Here’s How I Would Bring Down Bitcoin

[Lauda]

Anyone with experience in extended, unconventional conflict should be able to recognize current patterns in the Bitcoin and digital currency space that resemble subversive activity.
Is a game of social engineering being leveled at the Bitcoin community? Based on open source information alone, it’s conceivable that certain individuals or teams are trying  to demoralize and disrupt the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Tactics to Be Employed by the Pseudo-Identities
Intensify Discussion: Any news that could be perceived as negative must be amplified to extremes and made into hyperbolic worst-case scenarios. The public departure of Mike Hearn from the Bitcoin space created an environment ripe for exploitation. The media got ahold of that and ran on it for days. This would have been a huge victory for subversives because it further eroded the perceived global integrity of Bitcoin both as a software and a solution. But the Hearn story is only one small example; the list of potential topics is endless: Blocks might fill up...the network will clog...nodes will crash... users will leave...Bitcoin will die!!!! Fear is not difficult to manufacture.

Depress Positive Momentum: Any story with positive attention should be downplayed while messengers of positive news should be accused of “being shills,” “scam artists,” or worse. Blockstream’s acquisition of capital and talent would, in many circles, be viewed as a net positive. Employing the simple tool of implied guilt, however, the perceived value of the asset book becomes a joke, or is used as evidence of foul play. For example: Bitcoin Core’s implementation of mempool limits to prevent the doomsday scenarios of #1 above gets spun as “another fee market!!!” Reality matters less than perception. Another victory.

Character Assassination: Identify flaws and foibles in thought leaders especially; question the integrity and good intentions of anyone who appears to possess either. Any number of names can be pointed to here. With the right amount of assets, you can accomplish quite a bit. Even if you don’t have the facts, choose potentially divisive targets and deploy your sock-puppets to make up rumors. Perception is what matters.

Instigate Fights: Mock and ridicule both sides of any disagreement that forms to accelerate existing antagonism and grow the division between disparate sides. This past month, a spam attack targeting members of the Reddit Bitcoin communities added more fuel to the fire. The message was sent from a variety of accounts, most with no posts or comments. The message was tailored to look like a personal message, championing the Ethereum platform. Naturally, this created a conflict due to the perceived competitive nature of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Maintain Access to Pseudo-neutrality: Maintain a number of pseudo-identities with mild, thoughtful reputations to build support or ridicule when advantageous; ridicule and write off any who openly challenge your intentions; when pressed, claim objectivity. Or if reputation is not needed, go into full-blown troll mode and resort to ad hominems. This creates a scene and adds to the sense of collective group insanity, which demoralizes further.

Deny and Shift Blame: Any attempts by others to accuse of exploitation must be met by either silence or derision (situationally dependent). This is a simple tactic because it never gives any satisfaction of gains made in honest, impassioned debate. If the only result of the majority of your online debates is that you dread the replies to your posts, valuable discussion slows to a crawl.

Full article can be found here.
Does any of this seem familiar?

[whizz94]

For only 200 Bitcoins in advance, I'll write some auto-trol-o-matic scripts to do the abovementioned steps for you.
Send your BTC to
1KodyKiGhCMUSRha8sEritDu7MJA8JAvWu

[RodeoX]

It does sound familiar. 

At least we all have one thing to counter this type of attack, our brains. When I hear someone talking about what he did or what she said instead of the issue I assume this is not about the truth. It is an attempt to persuade me based on my feelings about his/her actions. That does not work on me. I base my financial decisions on mathematics rather than emotion. I kinda think this is true of all serious people and that FUD only works on the weak and fearful.

I can't see a FUD campaign bringing down bitcoin because the people who ignore it are going to be more successful and that will eventually argue more powerfully than childish attacks.

[hv_]

For only 200 Bitcoins in advance, I'll write some auto-trol-o-matic scripts to do the abovementioned steps for you.
Send your BTC to
1KodyKiGhCMUSRha8sEritDu7MJA8JAvWu

This Is greate- and should work for headers / OPs as well...

[Denker]

I'm pretty sure this is already happening.I have no doubt about that.
Even Andreas Antonopoulos spoke about that at the last DevCore Event.
Divide and conquer!It's always the same dirty game.
So stay calm, be smart and don't fall for these bastards!!

EDIT: this should definitely be a sticky thread

[spazzdla]

The art of war.. a book that should be read by all.

[spazzdla]

This is solid article.. one should be aware of this while on this forum, reddit, discuss comments, etc.

[AgentofCoin]

..
Is a game of social engineering being leveled at the Bitcoin community? Based on open source information alone, it’s conceivable that certain individuals or teams are trying  to demoralize and disrupt the Bitcoin ecosystem.
...

Anyone who has participated in such campaigns or has educated themselves
in the history and cases of PSYOps and BlackOps knows this is very likely.

Anyone who would disregard such a notion as paranoia or the like,
does not really know of, care for, or works for such a campaign.

Our community, which was founded around the cypherpunk community,
should question whether we wish to disregard those ideals and sell ourselves to Mammon.

Beware that you yourself are not being used by those who wish to control you.

Edit: spelling

[TheBlueMan]

So through social engineering, not technical skills. Also - why would you want to do something like this?

[Lauda]

So through social engineering, not technical skills. Also - why would you want to do something like this?

Interesting move, you've created an account just to make this post which mentions sock-pupets as an important point.

It does sound familiar.  

At least we all have one thing to counter this type of attack, our brains. When I hear someone talking about what he did or what she said instead of the issue I assume this is not about the truth. It is an attempt to persuade me based on my feelings about his/her actions. That does not work on me. I base my financial decisions on mathematics rather than emotion. I kinda think this is true of all serious people and that FUD only works on the weak and fearful.

What I'm only uncertain of currently is, who's exactly behind the campaign.

Divide and conquer!It's always the same dirty game.
EDIT: this should definitely be a sticky thread

Divide et impera, indeed. This is definitely an article that should be read by everyone in the ecosystem.

Anyone who has participated in such campaigns or has educated themselves
in the history and cases of PSYOps and BlackOps knows this is very likely.

I'm looking into spreading my knowledge in these areas (especially concerning open source projects). However, I've recognized behavioral patterns and changes of such in certain members, ergo realizing the campaign in progress a few months ago. Here's a good video: How Open Source Projects Survive Poisonous People.

[Jet Cash]

Well as long as we can keep Bitcoin on track, it represents a good buying opportunity for newbies like me.

Now what have I done with those old socks?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Hahaha, Lauda yes it sounds familiar but all of those things happen in a typical day at work for me and on this forum and wherever women gather.  This is like your horoscope where it's a bunch of generalizations that are just so typical that it's not much of a prediction at all.  The predictions are usually correct.

[Kakmakr]

I have been recognizing this trend for a while now, and it gets worse with every price spike. They always have some strategy available to dump bad news, when there is a price surge. I think they are stalling for time, to engineer their own technology to replace Bitcoin, and do not want Bitcoin to be successful before they launch their replacement.

The shills and trolls crawl out of hiding, on the upward and downward spiral of the price. 

[YarkoL]

Does any of this seem familiar?

If not: take a look at the mirror...

[Lauda]

Hahaha, Lauda yes it sounds familiar but all of those things happen in a typical day at work for me and on this forum and wherever women gather. 

You're blaming women? 

This is like your horoscope where it's a bunch of generalizations that are just so typical that it's not much of a prediction at all.  The predictions are usually correct.

This wasn't the case here 2-3 years back (at least not this intensively), so I don't think it a generalization.

If not: take a look at the mirror...

What are we trying to imply here?

[gravitate]

Turn off the tv and the pesky shit radio and  talk to people on forums...

It's crazy people still actually watch the news it's fucking  positively crazy.

Complete lies and rubbish. They sit there watching let others control their opinions and are so arrogant to believe they are in control and have the power to make their own judgments.

Totally makes me insane that 99% of this plant are zombified anal sphyncter arse holes that makes them very dangerous.

[gravitate]

Sorry for swearing.

[arbitrage]

Some of us already have experience, especially if you are coming from country where mass hypnotic spin (From mass media's) was part of our daily life. I know how this can mess up many weak heads.

[YarkoL]

If not: take a look at the mirror...

What are we trying to imply here?

That if we keep nodding contentedly, thinking that the description applies
only to the "other crowd", we might benefit re-reading the article and perhaps our own
output. That's what we try to do here.

[sgbett]

So through social engineering, not technical skills. Also - why would you want to do something like this?

Interesting move, you've created an account just to make this post which mentions sock-pupets as an important point.

It does sound familiar.  

At least we all have one thing to counter this type of attack, our brains. When I hear someone talking about what he did or what she said instead of the issue I assume this is not about the truth. It is an attempt to persuade me based on my feelings about his/her actions. That does not work on me. I base my financial decisions on mathematics rather than emotion. I kinda think this is true of all serious people and that FUD only works on the weak and fearful.

What I'm only uncertain of currently is, who's exactly behind the campaign.

Divide and conquer!It's always the same dirty game.
EDIT: this should definitely be a sticky thread

Divide et impera, indeed. This is definitely an article that should be read by everyone in the ecosystem.

Anyone who has participated in such campaigns or has educated themselves
in the history and cases of PSYOps and BlackOps knows this is very likely.

I'm looking into spreading my knowledge in these areas (especially concerning open source projects). However, I've recognized behavioral patterns and changes of such in certain members, ergo realizing the campaign in progress a few months ago. Here's a good video: How Open Source Projects Survive Poisonous People.

There was no "divide" until the previously uncontroversial blocksize increase was yoinked in place of something else. All the drama since then is the stuff that is described in your linked article (on both sides) is what created a divide. The entire article is a cheap parody of the "CIA Handbook" in its various incarnations. It reads very naively to me "I'm a green beret.. I'd make sock puppets on reddit".

This article seems intent on furthering the idea of a division.

The article describes controlling everything on the ground. There is inference of some kind of central command, but then nothing describing how that central command would operate. A police force is only as strong a the government that leads it. Controlling the map is done by controlling the generals not the troops. Very little is said about central command.

The article is written assuming that authority is the correct model. It characterises attacks on authority as attacks on bitcoin.

Bitcoin *shouldn't* be controlled by anyone. Any attempt to create an authority structure around bitcoin is in fact an attack on bitcoin.