
QAnon website shuts down after NJ man identified as operator - DyslexicAtheist
https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/11/qanon-website-shuts-down-after-nj-man-identified-operator/3472475001/
======
hindsightbias
Might want to shut down Citi’s website until a security review can be
performed.

~~~
mansion7
Why is that?

Antifa, for example, is objectively a much greater threat to life and
property, is anti-capitalist, and have been much more proactive in doxxing
their political enemies, yet members and sympathizers are highly placed in
Twitter, Google, US schools and colleges, the Democrat party, and many other
sensitive locations.

Are we to shut all of those down as well while an intensive security review is
performed?

Actually, that's not a bad idea.

~~~
bornabox
Do people realise that Antifa simply means Anti-Fascist? Its origin is
Antifaschistische Aktion during the Weimar Republic, though the current
movement is ideologically a bit different. Still, it seems that "antifa" has
been politically co-opted in the US and is not being used in the right context
at all. How is Antifa objectively a threat to life and property?

~~~
mansion7
The name is meaningless. Any group can call themselves "the good guys club" or
"the anti bad guy society" if they please. If such an argument held any water,
I would legally change my name to "Beyond Reproach".

I'm speaking of the American antifa, which are assaulting, harassing, and
doxxing people they deem "fascist" (which is anyone who looks at them funny)
and burning down buildings and vehicles. Surely you have watched a news report
or read a newspaper in the past several months. Even CNN has grudgingly been
forced to honestly report on their activities.

I'm not personally aware of any such actions on the part of "qanon". But if
any exist at all, they are without dispute dwarfed by the havoc antifa has
wrought.

~~~
drcongo
This is absolutely laughable in every respect.

------
ed25519FUUU
This one is a little peculiar to me. It looks like this person was just taking
what "Q" wrote on 8kun and adding it to a website. It wasn't a discussion
board or place where theories originate from. Though it looks like he took the
website down on his own.

~~~
bmarquez
I've previously visited the site mentioned in the article and it's basically
an RSS reader for "Q" posts.

The webmaster didn't create any of the posts, just republished them so people
wouldn't have to visit 8kun.

~~~
MacsHeadroom
About a month ago it added a user posts section with comments- something like
imgur.

It also added a lot of metadata to Q posts and related discoverability
features.

For example, the page for a Q post that mentioned James Clapper and WWG1WGA
would have a photo and "bio" of Clapper, definition of WWG1WGA, and show
recent related posts based on the metadata for the lingo and person.

It was a lot more than an RSS feed.

------
spiderfarmer
Reading things about Qanon I can't help but think how easy it is to fool large
swaths of people by telling them exactly what they want to hear. Especially if
they, like all Qanon supporters, believe that "disinformation is necessary",
something that enables them to believe in you when you're demonstrably lying.

Decennia of sagas, myths, legends, religions and cults have proven that people
just want to believe in something that explains the things they themselves
can't explain. Things that enable them to form groups that give them a sense
of safety. A sense of belonging. A way to feel superior to members of other
groups.

No matter how bizarre a believe system looks to the general public, the scale
of the internet enables you to reach a large group of people anyway. There
will always be an audience that actively searches for things to believe in.
You don't have to do anything but to sow some seeds, and they'll actively
search for the "facts" that will strengthen their believe.

The internet also enables you to monetise your scam easily with Patreons and
advertising.

What have we done.

~~~
benjohnson
My gut reaction:

Vetted and official news also can get us to believe lies:

* Iraq has a stockpile of WMD.

* Japanese-American citizens should be rounded up.

* You don't need to wear a mask, so don't go buying them up.

* Collage is a wise investment.

* You should fear $those_people because they will kill you.

* Some civil rights are outdated and you don't need them anymore.

~~~
oneplane
Seems like good journalistic news would write:

* Pentagon said Iraq has a stockpile of WMD

* White house reports Japanese-American citizens will be rounded up.

* You don't need to wear a mask, so don't go buying them up, surgeon general said in press release.

* Collage is a wise investment, according to College administrators.

* You should fear $those_people because they will kill you, Senate discussed last night.

* Congress argues: Some civil rights are outdated and you don't need them anymore.

It's not news if it's opinion. It's news if it's a writeup of things that
happen.

~~~
phtrivier
Surprisingly, about the first point at least, the reporting I remember is
exactly that : "Pentagon says Irak has WMD, but the rest of the world is not
convinced."

Now, it might help that I'm French :P

~~~
Medicalidiot
France, the one country that challenged US intelligence because their own
intelligence contradicted the CIA and NSA reports. Absolute studs.

~~~
ashildr
Please add Germany to that list:

[Excuse me I’m not
convinced]([https://youtu.be/_k_QbpFl7RM](https://youtu.be/_k_QbpFl7RM))

That sentence is idiomatic now for many people I know. (WTF is wrong with my
markdown here?)

~~~
jhanschoo
Hacker news doesn't support markdown.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc](https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc)

------
quantified
Why would anyone shut it down? Is the point to remain hidden and in-group
only? If he’s outed, he’s out. Probably hasn’t dropped affiliations, but seems
weird that it’s something to hide if it’s something he believes in.

~~~
_up
Wouldn't be that suprising if he got death threads and got scared.

~~~
quantified
QAnon running scared from death threats would be out of character, wouldn’t
it?

~~~
_up
We are talking about someone involved with a popular index site for QAnon
posts, not QAnon or the operator of the "Image Board" QAnon uses to post his
messages.

------
reustle
Interesting that the title use to contain this info, but was changed:

"A LinkedIn profile for Gelinas says he works as an information security
analyst at Citigroup."

------
controversy
I really wanted to like QAnon as a conspiracy watcher. Unfortunately I was
never able to wrap my mind around its stream of consciousness writing. It
seemed like a bunch of right wing blather that used buzzwords to tantalize pro
swamp drainers.

~~~
g8oz
A possible origin story: QAnon is an autonomous software agent calling GPT-3
with a paranoia + "blood-libel the elites" selector.

~~~
rsynnott
I’ve always assumed it was a long con, honestly. I expect that when Trump has
to persue other opportunities, a bitcoin address will be posted.

------
newacct583
The original analysis fingering this guy is here:
[https://www.logically.ai/articles/qanon-key-figure-man-
from-...](https://www.logically.ai/articles/qanon-key-figure-man-from-new-
jersey)

It seems a little circumstantial to me, frustratingly. He was involved for
sure in the QMap site that archived the Q posts. Whether that makes him "Q" is
I guess unknowable. He certainly could have made himself Q if he wasn't
originally.

I mean... really there's no particular interest in Q's identity per se. Q
didn't reveal any truths that were later confirmed, and got almost everything
wrong in a factual sense. Exactly who wrote the posts is mostly academic.

~~~
phtrivier
The beauty of Q is that it does not need to have any claim confirmed by anyone
else : the very fact that the claims are not confirmed, or, even better,
_denied_ by the mainstream media is _proof_ that the claims are true.

That's just genius, and I'm kind of jealous not to be earning easy dollars
this way as a non US citizen.

~~~
scollet
Jealous of cult grifters?

It's not any more genius than these people are emotionally unstable.

That's just how cults work.

------
Animats
"Security analyst"? Security as in protection, or as in asset?

~~~
gnat
If you have a question about an article posted to HN, try reading the article
to see if it answers your question.

"A LinkedIn profile for Gelinas says he works as an information security
analyst at Citigroup. Citigroup declined to comment."

------
pm90
Pretty sure there will be elaborate arguments about free speech and doxing on
this thread so let’s look at the facts:

* Qanaon is currently classified as a potential domestic terrorist threat to the country by the FBI. Free speech does not protect you from criminal activity.

* this wasn’t simply someone trying to talk freely about what he believed, it seems like this person was making thousands of dollars from this site. He created a fucking pattern account to get “donations”. Wow.

The generous way to view this is as a low level scam, but the FBI would
probably disagree. I suspect this is why this person shut down the site, he
doesn’t want to be the target of scrutiny or media attention.

~~~
woodpanel
off topic: can you elaborate what a _pattern account_ is? (not a native
speaker)

~~~
spiderfarmer
Typo. He meant Patreon.

