Conspiracy theorists... are they all just a bit thick?

[Jinx]

coldel said:

A good example of how complex a connected world is nowadays - and why its easy to believe that something nefarious is going on when in fact its all above board, even if the concept of it upsets people.

Not sure "all above board" is the correct phrase here as that would imply honesty and free from deception.

[simon_harris]

Facebook used to track every other tab you had open while you had facebook open along with checking cookies from other sites to see where you had been etc.

I used to work for a data company that subscribed to a product that allowed you to track users across multiple platforms and socials, ie if you slagged off doritos on twitter they could track you through facebook, forums etc and see what else you had been posted in a synopsis and then choose to respond to you directly through whichever platform was most appropriate.

so if you had been on a big rant across all your socials it would give a bigger score and more likely to receive some kind of response

[Blown2CV]

all these people coming out of the social media woodwork determine that princess Katherine is dead/hiding or whatever, they all seem like nutters. Admittedly the palace has done some things which haven't dampened these rumours but surely the rumours are stupid.

If she was dead, why would they lie? How would they explain her not ever being seen again? They'd just say at the time sadly she died and then not announce why.

I find this all totally mental/thick.

[Timothy Bucktu]

Blown2CV said:

all these people coming out of the social media woodwork determine that princess Katherine is dead/hiding or whatever, they all seem like nutters. Admittedly the palace has done some things which haven't dampened these rumours but surely the rumours are stupid.

If she was dead, why would they lie? How would they explain her not ever being seen again? They'd just say at the time sadly she died and then not announce why.

I find this all totally mental/thick.

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

[coldel]

simon_harris said:

Facebook used to track every other tab you had open while you had facebook open along with checking cookies from other sites to see where you had been etc.

I used to work for a data company that subscribed to a product that allowed you to track users across multiple platforms and socials, ie if you slagged off doritos on twitter they could track you through facebook, forums etc and see what else you had been posted in a synopsis and then choose to respond to you directly through whichever platform was most appropriate.

so if you had been on a big rant across all your socials it would give a bigger score and more likely to receive some kind of response

A cookie less world is on the way

We used to plant a pixel on the webpage that did the tracking

When you first hear about it, it’s easy to jump down the rabbit hole of spying

[coldel]

Timothy Bucktu said:

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

I would probably argue that more spread the rumours because they genuinely think it rather than just do it for fun …

[Blown2CV]

Timothy Bucktu said:

Blown2CV said:

all these people coming out of the social media woodwork determine that princess Katherine is dead/hiding or whatever, they all seem like nutters. Admittedly the palace has done some things which haven't dampened these rumours but surely the rumours are stupid.

If she was dead, why would they lie? How would they explain her not ever being seen again? They'd just say at the time sadly she died and then not announce why.

I find this all totally mental/thick.

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

I think you are overestimating the intelligence and humour of the general public. Yes some of them start as a joke but I don't think this one did. People are convinced that 'power structures' are all linked and have been lying to us about everything for hundreds of years! This is not an internet thing... sadly.

[bodhi]

Timothy Bucktu said:

Blown2CV said:

all these people coming out of the social media woodwork determine that princess Katherine is dead/hiding or whatever, they all seem like nutters. Admittedly the palace has done some things which haven't dampened these rumours but surely the rumours are stupid.

If she was dead, why would they lie? How would they explain her not ever being seen again? They'd just say at the time sadly she died and then not announce why.

I find this all totally mental/thick.

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

Don't mention Birds (and the offshoot Pigeons) aren't Real on here certain regulars will have a meltdown

Think I've mentioned before but I knew a couple of people in our unis Flat Earth Society. Considering I knew them from Astrophysics lectures I'm pretty sure they were aware the Earth was an oblate spheroid - they just liked winding people up to see just what they would believe.

Ah simpler times when people didn't take themselves so seriously.

[coldel]

I did consider joining a couple of flat earth FB groups, sneaking in and having a look see what its like there

[5 In a Row]

Timothy Bucktu said:

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

I can remember reading an article on the 'hated BBC' (that's the official name, isn't it) in mid-2016 where they followed a Belgian journalist who had tracked down a prolific creator of pro-Trump conspiracy type content in the US.

It turned out the guy, despite looking like a hardcore Trump fan - big beard, baseball hat, lumberjack shirt, etc - was actually a Democrat and merely did it for his own amusement and to show up the stupidity of those that followed Trump.

To reaffirm, the content the guy created was 100% made up.

[Blown2CV]

5 In a Row said:

Timothy Bucktu said:

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

I can remember reading an article on the 'hated BBC' (that's the official name, isn't it) in mid-2016 where they followed a Belgian journalist who had tracked down a prolific creator of pro-Trump conspiracy type content in the US.

It turned out the guy, despite looking like a hardcore Trump fan - big beard, baseball hat, lumberjack shirt, etc - was actually a Democrat and merely did it for his own amusement and to show up the stupidity of those that followed Trump.

To reaffirm, the content the guy created was 100% made up.

just to confirm - all CTs are made up. It's more the assertion that because a couple were started as a joke therefore they ALL are, that I take issue with.

[mickk]

coldel said:

I did consider joining a couple of flat earth FB groups, sneaking in and having a look see what its like there

Some of the experiments would be amazing, all mirrors and string.

[Notch 8]

coldel said:

I did consider joining a couple of flat earth FB groups, sneaking in and having a look see what its like there

I did that once, just out of curiosity. It was a seriously toxic experience.

Flat earthers are beyond help.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

mickk said:

coldel said:

I did consider joining a couple of flat earth FB groups, sneaking in and having a look see what its like there

Some of the experiments would be amazing, all mirrors and string.

They tried before with lights on different sides of a lake, it didn't go well...

https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/sjeoqd/...

[coldel]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

They tried before with lights on different sides of a lake, it didn't go well...

https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/sjeoqd/...

Yes this was the documentary wasn't it

Actually did the opposite and proved a curve was hiding the light

Of course, made no difference and they kept on believing

Which is the challenge with CT the content is not the issue, nor is what they believe, its the mindset that they have seen something everyone else hasn't and they are therefore woke in some way

[MBBlat]

Blown2CV said:

5 In a Row said:

Timothy Bucktu said:

You need to understand that a lot of these things are just people having a laugh whilst winding up people who think they're being serious.
A great example is https://pigeonsarentreal.co.uk/
Part of the fun is picking up the gullible along the way

I can remember reading an article on the 'hated BBC' (that's the official name, isn't it) in mid-2016 where they followed a Belgian journalist who had tracked down a prolific creator of pro-Trump conspiracy type content in the US.

It turned out the guy, despite looking like a hardcore Trump fan - big beard, baseball hat, lumberjack shirt, etc - was actually a Democrat and merely did it for his own amusement and to show up the stupidity of those that followed Trump.

To reaffirm, the content the guy created was 100% made up.

just to confirm - all CTs are made up. It's more the assertion that because a couple were started as a joke therefore they ALL are, that I take issue with.

The trouble with CT & their believers is they arn't all harmless. Qanon is such an obvious pisstake that it is supprising that anyone belive it yet it resulted in an attempted coup in the US. Pizzagate lead to an armed nutter turning up at the pizza parlour determined to free the traffiked kids from their (non existant) basement. Anti-vaxxers are leading to a reasuurgence of measils in the US & UK, etc.

[Jinx]

MBBlat said:

The trouble with CT & their believers is they arn't all harmless. Qanon is such an obvious pisstake that it is supprising that anyone belive it yet it resulted in an attempted coup in the US. Pizzagate lead to an armed nutter turning up at the pizza parlour determined to free the traffiked kids from their (non existant) basement. Anti-vaxxers are leading to a reasuurgence of measils in the US & UK, etc.

I would class that as a conspiracy theory.
If that was an attempted coup so was Extinction Rebellions protest in the house of commons. You do not seize power by sitting in the lower house - you need army support, control of airports, communications and at least 2 out of the trias politica (executive, legislative and judicary) .

[coldel]

Yes it wasn't so much as a coup as an insurrection

I have not spent enough time reading about it to understand their full motivations i.e. did they expect to be able to prevent a transition of power by these actions or was it just an excuse to unleash pent up violence this group clearly had stowed away

Either way, bunch of utter nut cases with debatable beliefs

[Jinx]

coldel said:

Yes it wasn't so much as a coup as an insurrection

I have not spent enough time reading about it to understand their full motivations i.e. did they expect to be able to prevent a transition of power by these actions or was it just an excuse to unleash pent up violence this group clearly had stowed away

Either way, bunch of utter nut cases with debatable beliefs

It was as much an insurrection as the 2016 post election protests - just because the protests spilled over into congress did not make them somehow an attempt to "sieze" control. That is not how any transfer of power has ever worked. It would be like sitting upon the stone of scone and declaring yourself king.

[coldel]

Jinx said:

It was as much an insurrection as the 2016 post election protests - just because the protests spilled over into congress did not make them somehow an attempt to "sieze" control. That is not how any transfer of power has ever worked. It would be like sitting upon the stone of scone and declaring yourself king.

An insurrection by definition is a revolt against authority, not that it means it has the aims of seizing control.

From what I read, it was more a point of them attempting to stop the transfer of power (this was a real goal i.e. to disrupt the process of law).

What is bonkers is that its clear as day Trump had a role in inciting it, yet we have to go through the US legal nightmare of proving it, which if you have enough money to defend it, never will.