Who Is Behind QAnon? Linguistic Detectives Find Fingerprints

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Times

Now two teams of forensic linguists say their analysis of the Q texts shows that Mr. Furber, one of the first online commentators to call attention to the earliest messages, actually played the lead role in writing them.

Sleuths hunting for the writer behind Q have increasingly overlooked Mr. Furber and focused their speculation on another QAnon booster: Ron Watkins, who operated a website where the Q messages began appearing in 2018 and is now running for Congress in Arizona. And the scientists say they found evidence to back up those suspicions as well. Mr. Watkins appears to have taken over from Mr. Furber at the beginning of 2018. Both deny writing as Q.

The studies provide the first empirical evidence of who invented the toxic QAnon myth, and the scientists who conducted the studies said they hoped that unmasking the creators might weaken its hold over QAnon followers. Some polls indicate that millions of people still believe that Q is a top military insider whose messages have revealed that former President Trump will save the world from a cabal of “deep state” Democratic pedophiles. QAnon has been linked to scores of violent incidents, many of the attackers who stormed the Capitol last year were adherents, and the F.B.I. has labeled the movement a potential terrorist threat.

The forensic analyses have not been previously reported. Two prominent experts in such linguistic detective work who reviewed the findings for The Times called the conclusions credible and persuasive.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/technology/qanon-messages-authors.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

[KPN]

1. I would think that intentionally creating social upheaval

via this kind of self-serving artifice would be criminally actionable. Are not posts on internet platforms traceable to their physical source?

[Effete Snob]

3. The crime of

“Creating social upheaval by writing things”?

As odious a character as is Ron Watkins, I can think of a great many people who have caused social upheaval by writing things.

[soldierant]

21. Furber lives in South Africa, and appears to have

always done so.

Is it possible to extradite a non-US-citizen, never physically present in the US, for causing havoc in the US by means of the internet?

[L. Coyote]

2. Wasn't the Qanon identity "sold" by the original Q persona?

Link to tweet

[Mme. Defarge]

4. Fascinating article!

Inquiring minds still want to know when TFG will be reinstated as POTUS.

[oldsoftie]

8. Many think he's STILL in charge. And the military is running things FOR him.

The Biden inauguration ws a fake. Etc Etc

yes, they really believe it. I live among them!

[Mme. Defarge]

13. Holy merde!

[Rural_Progressive]

16. Don't forget to include

their belief that TFG is flying around in Air Force 1 calling the shots.

I also live among them. I love the beauty and the isolation where I live but many of the members of the community make rocks look smart.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Early during the Great Recession, about 2009, there were well-written blogs

published under pseudonyms about finance, credit, QE, and everything financial. Years later I recall one was unmasked as senior exec in some major investment bank who said he simply wasn't authorized to actually id himself at the time. But you could tell all along this guy had good knowledge and inside dope that the public couldn't fund anywhere. I'm not suggesting he had anything to do with Q but am merely pointing out the technique was tested and did exist.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. For those without an NYT subscription, 'Furber' is Paul Furber from Johannesburg

https://web.archive.org/web/20201102204807/https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/qanon-identity-revealed-explained.html

[Warpy]

18. A good article without a rabid paywall

is at https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531

Seems like an extradition of Paul Furber might be in order, I'll bet the FBI would love to chat with him.

I also think they whole thing was taken over by offshore bad actors some years ago, the clunky beginning morphing into a pretty slick psyops campaign, teasing people with half truths so they'd come to the wrhong conclusions. It worked astonishingly well, better than feeding them silly conspiracy theories outright.

[nclib]

19. Thank you.

[orangecrush]

7. Q is anti democracy psyops.

[Hekate]

9. Bingo

[SouthernDem4ever]

10. Geez. Only whackjobs believe other whackjobs

the idiots that wrote as Q and the idiots that follow them are the idiocracy of America.

[erronis]

15. Yes, that is the way we all work. We trust those that have viewpoints similar to our own.

We'll accept some minor deviations (nudges) from those we trust. Eventually those nudges can pivot around 180 degrees from our original course.

Witness a whole lot of religious or military indoctrination. Start with a fairly open-minded individual and end up with a fanatic/zealot.

The human brain/psyche is extremely malleable using good techniques.

[hydrolastic]

22. I deal with these guys at work

I now believe is a super passive way to tell people to fuck off. Here is why I think this. when you say "Everyone needs healthcare even the poor" they say "who's gunna pay for it" you say "the rich have the money we gave them they can easily pay for it" they start going off about the deficit. you say "that doesn't have anything to do with how healthcare is funded" they say "the immigrants will get on welfare and we will have to pay for them" then you say "there is no evidence for that" and then the say "there is no evidence for the moon Landing either!" you say "what does this have to do with healthcare?" they say "see its in the government interest to tell you the earth is round.. space is actually not real!' they just told me and every normal person to "fuck off" It's the same with Q

[peppertree]

11. Mr. Furber and Mr. Watkins: Sounds like the silly - and ill-fated - villains in Diamonds are Forever

[StClone]

20. Frank Drebin would be proud

[Bucky]

12. More interesting: what gullible schmucks believe what Q writes?

None of the cute following makes sense without three decades of insane bullshit being shoved down the audience's throat by Fox News and right wing radio charlatans like a Rush Limbaugh and all his imitators.

[Joinfortmill]

14. The whole rotten tale will soon emerge.

[erronis]

17. As long as we are the ones writing the history of these "interesting times".

[intrepidity]

23. I seem to recall reading something on Twitter

quite some time ago, where a similar analysis was done yielding similar conclusions. Would have to dig around a bit to find it though. Just saying this isn't as "new" as claimed.

The forensic analyses have not been previously reported. Two prominent experts in such linguistic detective work who reviewed the findings for The Times called the conclusions credible and persuasive.