FUDsters become active when the price goes down - learn to spot them

[hatshepsut93]

There's a very clear correlation between the bearishness of the Bitcoin market and the amount of FUD we have to deal with in this community. As a newbie, it's important to understand that this FUD is just a trolling or manipulation, it's there to throw you off balance and none of those posters are arguing in good faith. Their goal is to make you panic sell or at least just feel worried about your coins.

So, let's learn how to spot the FUD on this forum.

1. Account age

Most FUD accounts are newbies that are only a few weeks old at best. This is because they are just sockpuppets for experienced fudsters. This doesn't mean that you should ignore every newbie, but when you read a negative post that was made by a newbie, you should become very suspicious.

Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5205246.0

2. Negative reputation

Boards like Bitcoin Discussion don't display reputation, but this doesn't mean that you shouldn't care about it - if you are starting to read a negative post, check the posters reputation first - if they have been active for a longer period of time, chances are someone tagged them for spreading FUD.

Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5198632.0

3. Indirect FUD

Sometimes FUD isn't as simple as saying "Bitcoin is doomed", and instead the poster tries to make us doubt Bitcoin on our own by portraying it in some bad light. Perhaps not all such posts are FUD, but when other red flags are present, there's a good chance that it is.

Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5205194.0

4. Technical analysis FUD

Sometimes you can see people predicting extremely low prices and trying to justify them with technical analysis - the rule of thumb here is if the claim sounds outlandish (i.e. $1000 or even lower), then it's most likely just a FUD. It's okay to make bearish predictions, but when someone says that Bitcoin will fall hard and fast, they probably just want to spread FUD.

Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5204105.0

5. Writing style

Most fudsters aren't very creative, and by carefully reading their posts it's very clear that they just try to manipulate the readers by using emotionally charged language, strawman arguments and other logical fallacies, claiming that their opinions are "facts' or "truth" and so on.

Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5203354.0

[lobat999]

I guess this is a concerted effort to influence and manipulate our attitude mostly towards Bitcoin that I assume they have hidden agendas geared for their own benefit.

From what I've observed, these kinds of tactics were more effective after the 2017 bullrun but I guess most of the community are now more immune to these kinds of persuation that they will likely disregard them as FUD. Imho.

[Velkro]

There's a very clear correlation between the bearishness of the Bitcoin market and the amount of FUD we have to deal with in this community. As a newbie, it's important to understand that this FUD is just a trolling or manipulation

Is it that important? I mean, if price going down people start to think about bad sides and why bitcoin can fail.
If price is going up, people telling others its best asset in history and it will only go up.

Its from psychology, its hard to tell who doing it because he just think that (because of price movement, loosing/gaining hope) or its because he thinks he can move price by some post on forum?
I dont believe price can be manipulated because of one or two topics on forum.

[rosezionjohn]

The topic reminded me of this account which was created on January 7, 2018. The next day, s/he made this post:

2018 Crypto Crash, Elliott Wave

"mooning... to the dark side of the moon"

• Cryptocurrency bubble appears to be over, and a spectacular crash and bear market seems imminent.
• Bitcoin may bounce towards approx $15500 on Bitfinex, followed by a crash towards $7000-$8000, and then eventually to $2000-$4000.
• Majority of other cryptocurrencies may cease to exist.

• Reddit: https://redd.it/7ptsg3, https://redd.it/7z8u6n, https://redd.it/913xx6
• TradingView: https://uk.tradingview.com/u/stevepuri/#published-charts

-snip-    

and a lot of senior members at the time have dismissed his/her analysis as FUD....fast forward, it turns out that the price prediction was real.

My point here is that don't just dismiss anything negative as FUD. Nobody has a crystal ball which means anything can happen. I suggest that beginners should not just follow popular opinions.


To be fair, can we also have a topic about bitcoin SHILLers?

[hatshepsut93]

Is it that important? I mean, if price going down people start to think about bad sides and why bitcoin can fail.
If price is going up, people telling others its best asset in history and it will only go up.

Yes, it is important, these fudsters aren't some concerned forum members, they are trolls who want to scare other members, and newbies are highly susceptible to it, which is why I want to warn them.

Its from psychology, its hard to tell who doing it because he just think that (because of price movement, loosing/gaining hope) or its because he thinks he can move price by some post on forum?
I dont believe price can be manipulated because of one or two topics on forum.

It's actually not hard to tell between legitimate doubts and blatant FUD. FUDsters are pretty obvious, they use sockpuppet accounts and have poor arguments.
As for whether they can move the price or not, it's not really important - what important is their intent to scare and deceive people.

[GSpgh]

I think "FUD" (and "hater" and some other dismissive words) is something we use when we lack the will to ignore the trolls but then run out of steam arguing with them. They have opinions and if we start judging what those opinions are motivated by, we are not much better than them.

"FUD" is way overused in the altcoin threads when someone starts asking questions or criticizing the project they're very quickly labelled as fudsters and dismissed. This kind of attitude almost makes me think of fudster as a badge of honor. It usually means (as long as you were not trolling) that you brought something up that no one was able to refute in a calm and reasonable manner and/or the project is probably dodgy in some way.

By the way, I think tagging negative trust for FUD is abuse of the trust system and should not be mentioned as a way to spot FUD. It's a way to spot trust abusers.

[bitmover]

Most people are not psychological prepared to deal with Bitcoin's volatility.

Some friends of mine bought btc when the price was going up, early this year, and sold now on loss.
They think it is going to crash, China will ban, whatever.

One thing that most newbies don't understand is that you will lose money, at least temporarily.

There are some trolls around here, like r0ach on WO thread, but there are also real newbies that are just desperate

[gentlemand]

I guess this is a concerted effort to influence and manipulate our attitude mostly towards Bitcoin that I assume they have hidden agendas geared for their own benefit.

From what I've observed, these kinds of tactics were more effective after the 2017 bullrun but I guess most of the community are now more immune to these kinds of persuation that they will likely disregard them as FUD. Imho.

If a nothing account causes you to sell then you shouldn't be here in the first place.

I remember a poster here saying he went all out to attempt to scare us so he could buy in cheaper and then went back to normal. I just thought 'what a fucking asshole and how dare you waste our time' as if one no mark is going to have any effect.

Nothing wrong with being critical. But in almost all cases these people make the same brain dead points that have been pulled apart in seconds for getting on for a decade now. If that's pointed out they just plough on oblivious anyway.

Their prevalence, persistence and vehemence was much, much, much higher in 2014/15. This time around they've been weak compared to then. The ones that pop up now are almost always laughable and disappear just as quickly as they came.


 

[lobat999]

I guess this is a concerted effort to influence and manipulate our attitude mostly towards Bitcoin that I assume they have hidden agendas geared for their own benefit.

From what I've observed, these kinds of tactics were more effective after the 2017 bullrun but I guess most of the community are now more immune to these kinds of persuation that they will likely disregard them as FUD. Imho.

If a nothing account causes you to sell then you shouldn't be here in the first place.

Correct! In most cases, this is very evident in this forum that new accounts are consistent in spreading black propaganda but the good thing is that most members doesn't mind it either and we can see it now as an ineffective tactic worthy of no one's attention!

Conversely, it is quite alarming that some FUD coming from these so called crypto news outlets have become more prevalent - knowing they have a wider audience and that, it is most likely that somebody would believe on them and their false stories.

Nothing wrong with being critical. But in almost all cases these people make the same brain dead points that have been pulled apart in seconds for getting on for a decade now. If that's pointed out they just plough on oblivious anyway.

In fairness, there have been some constructive criticisms about Bitcoin that could warrant the need for a healthy discussion among the community and we ought to welcome that  in the hope that we may become more enlightened about it.

Their prevalence, persistence and vehemence was much, much, much higher in 2014/15. This time around they've been weak compared to then. The ones that pop up now are almost always laughable and disappear just as quickly as they came.

One would wonder where on earth did they get energy to amplify those fabricated and baseless ideas that I assume they are in some way motivated - probably by financial gains. Imho.

[tranthidung]

China, bitcoin up
China, bitcoin down
China, bitcoin up
China bitcoin up
China bitcoin down
China bitcoin down
China bitcoin down
China bitcoin rockets

Why do we have to care about China-related news?  

The total number of nodes in China is 309 which accounts for 3.4% of global nodes; and is about 11.4% of total nodes in the USA.

[Coyster]

This fudsters are majorly in the bitcoin discussion, they are always on time during any bearish period to spread fake news, with fake charts to try and back up their panic statements. I wonder how many times this fudsters have predicted total collapse for bitcoin, and they still continue to do so, it is the new users who can be deceived by all this false news and that is why they need to be educated and warned to ignore topics that spread panic purposely.

Why do we have to care about China-related news? 

I do not know why users are worried about what China does or doesn't, they have refused to accept bitcoin, and whenever there is a bear period, fudsters start connecting it to that, this trolls are just all about spreading rumors.

[ice18]

Sometimes I thought this fudsters are the one who makes good amount money when they are successfully spreads fake news on every other platforms and once the market reacts its an opportunity for them to buy at dip and wait for the price to turn upwards or maybe they paid by whales to spread fake news everywhere. 

[Upgrade00]

A regular post here on the forum gets averagely 200 - 300 views in total if it's on the first page of a board for a while. With the number of bitcoins in circulation whatever effect it has on the reader will not be reflected on the market, so technically they are trolls not FUDsters. Even if they spread it randomly on other websites it will still have an insignificant effect.
Also FUD I not necessarily a bad thing, it could be the reality of the market in some situations, and I wouldn't tag a user solely for it, except they are engaged in other shady deals.

[Lucius]

There's a very clear correlation between the bearishness of the Bitcoin market and the amount of FUD we have to deal with in this community. As a newbie, it's important to understand that this FUD is just a trolling or manipulation, it's there to throw you off balance and none of those posters are arguing in good faith. Their goal is to make you panic sell or at least just feel worried about your coins.

This is obvious and I totally agree that in times when the price drops and things look bad for BTC, some people start to spread FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). However, I believe that there is more than one incentive for someone to perform like this in the public space.

The first category of people simply hates the very idea of Bitcoin because they have lost money or cannot understand it in their limited minds. Some others are just trying to move people from Bitcoin to some other coins/project for making their own profit - you know when they say "BTC is a bubble and it will die, and BCH is future".

Of course, there are those whose actions stem from serious psychological problems and they are not only in conflict with something like Bitcoin, but they are also attacking everything that they do not like.

The key is that you should not blindly trust anyone, you should always check things from multiple sources, and to look at the situation from many different angles. If someone says to you "Bitcoin is ponzi, MLM, scam and it will fail", just ask him when that will happen. I know some people that say things like that few years ago (here on the forum, but also some of my friends), and today those on the forum do not use their accounts, and some of my friends no longer talk about Bitcoin as something bad.

[gentlemand]

One would wonder where on earth did they get energy to amplify those fabricated and baseless ideas that I assume they are in some way motivated - probably by financial gains. Imho.

This is one of life's great mysteries and you would think there was some financial motivation, but some of the most relentless were clearly suffering from something far beyond lack of money. I think more than a few had some sort of compulsion or mental illness.

[lobat999]

One would wonder where on earth did they get energy to amplify those fabricated and baseless ideas that I assume they are in some way motivated - probably by financial gains. Imho.

This is one of life's great mysteries and you would think there was some financial motivation, but some of the most relentless were clearly suffering from something far beyond lack of money. I think more than a few had some sort of compulsion or mental illness.

Lol. It could be possible that the medical community may someday discover a unique medical condition that could be aptly called "crypto syndrome"!

But seriously, I am a little bit concerned that there might be people who may have suffered depression, maybe due to losses incurred with their crypto investments that I think they should need immediate professional help and intervention.

[gentlemand]

I think it's bitterness for many and that can swell to vast proportions and fuel people for years on end.

Depression can fade or morph. Bitterness can continue to Stoke itself.

[lobat999]

I think it's bitterness for many and that can swell to vast proportions and fuel people for years on end.

Depression can fade or morph. Bitterness can continue to Stoke itself.

Absolutely true! I'm reminded of this somewhat similar and related quote from Yoda in Star Wars movie which is something for us to contemplate about

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

– Yoda

[noormcs5]

China, bitcoin up
China, bitcoin down
China, bitcoin up
China bitcoin up
China bitcoin down
China bitcoin down
China bitcoin down
China bitcoin rockets

Why do we have to care about China-related news?  

The total number of nodes in China is 309 which accounts for 3.4% of global nodes; and is about 11.4% of total nodes in the USA.

Well, there is a misconception here that china is the hub of bitcoin which is actually not. Although there are some huge bitcoin mining farms in china but that does not make that country stand out among the others. Due to this , many fudsters try to create a news involving china to have a big impact on the bitcoin holders.

[coolcoinz]

1. Account age

Most FUD accounts are newbies that are only a few weeks old at best. This is because they are just sockpuppets for experienced fudsters. This doesn't mean that you should ignore every newbie, but when you read a negative post that was made by a newbie, you should become very suspicious.

Example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5205246.0

There are some "aged" fudsters and trolls, but these accounts are most likely bought or were made for the purpose of farming and then abandoned, because the farmer made too many and was never able to level up all of them.

There's an interesting feature most of them share. They will never answer you, but instead ignore your rebuttal and continue with their own rant in this manner:
A: bitcoin is dead!
B: bitcoin has gained 1000 USD in the last 3 days, is that how a dead coin trades?
A: It's going to 0 next year!

An example:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2717457;sa=showPosts