to me.

And I wish people wouldn't post here just for fun, but only in a serious manner. The stuff discussed here is supposed to be as serious as it gets, right?

So typical of circular debates I get in on reddit. I post my opinion and my opponent calls me a 'angry teenager' or child. Wow. By the book, sticking to script.

I just came to a sudden and clear understanding of that phrase I keep seeing: "circle jerk."

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It has grown quiet over the last hour but it's easy to see why. The story, full of misinformation, is coming together neatly on mainstream media, gathering select context-less quotes and 'facts' about the two boys while evidence of any earlier reported stories are disappearing from most news sites, youtube and etc.

Thanks OP! I'm with you!! I want to trust the government, but unfortunately I don't. Seeing all of the police in Watertown in their intimidating outfits trying to make us scares didn't sit right with me. I feel like this is going to be more common and welcomed by people.

Yes, this place has been infiltrated by dozens of seemingly full time shills. It's clear as day.

Shills up-vote other shills to control what is given credence.

Look how many users online, 1484, preboston it would've been 400ish... The water is too deep in here for 99% of these noobs.

This is not contained to reddit, by any means! I won't list all the forums I visit, but all the forums I visit are under the same coordinated attack. Lots of money is being spent to keep us from talking about this, to keep us from unifying over this, and to push the bullshit agenda that is spewing from the criminals in our government, from both fucking parties.

Reddit is the microcosm of the world. We've enjoyed being ahead of the game and truly free, sovereign men on here. But the redcoats are coming.

I think this is just life in general. I find if I air my thoughts with my friends they think I'm being silly. Also as reddit becomes more popular, the less open minded people are then here too.

I find that I have a certain group of friends that see eye to eye with me on many of the topics covered in this post. So it's really a circle jerk when we're together. But then we acknowledge that and say hey, it's too easy for us to preach to the choir, we need to get out of our comfort zone and start spreading the word to people who don't know about this stuff or don't agree. Problem is, this sub-reddit is suppose to be OUR CIRCLE-JERK. But now those folks from the outside are coming in, uninvited and disinterested, and corrupting the conversation.

Uninvited? This is reddit, brother/sister.

"Circle-jerk" is a negative term, you know? Another term that's negative is "confirmation bias". I get what you're saying--why can't /r/conspiracy just be for people willing to entertain conspiracy theories?--but expecting everyone to agree with everyone else without any dissent is unreasonable.

If someone disagrees with you or another user, just downvote or refute them. Complaining about "shills" (I know you didn't use that term), etc, doesn't get anyone anywhere.

Apparently you've never had a circle-jerk :)

/r/conspiracy is just that, a place to discuss conspiracies. You would (not) go to /r/atheism to talk about hockey or /r/funny to post pictures of gore! amarite.jpg? That having been said, I never said people should agree with everybody's theories. Simply that the point is the theory and that should be the discussion both positive and negative. Down votes* are supposed to be used to disagree. They are to be used to wipe out conversation that isn't contributing to the discussion. Yet the shills are all meeting in their chat rooms saying red-alert. Something's getting exposed over there, lets go down-vote it out of existence. That's not suppose to be what happens. It's suppose to be "well good sir, your theory is flawed based on premises a, b, and c being incorrect thus your if and only if is invalid." You see? Therefore, if someone is posting gore on /r/funny, you DO down vote it out of existence. But if someone is posting conspiracies to /r/conspiracy, SOP. But I get what you're saying.

*"Downvote an otherwise acceptable post because you don't personally like it. Think before you downvote and take a moment to ensure you're downvoting someone because they are not contributing to the community dialogue or discussion. If you simply take a moment to stop, think and examine your reasons for downvoting, rather than doing so out of an emotional reaction, you will ensure that your downvotes are given for good reasons." http://www.reddit.com/wiki/reddiquette

Edit - removed sarcasm because there's no need for it and I'm trying to ascend.

A lot of users have come here for the first time because of the bombings. Most of those people don't agree with what's posted here and upvote/comment as such.

It gives me Shills.

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Take the blue shill and stay calm.

Shill be comin round the mountain when shill comes?

I posted a link on the how the FBI was involved in the 93 WTC bombing and none of these folks came out to attack because the evidence is irrefutable (audio tapes). I think once stronger evidence arises on this Boston event we will have to be even louder then before, just to remind them of their delusion.

It's actually a pretty common phenomenon on Reddit. When you go to a popular post, one of the top comments will be very negative--either explaining why the submission is false, misleading, etc., or just insulting it. You get a lot of the former in /r/science and /r/technology and a lot of the latter in low-content subs like /r/atheism.

From what I've seen, the "hate and spite" tends to be people pointing out that a submission is sensationalized, or inaccurate, or pure speculation.

Mainly I just find it strange that the front page is full of people asking why anyone on the sub would bother to question the narratives /r/conspiracy have established. Isn't questioning narratives kind of the point?

[deleted]

Maybe we should have better standards than "support baseless speculation and suspect anyone who doesn't of being part of a conspiracy".

[deleted]

Right, personal bias should certainly be kept out, but if you question the questioner, you automatically get called a shill. That word in particular is thrown around way too much and is simply a way of shutting down any further discussion. If it doesn't shut down discussion, then it just devolves into a pissing contest most of the time. That is not good for this subreddit.

you know we are on the right track when the illuminati-bots work over time to try and slow down truth!!!

a lot of the stuff youre claiming to be "useful information" is utter trash that displays the inability to use common sense or objective and critical thinking.

open mindedness works both ways, be open to your theories being considered and subsequently trashed

It probably has something to do with the recent precipitous crash in the quality of submissions.

Called forum sliding.

As someone who the other day was on the top of one of these said posts disagreeing with the OP, let me add my two cents. Let me also preface my post by saying I was overly antagonistic and sarcastic in my initial post, but replied as politely as I could to various name callings and other accusations, etc. To get to the point, just because someone disagrees with you it doesn't mean they are signing on to r/conspiracy because to sway the movement, that may very well happen, it's not the reason I do it. I come here because I want to participate in debates that don't always take what's reported at face value, I want to engage with and learn from people who take time to dig out facts and information in order to know what's going on in the world. Those aren't my only reasons, but maybe the largest factor in me coming here is because I have never liked the jump-to-conclusions attitude of my culture. Now this brings us to why I posted things that were against a popular post the other day. I think it's outrageous to constantly assume everything is a conspiracy and the information and arguments, made under the assumption that certain events were planned and executed in a certain way, are going to hold true no matter what information comes to the contrary. The post I responded to and got negative feed back on was titled "4chan solved the bombings." As a critical thinker, I cannot sit by with that and I know a lot of people here could not either. In no way did I condemn challenging the MSM or government or whomever, I just said that it is better to reserve judgments till all the facts are released and a proper analysis can be made before we say "the official story is full of holes!!!1!" Of course it is, 24/7 news will report incorrect information for ratings. There are times where what they report may be a piece of the puzzle, but again prudence is a good policy. In short, I think r/conspiracy thinks of our group as dissenters, but even dissenters need to be put into check. Sources are important, unbridled claims and theories are dangerous to make because people sometimes take it as fact. It's just important that we be able to meet anyone's claims to the legitimacy of our theories by carefully, academically approaching these arguments and not getting upset or accusatory when someone calls you on the info. Who knows it could always be someone new to conspiracies that is just curious or needs some direction that doesn't include being called a fucking shill.

It's weird, I made a couple comments yesterday and ended up with a few other posts in other threads I made about being a shill (?). I'm guessing I upset somebody by implying their trolling contributed nothing to the discussion. The trend of paid shills on Reddit is bad enough, raiding subs you disagree with is a bad way to get your point across. Especially if you do nothing but attack others while making no logical points. I don't even consider myself a conspiracy theorist, I just find the information coming from here to more substantive than the mainstream media lately. It seems like the mainstream sources are trying to manipulate the public more than usual.

You've gota have think skin and become detached. Remember that you don't use your real names here, so don't take it personally. Those with brains will get the point. Just ignore the zombies and share what you can.

Well, the moment you have something to say that is contradictory to how the Government wants to portray something, OP is immediately slandered.. I mentioned that people were being removed from their homes at gun point.. I was immediately questioned and down-voted, to the tune of -46 for the comment, in attempt to bury it. Stay Vigilant-

They are trying to shame you into going back to sleep. They are emotional bullies. They can be ignored.

Actually, some good things have come from the influx of trolls. Things have become a bit more civilised. Due the high amount of people using personal attacks the accord between skeptics and /r/conspiracy has been good for the most part.

Each and every time someone uses a verbal attack and offers nothing else, report it. It detracts from the discussion completely. Don't even reply, just down vote and report. The mods have been good in the last few days banning obvious trolls who do nothing but inject negativity in the debate. If you like this sub, build on that accord and don't engage with trolls. That will be effective by not even acknowledging them. I don't mean anyone who disagrees wiry you and also notice that most people that are calling others shills are the trolls.

I got super downvoted for posting a comment IN SUPPORT of everyone here. I still don't get it.

Not sure if true, or if just farming up-votes?!

True story, brah.

The illuminatists and godfags are what's ruining this sub for me.

Someone complains about this every single day. So ya. Stop the presses.

4chan gets it right every time. They are so awesome!

9000 sins is one of the biggest shills here

Doubt it not

Not completely related, but this was interesting: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-18/in-virginias-fairfax-county-robbing-banks-for-the-cia#p1