About Anonymous

[Editor's Note: The following is a collection of quotes and links gathered by me from around the Interwebs. There is very little editorial material interspersed. Instead, this is basically my notes from research for a planned broader document I'm working on that will explain how, in my mind, this information all fits together. More links and quotes are still being gathered, so this will change over time. However, I thought it might be useful for some to be able to see the raw research.

IMPORTANT: Please do not assign credit (or blame) to me for anything in this thread, as I am not the creator. I am working on adding links to the original sources, when possible, and have attempted to give credit to the original author (or OP) when possible; however, many posts have been made psuedononymously, and so clear attribution is not possible. Thanks for understanding.]

About Anonymous:

The Anonymous Meta Agreement:
What is the one thing we can all agree upon in this community? What is the one thing that

we all hold in common?

I would venture to say that it is Anonymous itself. All of our culture and philosophy may

arise from this single point.

So if we are to agree upon Anonymous (and we need to agree upon something), we must first

understand what Anonymous is.

Anonymous was first conceived as an in-joke by the users of 4chan /b/ back in the day, as

a satire on the chaotic, unruly nature of the Internet.

Anonymous "does not forgive, does not forget." When an attempt is made to censor

information, Anonymous ensures that the information is spread far and wide, never to be

forgiven or forgotten. The Streisand Effect. Barbara Streisand complained that her house

was visible on Google Maps. No one cared until she complained about it, and now everyone

knows where her house is.

Anonymous "is everyone and no one, is everywhere and nowhere"

Anonymous "does it for the lulz"

Anonymous "is that guy down the street, the guy driving the bus, the guy who delivers your

mail"

If you understand that Anonymous is an in-joke and a satire, this doesn't mean that

everything we do as "Anonymous" has to be childish. Anonymous does Serious Business too.

Indeed, The Internet is Serious Business. Whenever the freedom of the Internet from

censorship is threatened, it rises up to dispose of said threats. Because the Internet is

our home. It is our house.

If we truly develop a hivemind community that calls itself "Anonymous", then we need to

understand and agree upon what Anonymous really means, because really, all of our culture

and philosophy, all of our actions, arise from that single point of meta-agreement.

Anonymous as it was originally conceived only truly exists within the collective

intelligence of those who hold this idea in common. This is a hard and fast rule.

Anonymous only exists in the hivemind, and can only be understood in the plural sense, of

those who are self-aware Anonymous.

Anonymous is an idea that anyone can have and share in, and even have their own idea

about. If there is a disagreement about what Anonymous is, then with this meta-agreement,

we have a basis for agreeing to disagree on certain points. In addition, this gives us a

basis for collaboration and organizing further.

When you are in Anonymous, you are one of a myriad of nameless, faceless individuals. You

cannot be singled out nor even attacked for your actions, for to attack one is to attack

all. When Anonymous has no cause they are a herd of cats. When they do, they are a swarm

of angry hornets. Anonymous is a brotherhood, and yes, a sisterhood as well, that knows

its own, and takes care of its own.

I call for a community of intelligent, constructive trolls and activists. Anonymous knows

when to be serious, and when to have fun; hacktivism to keep the Internet free and change

the world, and trolling constructively for the lulz.

We level the playing field by making information free, and we do it for the lulz.

You are free to have your own idea about what Anonymous is.

This is The Anonymous Meta-Agreement.

Signing this agreement does not simply mean putting words on a page. It means a call to

action for each and every one of you who agree to do your part within this community to

learn what Anonymous is, and to teach to those who are new, all of these points that I

have elaborated upon, and to do so with firmness. Do not let your fellow Anons off easy.

Always be testing each other's knowledge and understanding, and as "metal sharpens metal,

so Anon shall sharpen their fellow Anon."

If these words ring true with you, please sign The Anonymous Meta-Agreement.

Thank you.

Edit: These ideas are a summary of the theory and philosophy expounded upon in full detail

in Anonymous Hivemind 101: The Virtual Tribe. If you want to do your part and educate

yourself to educate others, you need to read this document, and seek to understand the

nuts and bolts of how an Anonymous Hivemind community works.

Anonymous Hivemind 101 - The Virtual Tribe
Anonymous Hivemind 102 - Vibecraft

Update: And now, due to your strong reception and agreement, one agreement becomes three

collective concepts.

Message From the Anonymous Intelligence Collective to Anonymous
Message From the Ministry of LOL to Anonymous

Update: I've added to the text of this agreement, which for the sake of clarification I'm

now calling a meta-agreement, based on feedback from forum members.


Last edited by Telemachos on Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:36 am; edited 8 times in total
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The Evolution of Anonymous:

As many of you are aware, and for those of you who aren't, Anonymous began as a satire on

the unruly, chaotic nature of the Internet. All of this is discussed in The Anonymous

Meta-Agreement. I apologize in advance for the tl;dr (Too Long; Didn't Read) nature of

this post, but this is all very important for clarification and figuring out how to get

everyone who is here on the same page.

Anonymous has been alive as a concept since 2004. During the seven years of its life as an

idea, it has evolved through successive phases into what we see today. And this evolution

is continuing.

The first phase of Anonymous, the *chan Anonymous, that is, the Anonymous that was

conceived and embraced by users of 4chan /b/, then 7chan /b/, and then 711chan, 420chan,

the Partyvan Wiki, etc., necessarily carried with it elements of those communities. One of

these elements was referring to everyone as some sort of *fag. Newfag, oldfag, modfag,

lulzfag, etc. I acknowledge that this tradition of referring to everyone as a *fag is

extremely juvenile, immature, and hateful, and can be chalked up to those who saw

Anonymous the concept and, with little respect for its power, imposed upon it their own

South-Park-style turns of phrase. Yet we still should respect the fact that Anonymous

would not exist at all if not for them. The era of the *chan Anonymous morphed into

something else at the dawn of Project Chanology, out of an organic development of a

collective realization of what could be accomplished with this idea.

The second phase of the development of Anonymous I will call the Chanology Anonymous. This

period was marked by a civil war between those who saw the concept of Anonymous as a means

to do good works and bring about positive change in the world, in the form of activism

against the cult of Scientology, and those who saw Anonymous as their own prized

possession, their own power game, an idea that no one else who didn't accept the channer

way of life on the Internet could share in, or even have their own idea about. This era of

the Chanology Anonymous, the great Anonymous civil war, and the subsequent wars between

communities that held conflicting ideals, has lasted for about three years.

The real turning point in this war was marked by the Iranian protests in 2009, when

Anonymous found wider appeal in causes to prevent the censorship of the Internet itself.

I, myself, was a key player in this war on the *channer front, running trolling/Counter-

Intelligence interference against these *channer groups who wanted to organize Denial of

Service attacks against Chanology Anonymous websites, such as WhyWeProtest.net. Everyone

should note that this *channer form of Anonymous is still active in many places, most

especially in 711chan.org and the Partyvan Wiki at partyvan.info. They could still be a

threat to us. In addition, we still carry with us, here on this forum, many who were

around for that *channer phase, and still reminisce about the fun that was had during that

period. The umbrella of Anonymous is widening, and as it widens, we can't leave out those

*channers who are intelligent enough to know when we need to be serious and when it's ok

to have fun.

The third phase of the evolution of Anonymous, which I will call the AntiSec Anonymous

began in earnest with the Wikileaks US State Department cable leak, which resulted in

attacks by world governments and credit card companies against Wikileaks founder Julian

Assange. With this apparent attempt at censorship, the Streisand Effect sprang into motion

once again, and we witnessed the Operation Payback of AnonyOps, a coordinated Denial of

Service campaign against the major credit card companies, as well as a coordinated effort

to distribute and digest the leaked State Department cables. During this phase, of note,

we have also witnessed the rise of LulzSec, their astonishing string of hacks against

symbols of government and corporate corruption, and the leaks of some very damning

information. Thanks to the actions of AnonyOps and LulzSec, we can now proudly inherit the

evolved idea of Anonymous in the form of AntiSec, and everything that it stands for:

We level the playing field by making information free, and we do it for the lulz.

Here on What Is The Plan, we are carrying out the third phase of Anonymous, which will see

the development of Anonymous into its full potential as an agent of positive change in the

world. To paraphrase Thomas Paine, "We have it in our power to create Anonymous anew." The

events of this AntiSec phase have presented to us a unique opportunity in the history of

Anonymous, the Internet, and although it risks sounding presumptuous, of humanity itself.

In this phase we are welcoming with open arms newcomers to the idea of Anonymous, while we

are still fully aware of its history.

To quote George Orwell, "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a

revolutionary act." As a movement, we are going to be lambasted and smeared by the

mainstream media, because those who control the media are part and parcel of the very same

System against which we have declared war. In other words, they have a vested interest in

ensuring that the Anonymous movement does not garner a wider appeal than it already has.

There are some elements of the historical culture of those who held Anonymous the idea in

common that are no longer necessary, and are indeed detrimental to our cause. Yet, many of

the ideas that were developed in the *channer culture can still be useful to us. This I

have demonstrated with the development of the culture of the /b/ board on What Is The

Plan.

Trolling is a tool that can be used for good or for evil, or indeed, for any purpose to

which it applies. For us, trolling can be useful in order to quickly and efficiently

expose individuals who have Unwarranted Self Importance, and who may cause drama farther

down the line. With 18,000 users and growing, this community is moving at a very rapid

pace, and we need to weed out the troublemakers we will inevitably attract just as

rapidly.

Lulz, a very biting and satirical sense of humor, similar to the German concept of

Schaudenfreude, or laughing at someone's expense, is useful for the purpose of a

community, simply because a community needs to be entertained. People need a reason to

keep coming back, above and beyond the serious work we have set out to do. If we don't

find ways to have fun, we will risk burning out quite rapidly. I was a part of Project

Chanology for the full course, I've seen it happen. People burn out and turn into

monsters, cause drama, and "ragequit", usually in a drama storm that leads to others

burning out and quitting as well.

For the purposes of organizing ourselves as a movement, Anonymous as an idea is so elegant

yet so well-developed, that it either contains within it everything that we will need to

organize as a global movement, or provides us avenues of further developing this idea. We

no longer have to call users "newfag, oldfag, modfag". Just as surely as we don't have to

understand Tibetan culture to understand Buddhism, we don't have to understand *chan

culture to understand Anonymous. But this begs the question, what do we call users now? Do

we call them Anons? This is what I propose:

Admin of Anonymous - The true philosophical leaders of the ideological construct of

Anonymous; those who understand the life of Internet communities and Anonymous the idea so

well that they are capable of further evolving and developing this idea so as to better

facilitate the organizing and conducting of operations towards the end of Leveling the

playing field by making information free. Anonymous is an idea, and those who understand

this idea the best, as well as how to leverage the community effectively with this idea,

become the leaders. The admin leads not by doing, but by facilitating, and understanding

that a website belongs to its community.

Moderator of Anonymous - Those who have been so active and influential for the purposes of

organized operations that they become teachers of Anonymous, by their example

OP of Anonymous (Original Poster) - Those who have lurked so well that they are capable of

organizing operations in the spirit of Anonymous

Anonymous - Those who have lurked sufficiently so that their posts won't "fail" and end up

in the /b/asement. Self-aware Anonymous.

Lurker - Those who need to "Lurk Moar" and integrate themselves into the community. Also

those who are not yet self-aware Anonymous.

We are no longer *channers.
We are no longer Project Chanology.
We are the third phase of Anonymous.
We are evolving this idea of Anonymous to its full potential as an agent of change, and we

fully realize and accept that it is an idea that anyone can share in, or even have their

own idea about.

If you liked this article, please watch this video of a presentation by anthropologist

Gabriella Coleman on the history and culture of Anonymous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYILZfYlp8&feature=player_embedded

Last edited by Telemachos on Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:46 pm; edited 8 times in total
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The Civil War:

You have one thing right,Anonymous is a collective , but we are not caped (or masked)

crusaders fighting for justice, save that for your comic books. Sure, Anons give hell to

many an establishment and corrupt business , but not because of the poor,the oppressed

,the downtrodden. We give them hell for one reason and one reason only, for the lulz.This

is what Anonymous undeniably is. There is no good in the true Anonymous, we are

hackers,trolls and destroy people foolish enough to post any sort of faggotry ,simply

because we think it is funny .Yet here you are with your bleeding hearts and idealism ,

occupying Wall Street and disrupting peaceful city life because of your dear, cryptic

little cause. All along masking the true nature of Anonymous.
I'm no troll ,just speaking the truth. ~Atra
____________________________

http://troll.me/images/y-u-no/lol-u-mad-bro.jpg

_____________________________

Anonymous Hivemind 101: The Virtual Tribe

Before reading this series of articles, please read The Evolution of Anonymous and The

Anonymous Meta-Agreement, in that order. This article provides an overview of the three

phases of Anonymous: Chan Anonymous, Chanology Anonymous, and Antisec Anonymous

Introduction

Anonymous is a troll
The very first thing to understand about Anonymous is that it was conceived as an in-joke

on 4chan /b/. Anonymous is a satire on the chaotic, unruly nature of the Internet.

Anonymous is the personification or archytype of Anonymity, Trolling, and Lulz all rolled

into one. This satire is not meant to be a commentary on what should happen on the

Internet, but what does happen.

Anonymous is the hivemind
The second thing to understand is that Anonymous only truly exists in the Collective

Intelligence of those who hold this concept of Anonymous as a satire on the Internet in

common. Anonymous only exists in the Anonymous Hivemind, in which all participants are

truly "Anonymous", without a forum handle or identifying personal features. Thus, we here

on this forum can talk about Anonymous, but under our forum handles, none of us are

Anonymous. Anonymous can only be understood in the plural sense.

The Vibe is a Post-Chan Manifestation of Anonymous

The impetus of the Vibe (Virtual Tribe), and this article, is to approach the study of

lulz within Internet communities from the aspects of History, Theory, Philosophy, and

Practice, and to propose a vision of Anonymous trolling communities that thwart "cancer"

effectively, ultimately leading to the development of creative, lulzy, and sustainable

communities that are capable of conducting organized trollings and/or "hacktivism" both OL

(Online) and IRL (In Real Life). What follows is an overview of the traditional *chan

Anonymous, its history and its culture.

Internet Haet Machine: Anonymous Trolling for the Lulz

The Internet Haet Machine, a meme coined by the infamous Fox 11 piece on Anonymous back in

2007, is the means by which ordinary LOLs, a basic force of the Internets, is corrupted

into Lulz. While the word "Anonymous" means different things depending who you ask, the

concept of an Anonymous Community that Trolls for the Lulz - colloquially termed an

Internet Hate Machine, applies to an Internet community that has achieved self-awareness,

and the life cycle thereof.

Hivemind Genesis and the TOTSE Principle

The Anonymous community began ostensibly for a purpose other than trolling for the lulz;

in the case of /b/, an imageboard for users of the Something Awful forum's anime/tentacle

rape subforum (This is a fact. You don't have to accept the *channer culture, but at least

acknowledge that Anonymous was born in it). The TOTSE Principle must exist from the

beginning: the complete freedom and anonymity that makes trolling for the lulz acceptable.

In addition, understanding the golden rule of the Internet - The Internet is serious

business (satire here, folks) - is a prerequisite to understanding the TOTSE Principle.

Anonymous, Trolling, and Lulz, the three aspects of the TOTSE Principle, will be explained

here.

The Internet is Serious Business
The Internet isn't real. It's just words on a page, pixels on a screen. Anyone who takes

Internet drama seriously is by nature a ritard.

The Internet Is Serious Business is a phrase used to remind those who have just been

successfully trolled that being mocked on the Internet is, in fact, the end of the world.

Common variations include, Internet... Serious Fucking Business, The Internet: Serious

Business, SRS BIZNS and even just INTERNET!! Plural: The Internets Are Serious Businesses.

The phrase is often used as the text of an image macro or to highlight the complexity

(stupidity) of a heated debate (flame war) in an internet forum.

Anonymous
The troll finds safety within the writhing, chaotic masses of the Anonymous community. It

is his lifeline, his primary source of sustainment. The troll does not shit where he eats.

His duty is to protect his hivemind, not destroy it in a shitstorm of fail-trolling.

Anonymity is a troll's primary defense against retaliation from butthurt Lolcows. Even if

a troll manages to keep his identity veiled, he will eventually reveal himself by his

manner of speech, his personal biases, his style of writing. However, only those who have

lurked the community for a while will be able to identify users by their writing style.

Moreover, being Anonymous protects a troll from himself/herself. Within an Anonymous

community, there is nothing to lose. Everyone is equally worthless. As long as the troll

sees his name as just another mask that can be changed at will, he will not suffer from

the depredations of his own ego.



"Anonymous is not a person, nor is it a group, movement, or cause; Anonymous is a

collective of people with too much time on their hands, a commune of human thought and

useless imagery. A gathering of sheep and fools, assholes and trolls, and normal everyday

responsible people (NORPs); netizens. An anonymous collective, left to its own devices,

quickly builds its own society out of rage and haet."

Anonymous is a collective concept of a self-aware hivemind.

Trolling

Trolls are the sandworms of the internet, ''a la'' Dune. Wherever those with Unwarranted

Self-Importance (USI) send vibrations of drama throughout the cyberscape, trolls gather to

feed upon it. They convert the fail into lulz, allowing intelligent posting and quality to

thrive.

"The troll is the lulz. The lulz is the troll."

A troll's purpose is to cause controversy. He seeks out the low-hanging fruit, playing

pseudo-naive or taking an extreme position in order to get a rise out of actual naives or

extremists. A troll feeds on the emotional reactions he can cause.

A skilled troll can just appear to cause no conflict and agree with people and do it in

such a way to provoke everyone else into a shitstorm (Successful troll is successful).

Even when someone knows how to troll, they usually fail to be funny and then experience

troll's remorse A.K.A being a butthurt, empathetic, douchenozzle. Such feelings tend to

pass once they realize that people who think The Internet is serious business and get

upset by trolling really ought to quit the Internet (ragequit). Once they reach this

point, they are said to suffer from Internet troll personality disorder. After long

enough, they may even develop Chronic Troll Syndrome.

The most important thing that any troll should remember is not to believe in what you are

saying, and be comfortable with telling made up lies whilst avoiding the truth or any

factual details about your own life because not only are these boring, they could be used

to identify you (unless, of course, you also lie about the details of your life.) To avoid

the onset of troll's remorse, follow this technique and just lead them further down the

avenue of trolling, swallowing your bait hook, line, and sinker.

Only when one is a skilled troll can they pull off trolling IRL, such as "Agent Pubeit",

IRL Harry Potter spoilers, etc.

Lulz
Lulz, plural form and a corruption of LOL, are the spice of the Internet, the substance

that powers online communities, allowing them to grow and evolve. "I did it for the lulz"

is a troll's mantra, his ''raison d'etre''.

"Lulz is laughter at someone's expense (from the German concept of "Schadenfreude"). Just

as the element of surprise transforms the physical act of love into something beautiful

(raep), the butthurt of a laughed-at victim transforms lol into lulz, making it longer,

girthier, and more pleasurable."

Word of Mouth Epidemic
The community grows rapidly due to a word of mouth epidemic, developing into a cesspool

and breeding ground for new memes, until it reaches a critical mass of potential lulz.

Defining Struggle
A single spark, an adverse event of drama, trolling, modfaggotry, and lulz, sets off a

chain reaction during which the community develops a collective concept of itself in

relation to its struggle for survival. The hivemind is born.

The protagonist(s) of this struggle can be internal (the modfags, userbase factions, etc.)

or external (a DDoS attack by another skiddie or community). The /b/tards' struggle

against moot's ban on trolling furfaggotry, as well as cross-site trolling raids in

general, involved a mixture of both, and defined the collective concept of Anonymous,

ultimately culminating in the events of /b/-day, when /b/tards crapflooded their own

board.

Hivemind

The Defining Struggle won, the Anonymous community develops a collective identity of

itself, tested by fire and battle-scarred. This is the hey-day of the community, when

creativity flourishes and production of lulz is at its peak. But like any peak, the

decline can be shockingly rapid and abrupt, brought on by a phenomenon that has yet to be

fully understood; Eternal September.

Irreversible Cancer

While /b/-day is widely regarded as the watershed event leading to /b/'s decline, casting

many /b/tards into space never to return, the The Declaration of /b/ Independence

preserved something of that culture for a time at 7chan. However, whether or not a

community achieves a moral victory during its defining struggle, the process of decline

into Eternal September is nigh-on impossible to reverse. Depending on the size of the

community in question, this period of decline may still produce many lulzworthy

situations, and in fact may produce the most epic events in the history of the community,

but the essential core of users who first sparked the word of mouth epidemic will have

since moved on to greener cyber pastures.

The xChan effect

The xChan effect refers to the phases a person goes through once they first enter a

*chan-based website. For our purposes the xChan effect will be simplified to the Newfag

and the Oldfag, as well as the mediating force between the two, the Modfag (assumed to

mean all admins, mods, etc.); the three main players in that defining struggle that makes

a *chan community self aware.

"Welcome to NOOB-VILLE. Now LURK MOAR."

Newfag
The newfag’s role is to lurk moar, otherwise he'll get trolled to the point of

ragequitting. This trolling will provide lulz which in turn feeds the community. However,

if the newfag is successful at lurking moar and understanding how the community works and

his/her own role within it, he/she becomes an oldfag.

Being overly self-conscious of one's status as a Newfag, e.g. calling oneself an Oldfag,

calling others Newfags, automatically makes you a Newfag in Anonymous culture. Faggotry is

as faggotry does. Even speaking about the Newfag/Oldfag phenomenon verges on fail, but the

Philosophy of Epic Fail, explained later on in this piece, enables discussion of this

topic without substantial hit point loss.

Namefags are an especially cancerous form of newfag, that if left unchecked, will destroy

the collective identity in favor of the circlejerking and drama that these individual egos

inevitably bring.

Oldfag
Some say /b/ was a bunch of adults acting like 14 year olds. Actually, /b/ was originally

14 year olds pretending to be adults acting like 14 year olds.

As a community ages, those oldfags who were around during its inception become

increasingly antagonistic towards cancerous, unfunny newfags who fail to lurk moar. The

oldfag's role is to improve his/her trolling skill and understanding of how Anonymous uses

trolling in order to create lulz to such an extent that he/she is essentially able to

accomplish anything by trolling, be it creative or destructive.

The oldfag also provides the newfag an opportunity to lurk moar by observing oldfags

"doing it right" (Am I doin it rite?). Doing it right in an Anonymous community means

changing your name constantly or only posting as “Anonymous”, never building a reputation,

and trolling anyone who tries to be a namefag.

You’ll never know an oldfag by his/her reputation, but by his/her ability to troll and

create lulz.

Modfag
In a trolling community, modfags must be the greatest trolls of all. Inherent in trolling

is the ability to detect a troll. In addition, modfags must keep the particularly

cancerous newfags under control with swift application of the banhammer, while walking the

fine line between "mods = gods" and "mods = fags". When a mod takes action against an

unfunny newfag, the mod is a god. When the mod goes on a power trip, mods = fags.


Code of Trollshido: Curing Cancer Without Causing Cancer

Cancer occurs naturally in a troll community as newfags join hoping to experience the same

lulz that first sparked the word of mouth epidemic. This cancer is compounded by the lack

of a clearly defined ethic of trolling.

As oldfags rage against the newfags for doing it wrong, they also argue amongst each other

over how to do it right. Meanwhile modfags get caught in the crossfire of the

oldfag/newfag slapfight, attempting to stop the growing cancer. The modfags lose interest

in banhammering any cancer at all, allowing it to reach a point of metastasis, resulting

in Eternal September.

While it's highly debatable whether any community can avoid the eventual death of quality,

the education of a userbase as to an ethic of trolling can go a long way towards extending

the half-life of any Anonymous-based community by preventing cancer before it starts,

thereby curing cancer without causing cancer. What follows is an explanation of the

principles of the constructive troll, written in lulzy language. The author acknowledges

that some of these concepts don't translate readily into other languages.

Code of Trollshido

At least 100 years ago, Nitrollbe Ilolzo authored Trollshido: The Soul of The Chans, an

interpretation of the Trollurai code of behavior. Evolving as an unwritten ethic over 9000

days of inter-chan conflict known as the Age of Lulz (ca. 2004 to 2010), Ilolzo laid out

the essential precepts of the lulzalrous trollurai; an Art of Chanliness.

ROFLitude or Great Justice
Trollshido refers not only to raiding great justice, but to personal great justice. Great

Justice is the strongest virtue of Trollshido. A well known troll defines it this way:

"ROFLitude is one's power to decide upon a course of lulz in accordance with drama,

without wavering; to an hero when to an hero is right, to troll when to troll is right."

Another speaks of it in the following terms: "Great Justice is the bone that gives

firmness and stature. Without bones the Trollface cannot rest on top of the spine, nor

hands type nor feet rest on top of your monitor. So without Great Justice neither

lulziness nor lurking moar can make the basement dweller into a troll." -Ilolzo

Raeg
Trollshido distinguishes between butthurt and raeg:
"FUCKING NEWFAGS"

"Raeg is worthy of being counted among virtues only if it's exercised in the cause of

Great Justice and ROFLitude. In his '''Analolcts''' Trollfucius says: "Perceiving what is

lulz and letting newfags do it wrong reveals a lack of Raeg." In short, "Raeg is making

the newfags do it right." -Ilolzo

Surprise Buttsecks or Raep
A troll invested with the power to lol and the power to ragequit was expected to

demonstrate equally extraordinary powers of surprise buttsecks and raep:

"Lulz, anonymity, faggotry towards others, and facepalm, are the traits of Surprise

Buttsecks, the highest attribute of the Troll soul. Both Trollfucius and LMAOencius often

said the highest requirement of a modfag of trolls is Surprise Buttsecks (Banhammer)." -

Ilolzo

Apathy
Discerning the difference between obsession with trolling and apathy can be difficult for

casual visitors (newfags) to the *chans, but for a true troll, apathy is rooted in

surprise buttsecks (raep):

"Apathy and anti-social manners have been noticed by every foreign tourist (NORP) as

distinctive Chanese traits. But Apathy should be the expression of raeping the feelings of

others: it's a poor virtue if it's motivated only by the hope of offending good taste. In

its highest form Apathy approaches haet." -Ilolzo

STFU and Basement Dwelling
True trollurai, according to author Nitrollbe, disdained forced memes believing that

"trolls must grudge forced memes, for stupid meme-spewing newfags hinder lulz." Thus

newfags of high-ranking trollurai were raised to believe that posting about forced memes

showed poor taste, and that ignorance of the value of different forced memes showed good

lurking: Trollshido "encouraged STFU, not for lulzical reasons so much as for the exercise

of basement dwelling. Verbal diarrhea was thought the greatest menace to trollhood, and

severe STFU was required of the troll class ... the random meme generator and Advice Dog

were abhorred." -Ilolzo

E-penis
Though ''Trollshido'' deals with the obsession of trolling, it is equally concerned with

non-trolling behavior.

"The sense of E-penis, a vivid consciousness of personal dignity (unwarranted self

importance) and lulziness, characterized the trollurai. He logged on and lurked moar to

value the duties and privileges of his obsession. Fear of getting doxed, butthurt, and

trolled into ragequitting hung like a trollface over the head of every trollurai ... To

take offense at slight provocation was ridiculed as "Lolcow." As the popular adage put it:

'True E-penis means bearing unbearable trolling.'" -Ilolzo

Raiding

The lulzonomic reality that resulted from /b/-day has dealt a blow to organizational

trolling around the internets. Nonetheless, true trolls continue raiding those by whom

they are offended:

"Trolling a furfag was the most distinctive virtue of the ROFLeudal era. Personal fidelity

exists among all sorts of trolls: a gang of skiddies swears allegiance to its wigger

leaderfag. But only in the code of Trollshido does Raiding assume paramount importance."

-Ilolzo

Lulziness and Lurking Moar
''Trollshido'' teaches that trolls should behave according to an absolute lulzy standard,

one that transcends logic. What's lulz is lulz, and what's unfunny is unfunny. The

difference between lulzy and unfunny are givens, not arguments subject to discussion or

justification, and a troll should know the difference. Finally, it is a troll's obligation

to teach newfags lulzy standards through the model of his own behavior:

"The first objective of trollurai education was to build up Lulziness. The subtler

faculties of original content, memes, and netspeak were less important. Lurking

superiority was esteemed, but a trollurai was essentially a troll for the lulz." -Ilolzo

Internet Change Machine: Philosophy of Epic Fail
Converting LOLs into World Change

As stated before, The Internet is serious business. However, this apparently simple

statement bears closer examination.

Taking anything in an internet community seriously means you fail it. This is why many

people resort to trolling, because if nothing is serious, then everything is for the lulz,

and everyone knows the purest form of lulz is provided by the few, the proud, the trolls.

Yet, doing it right requires that you take the Code of Trollshido seriously. What appears

to be a paradox can only be resolved by either hanging up your trollface and logging off

the internet (ragequitting), or resigning yourself to the fact that you fail epically.

This is the basis of the Philosophy of Epic Fail.

Furthermore, as demonstrated by Scientology's censorship of the Tom Cruise video, the

Internet becomes very serious business whenever information is censored; the Streisand

Effect. The denizens of the Internet respond with great vengeance and furious anger at

those who would attempt to censor and destroy their Internets. While the life and

existence of any given online community is insignificant in the grand scheme of things,

the existence of the Internet itself as a neutral medium is very significant to a troll's

way of lulz.

"The hivemind interprets censorship as damage and rapes around it." -John Trollmore


Epic Fail Guys
EFG is mostly recognized by a Guy Fawkes mask

In the case of Scientology, censorship led to worldwide Anonymous IRL trolling in defense

of the Internet and Freedom of Speech; an Internet Change Machine. The Epic Fail Guys were

born on February 10th as a loosely affiliated trolling group, originally self-aware of

their involvement in Project Chanology, but it wasn't until April's decentralization

campaign that EFG became localized to major regions and cities.

What is Epic Fail Guy?
Sup Guise! Am I doing it right?

From Encyclopedia Dramatica:

"The Epic Fail Guy (now a.k.a. Epic Win Guy due to an epic get on 4chan) is the epitome of

being a complete fucking faggot on the internet. Primarily the persona is represented by

an ongoing series of shoop based stories that Anonymous generates, roleplaying this

character going about various methods of failing completely. Some people fail, but they

never fail as hard as EFG can fail. He's like fail with ADD, on PCP's permanently stuck on

fucking turbo mode with a jet rocket shoved ten miles up his vagina. No combo breaker can

halt him.

This minor forced meme grew into a true meme of epic proportions when in one adventure he

pulled a Guy Fawkes mask out of a bin. This image of a stickfigure wearing a mask much

like in V for Vendetta became a meme and from then on most depictions of EFG will involve

this mask. His appearance on /b/ is celebrated, but within the chan-o-sphere he's viewed

negatively by oldfags who assume only newfags enjoy his presence. Thus, EFG can be used to

enrage (troll) oldfags if represented improperly.

Guy Fawkes, the epic failure, was pwned before he could enact the Gunpowder Plot because

King James utilized an early form of the Party van (secret service) to stop the plan. Thus

Guy became an Epic Fail that would be remembered for at least 100 years.

In threads that the OP or a majority of posters are undergoing complete and total failure,

posting a picture of EFG is considered enough to tell Anonymous that he is failing the

interbutts."

Who are the Epic Fail Guys?
TL;DR: You fail at the internets.

The Epic Fail Guys are IRL trolls. Taking the analogy of posting EFG in a fail thread,

showing up IRL in front of an organization that is known to fail epically at the Internet

''should be'' a sufficient means of communicating this fact to said organization. However,

some people like David Miscavige can't take a hint. Best known for Project Chanology,

global protests and flash raids in support of the War Against Scientology, EFG have begun

to branch out into similar projects as well as general IRL trolling for the lulz.

TL;DR: We fail and we're proud of it.

The fact of the matter is if you use the Internet enough to know about the Epic Fail Guys,

you probably have no life. The Epic Fail Guys admit their own failure up front. Only when

you admit your own failure can you convert the failure around you into win and lulz

without becoming trollbait yourself.

TL;DR: We pretty much troll everyone.
"All aboard the troll train"
*We get to troll scifags because they can't accept any criticism.
*We get to troll moralfags because they can't take jokes.
*We get to troll "oldfag" channers because they take the idea of "anonymous elite haxxors"

way too seriously.
*We get to troll fellow lulzfags by simply being retarded and pretending we care.

Philosophy of Epic Fail
TL;DR: Epic Fail Guy fails so hard he wins.

For those who prefer to dwell on the more intellectual and philosophical aspects of

Anonymous IRL raids, The Epic Fail Guys explore the philosophical pathway created by EFG's

transcendence of failure.


From Encyclopedia Dramatica:

"In philosophical terms, Epic Fail Guy (EFG, hereafter) represents the stage beyond the

synthetic Existentialist/Tiplerian Omega; that is, he transcends and defines a new,

Riemann-like space such that, for every instance of failure ''f'', ''f(inf)'' --> ''efg!

WIN''. This can be presented in a number of ways using both symbolic logic and/or

traditional didactic philosophy. An example of the latter in Hegelian dialectical terms

would be '''1. Thesis --> 2. Antithesis --> 3. Synthesis < EFG'''. Or, as one young

cosplayer/philosopher at an anime con put it, "Epic Fail Guy is that guy who fails so hard

he wins." ''Ex ore infantium et lactantium!'' (Ps. 8:2)

[[Image:Efgvenn.jpg|thumb|right|Venn diagram makes clear transcendental nature of EFG]]
In philosophical terms, EFG is enormously impactful, on par with the development of

transfinite number theory in mathematics. This is more than mere pomo textual tweaking: by

taking Failure qua Failure beyond a fascinating philosophical Ultimate, Epic Fail Guy

allows the qualiate to transcend failure itself, thus defining/creating a new existential

level in which qualium FAIL and qualium WIN are co-existent and congruent. Broadly

speaking, EFG allows/creates a philosophic pathway between the "yucky" two-valued

dialectic and a post-dialectical, ontological state where Win and Fail become, in a sense,

a "delicious cake" — in other words, functions of one another rather than opposites. QED"

Philosophy of Epic Fail Applied: Thunderdome

The nature of IRL and even online trolling is that it attracts media attention and as a

result, newfags, moralfags, and NORPs, all of which are known to take life way too

seriously. By applying the Philosophy of Epic Fail in the WhyWeProtest Forum's

Thunderdome, Epic Fail Guys converted serious business and anti-lulz into drama and win.

Controlled Fail: And Nothing of Value Was Lost

TL;DR: Every action is of equal importance because your life will be over altogether too

soon.

Adapted from A Separate Reality:

"You should know by now that a troll of knowledge lives by trolling, not by thinking about

trolling, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished trolling. A troll

of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it; then he looks and ROFLs and LOLs;

and then he sees and knows. He knows that his life will be over altogether too soon; he

knows that he, as well as everybody else, is not going anywhere; he knows, because he

sees, that nothing is more important than anything else.

In other words, a troll of knowledge has no honour, no dignity, no family, no name, no

country, but only life to be lived, and under these circumstances his only tie to his

fellow trolls is his controlled fail. Thus a troll of knowledge endeavours, and sweats,

and faps, and if one looks at him he is just like any ordinary troll, except that the fail

of his life is under control. Nothing being more important than anything else, a troll of

knowledge chooses any act, and acts it out as if what he does matters and makes him act as

if it did, and yet he knows that it doesn't; so when he fulfills his acts he retreats in

peace, and whether his acts were lulzy or anti-lulz, or win or fail, is in no way part of

his concern.

A troll of knowledge may choose, on the other hand, to remain totally anti-lulz and never

troll, and behave as if to be anti-lulz really matters to him; he will be rightfully true

at that too, because that would also be his controlled fail." -Carlulz Castaneda

TL;DW: It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything. -Tyler Durden

Anonymous Adjusted for Operation Purposes

I will now expound upon some aspects of the philosophy and culture of Anonymous, adjusted

for operational purposes; the Chanology Anonymous.

1) Anonymous Shows Us How to Organize

Those of us who were around for Project Chanology learned many hard lessons. Now in The

Plan we have an opportunity to apply these lessons.

1a) Keep Anonymous Entertained At All Costs!!!

At this juncture we haven't even decided how we might organize globally, but we must take

great care in deciding, for once our global rhythm is set in motion, it will be nigh-on-

impossible to stop or change without a loss of momentum. To move as a global collective

takes great care and patience.

During Chanology, many of us involved noted that periods of drama and slackening of

momentum occurred over the month in between each Global Protest against Scientology. It

was during these lulls in the Lulz that Anons began eating one another alive, as trolls do

when left without external targets. So we must develop a rhythmic framework that keeps us

organized and acting cohesively on a global level, while never for a split-second dropping

off in intensity.

1b) Prevent Drama Storms at All Costs!!!

Early on in Chanology, Darr became the quintessential example of an egotistical tyrant.

Her actions, failures, and attempted power-grabbing of the Chanology movement from secret

IRC chatrooms resulted in the "Operation Reconnect debacle", a drama-filled shitstorm

resulting in a good 80% of those who had shown up for the initial February 10th, 2008

protest leaving Chanology for good.

Those who remained were left to pick up the pieces and build a new momentum, and attempt

to salvage a moral victory from the mess. This victory eventually came to pass as

Scientology came under investigation or was banned outright in every major country in the

world. But it could have been achieved sooner if not for that loss of momentum.

1c) Leaders are Necessary. Tyrants are Not.

A community needs leaders. It needs admins and moderators who pay the bills, keep the

website online, and facilitate the actions of the community; and understand that A website

belongs to its community. It's the leaders who don't understand this principle that we can

term tyrants.

1d)To be an Anon Requires Egolessness. To be an Admin of Anons Requires Selflessness.

To be a well-integrated Anon, you must be egoless. To become an admin or moderator of

Anons, you must be selfless, for it is a thankless task. Anonymous, always and everywhere,

gets the credit for what Anonymous does, and even what is done by nicknamed individuals on

behalf of Anonymous.

1e) Anons Must Organize Professionally

This means that every single one of us must respect the boundaries between our personal

lives as named human beings, and the monikers and masks we take take on as Anons when we

take to the streets.

Guidelines of IRL Trolling:

1) Do not talk about Anonymous or The Plan.

2) DO NOT TALK ABOUT ANONYMOUS OR THE PLAN!
(Except online with a pseudonym or as Anonymous)

3) Do not ask or tell your legal names, nor get to know your fellow Anons personally

(namedropping).

4) Do not take credit as a mundane for anything you do as an Anon (egodropping).

5) Do not show your faces to one another (facedropping).

6) When you operate as Anons wearing masks, always go in groups of at least 4 or more. (We

are legion).

7) If you must go it alone, don't wear a mask. A lone Anon wearing a mask is even more

conspicuous than a man passing out flyers discreetly. The point is to be incognito.

Most definitely do not find out where any Anon lives.

9) Take care not to let friends, coworkers, roommates, or classmates, NOT ANYONE IN REAL

LIFE, know that you're involved in The Plan.

10) Do not get romantically involved with fellow Anons!!! Do not turn this most important

of movements into a drama!

11) Conversation and interaction should only take place online. When you hit the streets,

the plan of the event should be known by all in advance so that the only conversation that

happens is what needs to happen for the operation to be a success.

12) In Chanology we had "Fair Game"; dirty tricks and even physical assaults by

Scientology's Office of Special Affairs (OSA). In The Plan we have COINTELPRO. The fight

against COINTELPRO will be the defining struggle that unites all of us who have signed on

to The Plan.

Keep your eyes peeled for COINTELPRO operatives who may attempt to trick or coerce you

into breaking these guidelines of professional conduct. If one is encountered, leave the

scene immediately in a group. Only disperse once you are certain you are not being

followed, and take care that you are not followed to your home or place of work.

13) Always have at least two full-audio-video camcorders available in your party when you

take to the streets, in order to document attempted assaults or dirty tricks against you.

"Pics or it didn't happen". This is also for your own safety, as when you have the

authorities on video, they are much less likely to play dirty tricks on you.

14) At home lock your doors and keep your windows shut at night. Keep your pets inside and

don't leave valuable items sitting outside.

15) Keep your eyes on the prize: We level the playing field by making information free.

And we do it for the lulz.


Last edited by Telemachos on Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:32 am; edited 13 times in total
_____________________________

Anonymous Hivemind 102: Vibecraft

[editor's note: Vivecraft was an extensive thread detailing the ways in which an Anonymous

collective could organize IRL (in real life) and complete a task or set of tasks, after

which they would be disbanded or reorganized in order to prevent the accumulation of power

into one or a set of individuals. The basic concept involved organizing individuals to

compete as if in a game, such as role playing or a LARP. This idea was largely contested

within WITP/Anonymous. After a long and rancous battle, Telemachos was ousted from

Anonymous. The running debate and crowd-sourcing of Anonymous Hivemind 102: Vibecraft was

deleted by Telemachos, except for one period.]

.


Last edited by Telemachos on Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:36 am; edited 32 times in total

_____________________________

The Efficacy of Game for Problem Solving

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/19/us-gamers-crack-puzzle-in-aids-research-that-

stumped-scientists-for-years/

______________________________

Who Started the Occupy Movement?

A Report from the Frontlines: The Long Road to #OccupyWallStreet and the Origins of the

99% Movement.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/a-report-from-the-frontlines-the-long-road-to-

occupywallstreet-and-the-origins-of-the-99-movement.html