You Know, That Mythbusters Post Legitimately Changed My Life. Before Seeing It, I Had Exponentially More

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I already made a post how russian propaganda works and why they spread specific discourse.

Now here's a scheme how they usually operate:

Another way russian trolls work is this:

Create unpolitical group (about kittens, gardening, memes, local properties, etc) -> gain followers who are interested in the topic. Create a stable following of at least 100 people -> slowly start dropping political posts or memes to test the waters. Posts would be rare and far-between, and not particularly polarizing, but a strong enough topic to get a response (likes, comments, etc) -> as engagement in these posts rises (fuelled by a bunch of fake accounts supporting the narrative and creating an illusion of community and common worldview), they increase in numbers, gradually replacing the original intent of the group. This is where some people would leave, but those more easily swayed, loyal members, or those supporting the ideas will remain -> gradually change the tone of the posts from innocently questioning to blatant push narrative and accusations, radicalizing the general view -> finally, as the final form is revealed, those who still remain in the group will be persuaded and might begin sharing some of the posts on their personal pages, further spreading disinformation and propaganda.

How would it look like in terms of, for example, anti-Ukraine propaganda?

1. A cat-owner group is created. It contains articles about cat well-being, maybe some location-specific shelter information to make it look more natural, funny memes, etc - anything that would grab attention and would be boosted by algorithms.

2. As following rises, an article or two about horrible conditions of cats in Ukraine would appear. The headline might even raise some innocent-sounding questions that would encourage reactions and discussions.

3. Gradually cat-unrelated posts about Ukraine will appear, all mildly critical or questioning. Nothing too radical nor openly negative, but enough to plant some seeds of doubt, generate discourse, and thus get further boosted by algorithms.

4. Posts about cats would slowly lose engagement while political posts will slowly replace those about cats in numbers. All done gradually so very few would notice, as they would be busy engaging in discussions.

5. Posts would become more strongly worded against Ukraine. They would feature fake news or deliberately negative information to create an overall illusion that Ukraine = bad.

6. Those who remain after all this would at the very best start questioning if Ukraine really is the victim and good. No praising of russia would be featured - no need. All that's necessary is, at the very least, to make people believe that both sides are equally bad. At worst people would start genuinely supporting russia and attempt to spread that message to their friends and relatives to "open their eyes to truth".

Very simple yet very effective.

Writing Tips

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

The hobbits invent a fun game called ‘how close can we get to our friends before they notice us’

easy mode: Gimli (makes a lot of noise himself, very easy to sneak up on)

medium mode: Boromir (challenging enough to be great fun)

hard more: Aragorn (VERY attentive to his surroundings)

expert mode: Legolas

Help me translate my GOnalytics!

Guys, as some of you know, I’ve written an analytical text on Good Omens TV Show by Amazon Prime. It’s in Russian, as it’s my native tongue, and I would like to have it translated, so English-speaking part of Good Omens fandom could also read it. I truly think it’s worth it: it’s the biggest and the most important text project of mine so far, and I would really like to reach as many people as possible. I do speak English myself, but it is definitely not enough to make the text sound as smooth as it (hopefully) does in Russian. So, I’m looking for a pro translator, fluent Russian, native English. Being Good Omens fan might be a plus, but naturally it’s a regular paid job anyway, so, the skill is way more important.

It’s not often when I ask for repost, but now’s the time. Even if you don’t know me, but somebody you know might be interested in the job, or maybe some of their followers might want it - PLEASE REPOST! I’m a nice guy to work with, and I will provide any possible assistance with the translation.

You can also share this post on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomash_beran/status/1229714449801543680

Thanks to all of you who decide to share!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b1ZyorUrm2_v6IEsMK3THZbRZQ5QpGY7Vt9ZV6_hEUI/

Ребята, я страстно мечтаю перевести свою аналитику по сериалу Good Omens на английский, чтобы иметь возможность расшарить ее в англо-фандоме. Это изначально был план, мне кажется, она того стоит, и мне хотелось бы донести ее везде и всем, кому может быть интересно. Сам я с переводом не справлюсь: английский все-таки не родной, мне не хватит легкости, а также английских идиом и слэнга, а терять эти штуки не хотелось бы. Поэтому - ищу профессионального переводчика со свободным русским и родным английским. Было бы здорово, если бы человек любил GO, но это не обязательно - в любом случае, это оплачиваемая работа, так что качество важнее фанатизма)

Я крайне редко прошу о репосте, но сейчас настал тот самый момент. Даже если вы не знаете меня и не знаете никого в своем окружении, кому могло бы быть это интересно, возможно, среди друзей ваших друзей найдется кто-то, кто захочет взяться. Поэтому - ПОЖАЛУЙСТА, РАСШАРЬТЕ! Кто знает меня, подтвердит: со мной приятно работать, я помогу с русским слэнгом и с чем угодно еще и смогу адекватно оценить перевод.

У кого есть твиттер, можно также расшарить этот пост: https://twitter.com/tomash_beran/status/1229714449801543680

Заранее спасибо всем, кто решит поделиться!

morally grey/evil scientist characters are always like biochemical engineers or nuclear physicists or whatever but the people want VARIETY give me a story about a fucked up geologist for once

My family just lost their "having me in their lives" privileges!

consider: teenagers aren’t apathetic about everything they’re just used to you shitting all over whatever they show excitement about

The greatest video since “The History of Japan”

#Kyjiv #rent

Шукається двох- (або більше) кімнатна квартира біля м. Дарниця (десь +- в області як на малюнку).

З вимог: — 2-4 поверх; — можливість оренди з тваринами (пташки); — швидкий інтернет; — бойлер/пралка/духовка/кондюк (або дозвіл на їх встановлення); — нормальне спальне ліжко (чи домовленість про його придбання/вивіз дивану тощо); — відсутність неадекватних сусідів.

Балкон, велика ванна — суттєвий плюс.

Хотілося б зняти в когось із умовно знайомих. Може, хтось з присутніх думав про те, щоб здати свою в хороші руки? Або знає пристойну, яка скоро звільняється?

«Лайк, репост, дзвіночок»™.