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On Tuesday, The Guardian posted an article about the US military pouring millions into researching how to become a Twitter-user-influencing, propaganda-spewing machine.
The program in question is known as Social Media in Strategic Communication (SMISC).
SMISC, which was announced in 2011, has been regarded as the means by which the US military can both detect and conduct propaganda campaigns via social media.
While DARPA's social media experiments well might have avoided breaking any law by using only publicly available data, some of its studies are sure to make people uncomfortable.
For example, some of the SMISC research has focused on the Occupy Wall Street protests and those in the Middle East, while other projects have analysed online memes and tweets from celebrities including Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga (described as "the most popular elite user on Twitter", according to The Guardian.
The manager of SMISC, Dr. Rand Waltzman, said in a post that understanding social media is just part of DARPA's "mission of preventing strategic surprise."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @03:43PM
For total bullshit transparent reasons: As Apk stated "When the downmod truncheon is used in lieu of conversation" you don't get freedom of speech. You get little tin god's like the moderators here who resist allowing knowing who is up modding themselves with sockpuppets/fake accounts, AND who issues downmods to those that don't "fit their personal agenda" (that is ANYTHING BUT "Freedom of Speech" & them resisting knowing who upmods or downmods CLEARLY SHOWS THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN SLASHDOT). You can always count on the sociopath little tin god types to do the WRONG thing, and they are, here (just like slashdot).
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday July 11 2014, @03:44PM
Have you selected the option to moderate?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @03:47PM
This is JUST for you (& your alter-ego Laminator X who resist allowing knowledge of upmod or downmod, since you use it yourself (not yourselves, you are his sock puppet, that much IS obvious). You can't control sock puppets and you know it. Nor do you intend to as it allows you to upmod yourselves between sock puppet accounts so you can downmod those who post things that do not fit your personal agenda http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=improvedthreaded&pid=67599#67641 [soylentnews.org] Yes, your kind can always be counted on to do the wrong thing and expose yourselves. Good job. You've just exposed your modus operandi and reasons for resisting the ability for others to see who upmodded or downmodded them. Is your favorite color transparent? I see RIGHT through you. So does everyone else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @03:52PM
How exactly do you propose to control sock puppets (you can't, and you obviously use them yourself) http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67595 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @04:24PM
THEY wouldn't mind seeing who issues downmods - you sure do: WHY, is quite obvious based on little tin god's reaction alone http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67656 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Friday July 11 2014, @06:58PM
I had to check my settings, but I left it at the default, which is "Willing to Moderate."
I'm not worried about whether or not I can moderate, or if anyone can see how anyone else moderated.
Frankly, I'd be very concerned about those who put a lot of stock on how their comments are received.
I mean, it's not as if we're doing anything earth-shattering here....are we?
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @08:18PM
Like your "moderation" staff assholes here: Check this out - They resist what you yourself don't mind, in being able to tell who issued up or down mods. Why? It would give away the "moderation staff's" own modus operandi using sock puppets (which apk's post alluded to) themselves by letting others be able to see their detractors/naysayers, fairly, like courts of law even do.
They can't have that here.
It would upset the little tin god Laminator X's apple cart full of utter sockpuppeteering bullshit on his part.
As far as fairness in moderation here?
See this post http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2813&cid=66810 [soylentnews.org]
Tell us if it was off topic or not!
Answer = it is not, and apk the article submitter here today wrote that, and it is on topic, no questions asked. He asked them to review it, as I have yourself, and he complained how nothing was done there and apk is on topic right from that posts' outset yet rated off topic with examples of female illogic all thru his replies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 12 2014, @12:31AM
The SN comments section isn't always like a court of law with rules of evidence, etc. Sometimes it can be more like an angry mob of cannibals. Right now, APK, you are looking mighty crispy and crunchy to this hungry mob.
APK, just stop for a moment. Take a deep breath. Take another one. Feel better now?
OK, you have made this accusation multiple times that everyone who disagrees with you is a sockpuppet of LaminatorX. It should be pretty obvious to any reasonable person that this is not true. Repeating it constantly does not, somehow, make it more true. In fact, repeating it constantly just shows you to be a strident, hyper-emotional, unhinged, neurotic git.
OK. It's off topic. There. I said it. Happy? The topic is supposed to be about DARPA's funding of research into using social media for propaganda purposes. Whether or not you should be allowed to get a window into who is downmodding you is neither here nor there with respect to the topic at hand.
Frankly, adding a touch of misogyny makes you look like the hysterical one in this conversation. Just sayin'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 12 2014, @05:09PM
Trolling by ac trying to defend himself, failing badly. How can apk's post be off topic http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2813&cid=66810 [soylentnews.org] when it directly notes the topic at its outset on a theory of collisions of male vs female thinking HERE dumbass with supporting evidences thereof? He wrote the mods as instructed to get it changed and your bullshit falls apart again on that post alone. You fail again, Laminator X (and you know it).
(Score: 2) by GlennC on Monday July 14 2014, @02:55PM
I wouldn't say it was Offtopic.
Ranty and narcissistic, maybe, but like your post, it's tangental to the topic.
My main question is why you're so concerned about what a bunch of pseudonymous wankers (myself included) think about what you have to say?
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by LaminatorX on Friday July 11 2014, @03:46PM
The noise above is actually a pretty good illustration of why moderation identities are not public. If everyone were a reasonable adult it wouldn't be an issue, but we share the internet with people who seem to think that going off on paranoid screeds is an appropriate response to criticism.
Right now, Janrinok and I are the targets of his invective. That's fine, taking crap is part of our job. However, if he knew who had downmodded his posts, those users would no doubt have their efforts to improve discussion threads rewarded with misplaced opprobrium, and perhaps ongoing harassment. That should be avoided.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @03:49PM
A reasonable adult wouldn't even allow the down moderation that is your truncheon used in lieu of conversation. Keep talking adding to the signal to noise ratio little tin god dictator. You resist seeing upmod and downmod insights to who issued them since you use that downmod truncheon via your sock puppets like janrinok. Keep projecting. You are so transparent it is not even funny.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @03:53PM
How exactly do you propose to control sock puppets (you can't, and you obviously use them yourself) http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67595 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @03:56PM
Your using illogical off topic ad hominem attacks and avoiding questions put to you constantly: How exactly do you propose to control sock puppets (you can't, and you obviously use them yourself) http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67595 [soylentnews.org] We SEE you/You have revealed yourself, sock puppeteer. You have single handedly annihilated your own site resisting the single thing that would reveal sock puppet use via patterns (screaming that you use sock puppets yourself, obviously. Why else resist it? It works on UBB boards, but "no, can't have that here" and WHY is quite obvious. You abuse "the downmod truncheon in lieu of conversation" yourself, massively).
(Score: 2) by TK on Friday July 11 2014, @04:27PM
I don't think I'm the only one who finds it ironic that a group of anonymous cowards (or, more likely, just one person) are deriding the admins for keeping moderation anonymous.
If that change were made, the only thing I see changing is that the people who regularly downmod trolls (ACs and other) would have their comments spammed and downmodded on a regular basis. Although I suppose we would all know the downmodders' identities, that doesn't do anything about the spam and personal insults which would clutter the comments.
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @04:37PM
They disallowed MY ability to post AS APK now (I am also the story submitter). Tell me also WHY this is downmodded off topic http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2813&cid=66810 [soylentnews.org] when it IS ON THE TOPIC, totally (sockpuppets is why & HOW it was done). I sent an email yesterday, zero was done. I have a screenshot of it also after that period.
It was -1 off topic, AFTER 3 DAYS of being upmodded to +2 INTERESTING no less, only after "Mojo Chan" showed up there insulting me also!
(I complained per mail as instructed & got no result on that much either... so much for your "Moderation Staff" here, which resist the ability being shown as to WHO DONWMODS YOU, or who upmods also (sockpuppets are massively useful for that, what I suggested would stall that nearly immediately, revealing patterns of abuse & making sock puppeteers have to WORK A LOT HARDER TO maintaining their sockpuppetry illusion accounts also & more of them as well).
No, it's PRETTY OBVIOUS your moderation staff abuses it themselves, or why do they avoid THIS SINGLE QUESTION to no end? See here http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67595 [soylentnews.org]
APK
P.S.=> Of course, I also "find it ironic" that YOU "defend them so vigorously" but then again I don't - that's the sock puppeteers defense network in action (you sockpuppet) which fools no one, but yourselv(es). Why not tell us HOW you would control sock puppets then in that link above? YOU CAN'T nor do you intend to... you're not fooling anyone, but yourselves.... apk
(Score: 2) by TK on Friday July 11 2014, @06:01PM
It's my lunch break, so I guess I may as well feed the trolls.
Because a rambling diatribe about your mother does not a good post make. At best it could be modded +1 funny, if you had only kept the first sentence.
You posted the exact same thing five times in a comment thread on a story that was published this morning, and NCommander hasn't implemented your feature request yet? That lazy bastard!
No one is responding to you for the same reason no one responds to the Navy Seals copypasta. There's no point. You can write a cohesive group of paragraphs that explains the benefits of the proposed method, and the drawbacks of the current method, submit it as a feature request, talk about it in the IRC, and generally go about this in the right way. Or, you can keep posting the same thing over and over and being ignored, right up until you get banned for spamming, even if it's only a mildly inconvenient game of whack-a-mole for you.
You also keep using "you" and "your", and describing my "vigorous defense" of the mods. You are reading way too far into this. Believe it or not, every registered user is not out to get you. Except for Ethanol Fueled, that guy is nuts.
P.S. Thank you for providing ample examples of how a discussion can be cluttered by pointless spam posts.
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @08:08PM
See subject. Apk's post was on topic right from the opening using female family members proved his point on female illogic.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @08:17PM
Dude, you are having a breakdown.
Get away from the computer for the rest of the day.
Come back tomorrow when you've been able to put a little mental distance between yourself and today's events.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 12 2014, @05:16PM
Don't give advice until you answer this question how you'd control sock puppets (which you condone and obviously use) http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67595 [soylentnews.org] and answer HOW this http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2813&cid=66810 [soylentnews.org] is still modded off topic still when it clearly isn't from the outset with examples of female illogic vs male logic colliding as a theory of why the article may be right. You're clearly Laminator X running from fair questions and trolling by anonymous coward posts now. How lame. You've single handedly destroyed yourself and your site buddy. No questions asked.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @04:45PM
User just told the mods here they wouldn't mind seeing who issues downmods (or upmods too) http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67599 [soylentnews.org] . Why do the moderators resist? They abuse it themselves obviously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 11 2014, @05:09PM
On the article submitters post since they can't validly dispute him and used illogical off topic attacks on him instead here (laminator X did) http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=2836&cid=67656 [soylentnews.org] (see Laminator X's post prior to that, it's chock full of illogical off topic ad hominem attacks). Little tin god dictators on forums boards can ALWAYS BE COUNTED ON TO DO THE WRONG THING, and they have (downmodding the article submitter himself's points on ALLOWING what you yourself do not mind - the ability to see who upmodded or downmodded you). WHY? They abuse it as apk alluded to and you youself seem quite aware of yourself.