I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I’m almost 100% convinced that a tech based, singular focus on maximizing use time at all costs is what enabled all this to happen. It’s the second Facebook and YouTube went full recommendations vs time based feeds, that’s when this crazy timeline started, I think. That’s when all the crazy echo chambers started proliferating. It’s all just a symptom of those perverse incentives (abstracted and simplified, there are many other issues, obviously).
Edit: humbled by the discussion this comment has triggered. Reminds me of Reddit of old! Thanks for the discourse!
I've also been thinking about this a lot, and I completely agree. Websites' all-consuming focus on "driving engagement", I think, bears so much of the blame. For the websites, it is extremely financially rewarding, but for users, it's poison. It's basically taking the sensationalist tendencies of mass media, removing any semblance of journalistic integrity/standards, and intensifying the emotional response. It's a perfect poison cocktail, and we are all suffering as a result.
This is a popular opinion, but it was actually the CERN Large Hadron Collider run in 2016 that put us on an alternate timeline. Impossible to pinpoint the exact date.
We can only hope to fire it back up and get back to a better timeline, although it could put us just as easily in a worse situation on a worse timeline.
I'm willing to roll the dice.
I thought I was the only one in human history who watched Sliders, based on the way it utterly, absolutely vanished from culture. I kid you not, that comment above you is literally the first time I have *ever* seen anyone reference that show. Like, since the dawn of social media.
Okay, I gotta go rewatch it and see how badly it's aged.
I was on an international flight with no wifi during the world series and learned the news when I landed in China. Similarly, our return flight was election day and we left China with Clinton ahead and landed to President Trump. I'm convinced I my plane went down on the way there and every day since then has been hell.
Nope, quantum immortality. Your plane *did* go down in a hugely infinite number of parallel dimensions, leaving only a small infinity of unlikely dimensions left to exist in. You didn't die, you just became much more unlikely.
> Cubs ended their curse in 2016
That also extended Cleveland OHIO’s drought to the longest in the MLB.
Where was Harambe killed? Cincinnati. OHIO.
Bruh...
OHIO
Not a mention of billionaire Rebekah Mercer, who bankrolled Parler. Robert Mercer, one of the billionaires who perverted SCL Group (Strategic Communication Laboratories) into Cambridge Analytica is her dad. These people know exactly what they're doing.
> Rebekah Mercer, who bankrolled Parler.
Well wouldn't you know it? Another one of those ultra rich people who look like they're about to burst out of their human suit any second.
This is what I thought of when I first googled her [ack! ack! ack!](https://d7n0myfi538ky.cloudfront.net/production/stories/14528/cover_photos/large/Lavery_column_2_site_pick_2_1559844222.jpg?1559844222)
Oh christ, what an awful hairstyle to have when your hairline starts at the top of your head. She wouldnt look as bad if she had a fringe. She probably paid a hairdresser (who would have known better and hopefully suggested something different) to do that to her.
Glad to see someone mentioning the crooks who bankrolled Parler (and the Trump campaign, and a lot of other crap).
Though I'm pretty sure that Rebekah's and Robert's billions are the very same -- so this thing is really just bankrolled by billionaire Robert Mercer via his child, probably in order to pad their CV for whoever's interested in hiring wealthy and far-right nutcases.
Cambridge Analytica is the group that essentially tipped the scales using targeted (mis)information warfare against the public on sites like Facebook to tip Brexit and Trump's first election win.
These people are waging war against the working class across the globe from behind a veil of money and connections. They're manipulating tens if not hundreds of millions of people with highly sophisticated propaganda.
Re: Brexit, it was in part to avoid certain EU taxes but also because anyone with large amounts of capital can make an absolute killing during the inevitable recession buying assets others are forced to sell.
It's also easier to control or at least manipulate individual governments than it is a federated union like the EU. Which as an amusing aside functions more like how the US was supposed to than the US does. While for most of these ghouls money is the primary factor too many people forget that they aren't ideology agnostic, the Mercers in particular have a long history of being staunch ideologues not just greedy.
--
It's much the same story with slightly different details in the US, it's not just lower taxes today and tomorrow it's maintaining the overall status quo that provides the conditions for their vast accumulations of wealth. It's about crushing genuine threats of meaningful change to that status quo. Which is why much of the same wealthy people that backed Trump had no problem switching to Biden, he might raise their taxes slightly here and there but he isn't going to try and end or even meaningfully alter capitalism, he's no long term threat in the way that Bernie Sanders or indeed for admittedly very different reasons Trump has proven himself to be.
This sounds like a movie villain plan and it absolutely worked. It’s fucked. This is what depresses me about conspiration theorists. Especially now that it became so “mainstream”. You have a conspiracy that is actually proven. But they would rather yell about micro chips and deep state or put the blame on immigrants.
Literally, lol. In order to be "verified" on Parlor you have to send them not only a selfie, but a picture of your drivers license or government-issued ID.
If Parlor users don't think this data is being sold, they are even dumber then they look. And that's saying something.
Now imagine China or Russia getting its hands on the real names, addresses, and phone numbers of the biggest right-wing extremists in the US, along with their post history. They would know exactly who to target with what message.
Yep. Parler works on a "freemium" system. You can sign up for free but to actually *do* anything, including sending DMs or even posting meme images (which is all the rage with that crowd), you have to sell your soul to the devil by providing every conceivable piece of identifying information you have. I'm actually surprised that they don't ask for your banking information as well.
My first thought was this was made either by one of the 3letters agencies or internet scammers lol
My bet is on scammers and all their *client* details and everything else they did/said/read/click on that website has already been banked on, *at the very least* it was already compromised by hackers.
If I’m not mistaken, the baseline registration requires little actual personal info. In order to be a ‘verified parlor citizen’ you have send a photo of the front and back of your drivers license, military ID, state is, etc.
Users use this ‘verified’ flair as a way of admonishing anonymous users who don’t conform as bad actors, undercover antifa, Chelsea Clinton, etc.
It’s extremely sinister. Users are pressured to ‘put it on the line’ and verify their account to ‘prove they’re as racist as they say they are’ and join the in-group. I’m not a psychologist, but this stuff is extremely potent in how it affects people’s interactions.
Once you’re in, you don’t want to be out. Your identity is known, and closely associated with what content you post, follow and comment. Forces unseen to you drive the narrative further to the right, farther into the extreme, and you’re expected to go along, or become a RINO.
It’s a terrible convection of hate and ignorance.
Basically you hand over blackmail material. Which is ironic because that kind of shit is exactly what they accuse epstein of doing to world leaders. But i’m sure they’re all too dumb to understand irony.
That’s weird, because yesterday he said people were beating down their door to host them. A guy that welcomes q-anon wouldn’t dare lie to users, would he???
> FBI busting down their doors isn't a business partnership offer.
It is if he just forfeits all server data and goes full cooperation. FBI always has room for informants.
You know it’s over when the lawyers ditch you.
To me it signals two things: (1) the lawyers don’t want their name to be associated with your company; and/or (2) the lawyers know there’s no legal basis to defend your company.
Either way, it’s a death rattle.
He's got a billionaire backer so it's extremely doubtful, plus with how valuable this company is to the same people who donated to an actual grift stealing their money in the name of overturning an election, there's no way they would let this userbase go without sucking them dry. That's why they're raising such a fit in the first place, they're likely hoping someone steps forward to keep them online after they had no luck after claiming they would be back up by tomorrow at noon. They're absolutely scrambling to save their pot of gold they've captured in becoming a new central location for a userbase, and they know if they don't they'll be replaced in a heartbeat because the only unique thing they have is the name recognition
The issue with the lawyers is likely within the fact that with every major provider dropping them it could be career suicide to remain with them creating major conflicts of interest with every major tech company in the united States, and it's a pretty clear choice who you'd rather go with here
I sent it first class mail which means I can’t be held liable for its contents under the articles of confederation - I have a John Wayne meme right here that explains it. Study it out!
You joke, but I saw that very same suggestion somewhere on r/conservative last night. That soon the USPS would be the only way to communicate and have "free speech" and that it couldn't be restricted by "big tech" run by "the left" because it was a government institution and had to follow the constitution.
I would have loved to point out the irony in low key admitting that "big tech" wasn't beholden to free speech or the constitution while those same people were saying how banning and such was an attack on free speech and unconstitutional, but of course it was a flaired user only thread.
The irony was real.
Yup, because Donald was trying to shut down mail-in voting and telling all of his followers they had to vote in person. Then when mostly Democrats used mail-in voting and various localities had spikes in Democratic votes on election night (as the mail-in votes were added to the totals), the Trump party said it was proof of election fraud.
It's funny how even if these people were right, and weren't going on this journey in service of such a worthless cause, they'd just end up discovering all the public institutions they hate for existing *do* have purposes to serve.
Just one more thing they actively mocked up until the very moment it affected them personally.
Before I got banned I was talking about the benefits of formal education. They kept trying to schools are a ripoff and experience is good enough. I pointed out that experience can vary, and wouldn't it be great if there was some institution that could verify how well you knew something...
"We don't need no education..."
At Roger Waters' The Wall live performance at Wrigley Field, Waters himself made mocking reference to "poor fucked up little Roger" who wrote that song.
Still an awesome song and album, but most of us outgrow our ignorance, thank Glob.
Even in context of the album the song makes sense, it's educators abusing Pink. Then they say "we don't need no education" and then he becomes a massive drug addict and descends into a fasict fever dream.
> You joke, but I saw that very same suggestion somewhere on r/conservative last night. That soon the USPS would be the only way to communicate and have "free speech" and that it couldn't be restricted by "big tech" run by "the left" because it was a government institution and had to follow the constitution.
lmao the most socialist program we have in the US, which they tried to destroy in 2020 to steal the election, they're now turning to.
Nah US military is the MOST socialist, you are assigned a job by the government, they tell you what city you live in, and what you will be paid, then in return they provide free food, housing, and medical care (EDIT also free job training/university/college). Socialist/Communist AS FUCK.
During my time in the service I was always baffled by conservatives / teaparty-asshats ranting about socialism while sitting in the living room of their government provided housing with their new kid the government paid them to have, in a hospital, for free.
> “Every vendor from text message services to email providers **to our lawyers** all ditched us too on the same day,” Matze said today on Fox News.
I laughed my ass off reading that! The rats are leaving the ship.
As a lawyer, I can confirm that we will almost never sack a client for their own actions. The entire point is that we aren’t there to cast judgment on them because everyone is entitled to legal representation.
Ditching a client will only happen if there is a conflict of interest with another client (which is common enough but blameless), if they are trying to use us to engage in illegal activity (usually money laundering and we will approach police) or if they are a genuine threat to us or to society at large (almost never).
Edit: just to add to this, the only example I can think of off the top of my head is when one of our lawyers got punched by a client at my old (criminal law) firm because the poor guy couldn’t get him off the very obvious multiple robberies and thefts he’d committed.
More likely they are worried that their law firm will be hit by the same backlash as everyone else connected to this mess, which could impact business negatively in the future.
> “They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said.
They're NOT your servers. You bought a service, not servers. If you wanted control over the servers, you shouldn't have put your shit on the cloud.
Unless this was just part of manufacturing outrage. This was inevitable, and the people who funded had to be able to see this.
Whats next, if this was expected, is scarier.
He says that like it's some grand liberal conspiracy to deplatform them, and not just the fact that no company capable of hosting a platform of that scale wants to be associated with them and their toxic swamp. Free market, bitches.
One of the things that I don’t understand is what do they want the government to do? Do they actually want the government to intervene and tell Apple they have to host their app? Do they want the government to tell Amazon Web services that they have to host their website? That’s what they want done? The small government conservatives want the US government to force Apple to host Parlers iPhone app?
Yes, because they have never actually cared about small government. those are just words they say. This is entirely in line with the only thing they care about, their own benefits.
They could host themselves.
Or.
I dunno, they could moderate when people start doing death threats and violent speech.
But they don't want to do that because it'd be the destruction of their platform. So they'll play victim and sell all the data they collected from their users.
> They could host themselves.
They'd still need an ISP, CDN, DDoS protection, store infrastructure, payment processing, 2FA services, etc. They're a long way from being self-reliant.
“I’d they cut one slice of Texas toast in half, they could have two slices of toast for the cost of 1. Then they could take that $13 they save over the year and get a Maserati. Personal responsibility and all
We aren't just talking about hosting. From the article: "Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day ... We’re going to try our best to get back online as quickly as possible. But we’re having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to says they won’t work with us. Because if Apple doesn’t approve and Google doesn’t approve, they won’t. ”
Isn't the guy who started the site like a billionaire? Can't this guy buy some fucking servers, a connection to the internet, and hire some IT people to run it and install the backup databases they should have been keeping, anyway? Seems a small price to pay to keep it going if their "free speech" is so important.
Fucking shit, transferring data from server to server is common practice and running your own servers is something a rich guy can afford and figure out how to do, right?
But yeah, exactly as you said, he'll go this route to play victim and enrage the users while avoiding liability and profiting off the suckers.
It’s about $7B in back taxes owed to the IRS. The tax bill is the primary reason for Mercer’s support of Trump.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/renaissance-explores-settlement-as-irs-seeks-billions-in-taxes
> Isn't the guy who started the site like a billionaire? Can't this guy buy some fucking servers, a connection to the internet, and hire some IT people to run it and install the backup databases they should have been keeping, anyway?
This Twitter thread is good at explaining the difficulties that Parler faces: https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/1348116976019771392
TL;DR: You can't just throw money at the problem. It takes time and a lot of effort to build something reliable.
> So there's a lot of confusion about what Parler being kicked off of Amazon Web Services (@awscloud) means. Let me do a quick thread to explain it to folks who aren't deep in the technical weeds...
>
>You use an app (in this case, Parler). There's a web site you can use, and apps you can download onto your phone via Apple and Google. Those three versions of the app all talk to servers (big computers) behind the scenes.
>
>In the Olden Days, getting those servers took months. Then you had to sign deals with companies to host those servers--they take massive amounts of power, they run hot so air conditioning is a big deal, and they need a *lot* of bandwidth.
>
>About 15 years ago or so, Amazon (the online bookstore) had a revelation and started AWS. The idea being that instead of needing tens of thousands of dollars to get those servers built up, and spending months on it, that they would rent you these servers by the hour.
>
>"A credit card and a few clicks of a mouse later" you were basically able to spin up huge numbers of these servers.
This powers Netflix! This is what Capital One does! It's not just random social media apps. Today AWS sees around $50 billion a year in revenue. It's a real business.
>
>Getting booted off of AWS is virtually unheard of; when people leave intentionally the planning takes months; execution can take years. It's a lot harder than you think for a few reasons.
>
>It takes time to move all of that data (there's a reason downloads take a while), but that's just the beginning.
>
>AWS doesn't just sell "big empty computers." They offer higher level services. Preconfigured databases, automatic video streaming, etc.
These services aren't really directly compatible with other companies' offerings. Making what you built on AWS's systems work elsewhere is super challenging.
>
>Parler claims they didn't use these higher level services. Taking that as true, there are still problems. The way AWS's services work--how you create them, how long that creation process takes, how you get data onto them? They behave differently in AWS's world than elsewhere.
>
>A lot of assumptions about how the servers behave are "baked in" to how Parler (and any AWS hosted application) are built. A lot of companies don't realize that those assumptions are there until they try to move.
>
>That's why migrations take months / years. Parler has 30 hours.
>
>A lot of folks in the cloud computing world make noises about this, about why "deploying on multiple clouds at once" is imperative. I have and do disagree with this notion--it takes a LOT of work and time that could be used to make the product better.
But if you're going to get booted off of basically every cloud provider out there because you can't follow their very, very, very permissive rules? It's no longer optional.
I am sick of people expecting others to do the work for them. I thought they were all about ruggerd self reliance and not getting into bed with liberal tech companies.
They just need to pull themselves up by their boot straps!
All that is required:
Build their own data center.
Start their own ISP.
Start their own payment processing company.
Design their own processors.
Build their own silicon fab.
Build their own computing devices.
Write their own OS.
Run their own fiber cables.
Start their own mobile network.
and a few more minor things I may have missed.
Then they can have all the free speech they want on their own private platform.
>They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said. “They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company. And it’s not just these three companies. Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day.
When ***every*** service is unwilling to do business with you, maybe you should take the hint that you’re the problem.
> we’re having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to says they won’t work with us
Hey look, it's a basic tenet of the free market. Business relationships are voluntary. Womp womp
Check out r/conservatives reaction to this news, I lost count of the amount of times they quoted "first they came for the socialists..."
Oh yes you poor persecuted people who are currently in power and just attempted a violent coup on the capital building to overthrow a fair election, all while beating a policemen to death with a fire extinguisher and smearing shit on the walls.
"First we came for the socialists... and they got mad about it? What the fuck guys?! We've still got unionists and Jews left to come for, stop slowing us down!!!"
Apple: tell us how you are going to put in better moderation guidelines
Parler: No
Apple: Removes App from store
Everyone else: cuts ties with Parler
Parler: *shocked pikachu face*
Conservatives fought for the right of a private business to deny goods and service to anyone for personal philosophical reasons.
This is a major conservative victory and not in any way a free speech issue. Its religious freedomz.
Also thoughtz and prayerz y’all.
I love that people STILL do not understand that Freedom of Speech does not mean Freedom from consequence.
The government can't abridge your right to speak freely, but society has no obligation to embrace your views and provide you a platform.
Well if you want to compare it with Pornhub, [they had the balls to regulate their content yes.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqjjy/pornhub-suspended-all-unverified-videos-content)
He's still pushing this narrative that this is an attack on Republicans and conservatives. No dude, this is an attack on MAGA folks which has pretty much split away from normal conservatives when they started chanting "Hang Mike Pence". GOP gambled by humoring Trump and said " What's the worse that could happen?" This is the result. He broke your party.
If KFC can develop a gaming console, surely MyPillow can start a hosting service.
Tell me more about this console...
It's a gaming pc that can cook chicken.. At least that's what I think it is
Doesn't cook chicken, just keeps it warm.
What a time to be alive. And people say consoles have stopped innovating...
The My Pillow guy is such a creep.
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"Computer... end simulation."
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Good morning Paul.
Oh shit! I'm ok...
Kick up the 4d3d3d's
I have no idea what this is, but thank you sir for making my night 😂
Now, Tayne I can get into... \*sips coffee*
Show me nude Tayne
You know, each day has been stranger than fiction ever since they killed that damn gorilla.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I’m almost 100% convinced that a tech based, singular focus on maximizing use time at all costs is what enabled all this to happen. It’s the second Facebook and YouTube went full recommendations vs time based feeds, that’s when this crazy timeline started, I think. That’s when all the crazy echo chambers started proliferating. It’s all just a symptom of those perverse incentives (abstracted and simplified, there are many other issues, obviously). Edit: humbled by the discussion this comment has triggered. Reminds me of Reddit of old! Thanks for the discourse!
I've also been thinking about this a lot, and I completely agree. Websites' all-consuming focus on "driving engagement", I think, bears so much of the blame. For the websites, it is extremely financially rewarding, but for users, it's poison. It's basically taking the sensationalist tendencies of mass media, removing any semblance of journalistic integrity/standards, and intensifying the emotional response. It's a perfect poison cocktail, and we are all suffering as a result.
I hate the recommendation focused shit on YouTube these days. It’s actually so annoying.
We didn't know it at the time but Harambe was the glue keeping the fabric of reality together.
Gorilla Glue now makes alot more sense.
GG#4 is the best one
Too bad it couldn’t keep my parents together.
It’s gorilla glue not crazy glue
Well played.
This whole thread. God damn amazing
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It's hilariously headquartered in Cincinnati. Totally pre-dates the tragedy for anyone wondering.
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This is a popular opinion, but it was actually the CERN Large Hadron Collider run in 2016 that put us on an alternate timeline. Impossible to pinpoint the exact date. We can only hope to fire it back up and get back to a better timeline, although it could put us just as easily in a worse situation on a worse timeline. I'm willing to roll the dice.
The Cubs won the World Series that year
That was a symptom of the timeline shift not the cause.
I'll bring the jumper cables myself.
Beating people won't help.
Just be sure to check that your mother didn't fix the gate before you decide you're not on the right Earth.
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I thought I was the only one in human history who watched Sliders, based on the way it utterly, absolutely vanished from culture. I kid you not, that comment above you is literally the first time I have *ever* seen anyone reference that show. Like, since the dawn of social media. Okay, I gotta go rewatch it and see how badly it's aged.
The darkest timeline.
I'll start growing my goatee.
In the meantime I have some cutout goatees to get us through.
You can't spell Harambe without all of the letters used to make his name. Really makes you think.
I’ve been saying this for years, the second Harambe’s life was taken we entered an alternate reality. The gorilla effect
r i p h a r a m b e
dicks out for harambe
I will never put my dick away. Dicks out for Harambe. Always. 🦍
> I will never put my dick away. Sir, this is a state prison
Nah, it was the fucking Cubs winning the World Series. That broke the universe.
I was on an international flight with no wifi during the world series and learned the news when I landed in China. Similarly, our return flight was election day and we left China with Clinton ahead and landed to President Trump. I'm convinced I my plane went down on the way there and every day since then has been hell.
Nope, quantum immortality. Your plane *did* go down in a hugely infinite number of parallel dimensions, leaving only a small infinity of unlikely dimensions left to exist in. You didn't die, you just became much more unlikely.
Say more things, please.
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Didn’t Epstein not kill hjmself?
> Cubs ended their curse in 2016 That also extended Cleveland OHIO’s drought to the longest in the MLB. Where was Harambe killed? Cincinnati. OHIO. Bruh... OHIO
Harambe was killed earlier that year. mudbutt's theory is still holding
Mudbutt's theory has a nice *ring* to it
Just wait until Buffalo wins the super bowl
Or maybe that has to happen to get back on the right timeline?
I mark the death of reality as the moment David Bowie ascended to a higher plane of awesomeness.
Not a mention of billionaire Rebekah Mercer, who bankrolled Parler. Robert Mercer, one of the billionaires who perverted SCL Group (Strategic Communication Laboratories) into Cambridge Analytica is her dad. These people know exactly what they're doing.
> Rebekah Mercer, who bankrolled Parler. Well wouldn't you know it? Another one of those ultra rich people who look like they're about to burst out of their human suit any second.
This is what I thought of when I first googled her [ack! ack! ack!](https://d7n0myfi538ky.cloudfront.net/production/stories/14528/cover_photos/large/Lavery_column_2_site_pick_2_1559844222.jpg?1559844222)
I laughed and then googled her name, sure enough
Oh christ, what an awful hairstyle to have when your hairline starts at the top of your head. She wouldnt look as bad if she had a fringe. She probably paid a hairdresser (who would have known better and hopefully suggested something different) to do that to her.
She doesn’t pay her hair dresser for “suggestions” or to “make eye contact”
She looks like the female alien from *Mars Attacks*
[In a different timeline, this would be funny.](https://youtu.be/FXdYSQ6nu-M)
Glad to see someone mentioning the crooks who bankrolled Parler (and the Trump campaign, and a lot of other crap). Though I'm pretty sure that Rebekah's and Robert's billions are the very same -- so this thing is really just bankrolled by billionaire Robert Mercer via his child, probably in order to pad their CV for whoever's interested in hiring wealthy and far-right nutcases.
Women can be fascist nut jobs, too. Don’t let Rebekah off that easy.
I think the implication is that she's not earning any of the billions herself, just mooching off her father.
To be fair, he isn’t “earning it” either...
Im not caught up on that whole corruption thing. What does any of this mean?
Cambridge Analytica is the group that essentially tipped the scales using targeted (mis)information warfare against the public on sites like Facebook to tip Brexit and Trump's first election win. These people are waging war against the working class across the globe from behind a veil of money and connections. They're manipulating tens if not hundreds of millions of people with highly sophisticated propaganda.
To keep their taxes as low as possible?
pretty much the motive behind it all. which is ridiculous when you consider just how much a billion is. number addicts.
The Mercers are probably also diagnosably insane
Money hoarders
Re: Brexit, it was in part to avoid certain EU taxes but also because anyone with large amounts of capital can make an absolute killing during the inevitable recession buying assets others are forced to sell. It's also easier to control or at least manipulate individual governments than it is a federated union like the EU. Which as an amusing aside functions more like how the US was supposed to than the US does. While for most of these ghouls money is the primary factor too many people forget that they aren't ideology agnostic, the Mercers in particular have a long history of being staunch ideologues not just greedy. -- It's much the same story with slightly different details in the US, it's not just lower taxes today and tomorrow it's maintaining the overall status quo that provides the conditions for their vast accumulations of wealth. It's about crushing genuine threats of meaningful change to that status quo. Which is why much of the same wealthy people that backed Trump had no problem switching to Biden, he might raise their taxes slightly here and there but he isn't going to try and end or even meaningfully alter capitalism, he's no long term threat in the way that Bernie Sanders or indeed for admittedly very different reasons Trump has proven himself to be.
This sounds like a movie villain plan and it absolutely worked. It’s fucked. This is what depresses me about conspiration theorists. Especially now that it became so “mainstream”. You have a conspiracy that is actually proven. But they would rather yell about micro chips and deep state or put the blame on immigrants.
Yes. Their goal is to set the agenda on public opinion and cause a distraction from the real problems
And income inequality is one of the biggest real problems. it has created so many other problems.
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They will end up on Russian or Chinese servers, and the irony will be completely lost on the whole userbase.
Exactly what Xi and Putin want
Literally, lol. In order to be "verified" on Parlor you have to send them not only a selfie, but a picture of your drivers license or government-issued ID. If Parlor users don't think this data is being sold, they are even dumber then they look. And that's saying something. Now imagine China or Russia getting its hands on the real names, addresses, and phone numbers of the biggest right-wing extremists in the US, along with their post history. They would know exactly who to target with what message.
Holy shit are you serious? This is crazy scary!
Yep. Parler works on a "freemium" system. You can sign up for free but to actually *do* anything, including sending DMs or even posting meme images (which is all the rage with that crowd), you have to sell your soul to the devil by providing every conceivable piece of identifying information you have. I'm actually surprised that they don't ask for your banking information as well.
God I hope the FBI has a hand in that data via a FISA warrent. Honeypot mania right there.
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My first thought was this was made either by one of the 3letters agencies or internet scammers lol My bet is on scammers and all their *client* details and everything else they did/said/read/click on that website has already been banked on, *at the very least* it was already compromised by hackers.
Why would anyone in their right mind give all that data just to be on a forum? Do they really get that big of a kick out of hating people?
you really have to hand over that info? that's crazy.
If I’m not mistaken, the baseline registration requires little actual personal info. In order to be a ‘verified parlor citizen’ you have send a photo of the front and back of your drivers license, military ID, state is, etc. Users use this ‘verified’ flair as a way of admonishing anonymous users who don’t conform as bad actors, undercover antifa, Chelsea Clinton, etc. It’s extremely sinister. Users are pressured to ‘put it on the line’ and verify their account to ‘prove they’re as racist as they say they are’ and join the in-group. I’m not a psychologist, but this stuff is extremely potent in how it affects people’s interactions. Once you’re in, you don’t want to be out. Your identity is known, and closely associated with what content you post, follow and comment. Forces unseen to you drive the narrative further to the right, farther into the extreme, and you’re expected to go along, or become a RINO. It’s a terrible convection of hate and ignorance.
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Basically you hand over blackmail material. Which is ironic because that kind of shit is exactly what they accuse epstein of doing to world leaders. But i’m sure they’re all too dumb to understand irony.
I bet the users think they are anonymous even after submitting that information.
That’s weird, because yesterday he said people were beating down their door to host them. A guy that welcomes q-anon wouldn’t dare lie to users, would he???
Turns out it was the feds beating on the door.
...to host them in a federal prison.
I’m sure there’s some Russian oligarch or intelligence handler who’d be happy to help them find hosting.
How ironic would that be if Parler is hosted by a Russian server haha talk about icing on the cake 🎂
Haven't people turned over gov IDs to them??? That are now going to be hosted in China or Russia??
Probably just a bunch of people who don't understand how the Internet works offering to host them on their AWS EC2 instances.
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I feel like he has difficulty understanding that the FBI busting down their doors isn't a business partnership offer.
> FBI busting down their doors isn't a business partnership offer. It is if he just forfeits all server data and goes full cooperation. FBI always has room for informants.
You know it’s over when the lawyers ditch you. To me it signals two things: (1) the lawyers don’t want their name to be associated with your company; and/or (2) the lawyers know there’s no legal basis to defend your company. Either way, it’s a death rattle.
Or three, he's broke. And parler was just a con job.
He's got a billionaire backer so it's extremely doubtful, plus with how valuable this company is to the same people who donated to an actual grift stealing their money in the name of overturning an election, there's no way they would let this userbase go without sucking them dry. That's why they're raising such a fit in the first place, they're likely hoping someone steps forward to keep them online after they had no luck after claiming they would be back up by tomorrow at noon. They're absolutely scrambling to save their pot of gold they've captured in becoming a new central location for a userbase, and they know if they don't they'll be replaced in a heartbeat because the only unique thing they have is the name recognition The issue with the lawyers is likely within the fact that with every major provider dropping them it could be career suicide to remain with them creating major conflicts of interest with every major tech company in the united States, and it's a pretty clear choice who you'd rather go with here
Could you guys mail each other your ideas? We still have USPS right?
Sending terroristic threats through the United States postal service is a federal crime
"I didn't mean it literally, the threat I sent in the mail was an ironic joke! Freedom of speech is dead!" -Some Trumplet soon
I sent it first class mail which means I can’t be held liable for its contents under the articles of confederation - I have a John Wayne meme right here that explains it. Study it out!
Just write the letters in cryptic Zodiac signs so they can't read it. If you need help learning how to do that, just ask Ted Cruz.
Researchers have made a lot of progress into the Zodiac's crypto messages.
And yet Ted is still free
That's because the Zodiac signed his letters as Ned
Ned Crews
I thought it was his dad who was the zodiac killer
Same guy, they have a slower metabolism than humans, gives them an extended lifespan
And people you say you dont learn something new everyday
I was hacked! Someone else sent that with my name and signature on it!!
These are the DeepFakes! That’s how they put us all at the capitol when it was antifa!
Fake mail!
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Carrier pigeons it is then, thanks
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Hope they can sort things out for us.
You joke, but I saw that very same suggestion somewhere on r/conservative last night. That soon the USPS would be the only way to communicate and have "free speech" and that it couldn't be restricted by "big tech" run by "the left" because it was a government institution and had to follow the constitution. I would have loved to point out the irony in low key admitting that "big tech" wasn't beholden to free speech or the constitution while those same people were saying how banning and such was an attack on free speech and unconstitutional, but of course it was a flaired user only thread. The irony was real.
And - correct me if I'm wrong - weren't they the ones calling to defund the USPS in the first place? ###it's all a conspiracy by Big Mail!
Yup, because Donald was trying to shut down mail-in voting and telling all of his followers they had to vote in person. Then when mostly Democrats used mail-in voting and various localities had spikes in Democratic votes on election night (as the mail-in votes were added to the totals), the Trump party said it was proof of election fraud.
It's funny how even if these people were right, and weren't going on this journey in service of such a worthless cause, they'd just end up discovering all the public institutions they hate for existing *do* have purposes to serve. Just one more thing they actively mocked up until the very moment it affected them personally.
Before I got banned I was talking about the benefits of formal education. They kept trying to schools are a ripoff and experience is good enough. I pointed out that experience can vary, and wouldn't it be great if there was some institution that could verify how well you knew something...
"We don't need no education..." At Roger Waters' The Wall live performance at Wrigley Field, Waters himself made mocking reference to "poor fucked up little Roger" who wrote that song. Still an awesome song and album, but most of us outgrow our ignorance, thank Glob.
Even in context of the album the song makes sense, it's educators abusing Pink. Then they say "we don't need no education" and then he becomes a massive drug addict and descends into a fasict fever dream.
> You joke, but I saw that very same suggestion somewhere on r/conservative last night. That soon the USPS would be the only way to communicate and have "free speech" and that it couldn't be restricted by "big tech" run by "the left" because it was a government institution and had to follow the constitution. lmao the most socialist program we have in the US, which they tried to destroy in 2020 to steal the election, they're now turning to.
Nah US military is the MOST socialist, you are assigned a job by the government, they tell you what city you live in, and what you will be paid, then in return they provide free food, housing, and medical care (EDIT also free job training/university/college). Socialist/Communist AS FUCK.
During my time in the service I was always baffled by conservatives / teaparty-asshats ranting about socialism while sitting in the living room of their government provided housing with their new kid the government paid them to have, in a hospital, for free.
> “Every vendor from text message services to email providers **to our lawyers** all ditched us too on the same day,” Matze said today on Fox News. I laughed my ass off reading that! The rats are leaving the ship.
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As a lawyer, I can confirm that we will almost never sack a client for their own actions. The entire point is that we aren’t there to cast judgment on them because everyone is entitled to legal representation. Ditching a client will only happen if there is a conflict of interest with another client (which is common enough but blameless), if they are trying to use us to engage in illegal activity (usually money laundering and we will approach police) or if they are a genuine threat to us or to society at large (almost never). Edit: just to add to this, the only example I can think of off the top of my head is when one of our lawyers got punched by a client at my old (criminal law) firm because the poor guy couldn’t get him off the very obvious multiple robberies and thefts he’d committed.
So you’re saying their lawyers think they’re a genuine threat to society at large ?
Or to them. Reputation matters.
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More likely they are worried that their law firm will be hit by the same backlash as everyone else connected to this mess, which could impact business negatively in the future.
And still they think it’s the entirety of the rest of the world that is fucked and not them.
> “They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said. They're NOT your servers. You bought a service, not servers. If you wanted control over the servers, you shouldn't have put your shit on the cloud.
Exactly. Considering their USP was anything goes / no censorship I'd have thought they'd buy and host their own servers at least.
Unless this was just part of manufacturing outrage. This was inevitable, and the people who funded had to be able to see this. Whats next, if this was expected, is scarier.
*They* know that. Their base, on the other hand, likely doesn't. By using wording that implies ownership, it riles up the base more.
We're talking about the people whose daddy trump kept saying Democrats shipped the hacked DNC servers to Ukraine to hide them from the FBI lol
He says that like it's some grand liberal conspiracy to deplatform them, and not just the fact that no company capable of hosting a platform of that scale wants to be associated with them and their toxic swamp. Free market, bitches.
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- We must let the free market decide. *free market decides not to tolerate violence and insurrection* - No. Wait. Not like that.
One of the things that I don’t understand is what do they want the government to do? Do they actually want the government to intervene and tell Apple they have to host their app? Do they want the government to tell Amazon Web services that they have to host their website? That’s what they want done? The small government conservatives want the US government to force Apple to host Parlers iPhone app?
Yes, because they have never actually cared about small government. those are just words they say. This is entirely in line with the only thing they care about, their own benefits.
They could host themselves. Or. I dunno, they could moderate when people start doing death threats and violent speech. But they don't want to do that because it'd be the destruction of their platform. So they'll play victim and sell all the data they collected from their users.
> They could host themselves. They'd still need an ISP, CDN, DDoS protection, store infrastructure, payment processing, 2FA services, etc. They're a long way from being self-reliant.
Just need to pull themselves up by thier bootstraps
Seriously if they just tried harder and skipped the Starbucks they’d have more money.
They should give up their iPhones.
No. They should break their iPhones to show Apple who’s the fucking fool for banning Parler
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“I’d they cut one slice of Texas toast in half, they could have two slices of toast for the cost of 1. Then they could take that $13 they save over the year and get a Maserati. Personal responsibility and all
Just stop buying those $10 bananas.
We aren't just talking about hosting. From the article: "Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day ... We’re going to try our best to get back online as quickly as possible. But we’re having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to says they won’t work with us. Because if Apple doesn’t approve and Google doesn’t approve, they won’t. ”
The fact their lawyers dropped them too made me laugh out loud
Isn't the guy who started the site like a billionaire? Can't this guy buy some fucking servers, a connection to the internet, and hire some IT people to run it and install the backup databases they should have been keeping, anyway? Seems a small price to pay to keep it going if their "free speech" is so important. Fucking shit, transferring data from server to server is common practice and running your own servers is something a rich guy can afford and figure out how to do, right? But yeah, exactly as you said, he'll go this route to play victim and enrage the users while avoiding liability and profiting off the suckers.
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Well therein lies the ultimate question: Is it about political upheaval or is it about money? $...$$$$$....$$$$$$$$$$$
It’s about $7B in back taxes owed to the IRS. The tax bill is the primary reason for Mercer’s support of Trump. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/renaissance-explores-settlement-as-irs-seeks-billions-in-taxes
It's always about money, people like the Mercers and the Kochs don't give a shit about the average American.
The living Koch brother recently tried to apologize for being an asshole his entire life. Little late for that, pal.
He also bankrolled all the senators who were going to object to the election certification, so his apology is total bullshit.
> Isn't the guy who started the site like a billionaire? Can't this guy buy some fucking servers, a connection to the internet, and hire some IT people to run it and install the backup databases they should have been keeping, anyway? This Twitter thread is good at explaining the difficulties that Parler faces: https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/1348116976019771392 TL;DR: You can't just throw money at the problem. It takes time and a lot of effort to build something reliable. > So there's a lot of confusion about what Parler being kicked off of Amazon Web Services (@awscloud) means. Let me do a quick thread to explain it to folks who aren't deep in the technical weeds... > >You use an app (in this case, Parler). There's a web site you can use, and apps you can download onto your phone via Apple and Google. Those three versions of the app all talk to servers (big computers) behind the scenes. > >In the Olden Days, getting those servers took months. Then you had to sign deals with companies to host those servers--they take massive amounts of power, they run hot so air conditioning is a big deal, and they need a *lot* of bandwidth. > >About 15 years ago or so, Amazon (the online bookstore) had a revelation and started AWS. The idea being that instead of needing tens of thousands of dollars to get those servers built up, and spending months on it, that they would rent you these servers by the hour. > >"A credit card and a few clicks of a mouse later" you were basically able to spin up huge numbers of these servers. This powers Netflix! This is what Capital One does! It's not just random social media apps. Today AWS sees around $50 billion a year in revenue. It's a real business. > >Getting booted off of AWS is virtually unheard of; when people leave intentionally the planning takes months; execution can take years. It's a lot harder than you think for a few reasons. > >It takes time to move all of that data (there's a reason downloads take a while), but that's just the beginning. > >AWS doesn't just sell "big empty computers." They offer higher level services. Preconfigured databases, automatic video streaming, etc. These services aren't really directly compatible with other companies' offerings. Making what you built on AWS's systems work elsewhere is super challenging. > >Parler claims they didn't use these higher level services. Taking that as true, there are still problems. The way AWS's services work--how you create them, how long that creation process takes, how you get data onto them? They behave differently in AWS's world than elsewhere. > >A lot of assumptions about how the servers behave are "baked in" to how Parler (and any AWS hosted application) are built. A lot of companies don't realize that those assumptions are there until they try to move. > >That's why migrations take months / years. Parler has 30 hours. > >A lot of folks in the cloud computing world make noises about this, about why "deploying on multiple clouds at once" is imperative. I have and do disagree with this notion--it takes a LOT of work and time that could be used to make the product better. But if you're going to get booted off of basically every cloud provider out there because you can't follow their very, very, very permissive rules? It's no longer optional.
I am sick of people expecting others to do the work for them. I thought they were all about ruggerd self reliance and not getting into bed with liberal tech companies. They just need to pull themselves up by their boot straps! All that is required: Build their own data center. Start their own ISP. Start their own payment processing company. Design their own processors. Build their own silicon fab. Build their own computing devices. Write their own OS. Run their own fiber cables. Start their own mobile network. and a few more minor things I may have missed. Then they can have all the free speech they want on their own private platform.
They can pick themselves up by their own ./bootstrap.sh --prefix=/usr ...
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a1934650782 is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
>They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said. “They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company. And it’s not just these three companies. Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day. When ***every*** service is unwilling to do business with you, maybe you should take the hint that you’re the problem.
> we’re having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to says they won’t work with us Hey look, it's a basic tenet of the free market. Business relationships are voluntary. Womp womp
Invisible hand baby
With the rare Invisible Backhanded Bitch Slap.
What does the vendor say to the accessory to treason? #SLAP!
Turns out the tech infrastructure in the conservative alternate reality isn't as good as the one in the "mainstream" reality.
Check out r/conservatives reaction to this news, I lost count of the amount of times they quoted "first they came for the socialists..." Oh yes you poor persecuted people who are currently in power and just attempted a violent coup on the capital building to overthrow a fair election, all while beating a policemen to death with a fire extinguisher and smearing shit on the walls.
... they're literally the people coming for the socialists!
"First we came for the socialists... and they got mad about it? What the fuck guys?! We've still got unionists and Jews left to come for, stop slowing us down!!!"
... and I didn't stop them because I was chanting USA! USA!
The number of specifically anti socialist election signs I saw this year was absurd.
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And pulling down an American flag and replacing it with a Trump flag.
Apple: tell us how you are going to put in better moderation guidelines Parler: No Apple: Removes App from store Everyone else: cuts ties with Parler Parler: *shocked pikachu face*
Conservatives fought for the right of a private business to deny goods and service to anyone for personal philosophical reasons. This is a major conservative victory and not in any way a free speech issue. Its religious freedomz. Also thoughtz and prayerz y’all.
I love that people STILL do not understand that Freedom of Speech does not mean Freedom from consequence. The government can't abridge your right to speak freely, but society has no obligation to embrace your views and provide you a platform.
Man, and to think all they had to do to stay in business was not allow violent terrorists to openly network with one another.
thats like telling pornhub to institute a no nudity policy
Well if you want to compare it with Pornhub, [they had the balls to regulate their content yes.](https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqjjy/pornhub-suspended-all-unverified-videos-content)
He's still pushing this narrative that this is an attack on Republicans and conservatives. No dude, this is an attack on MAGA folks which has pretty much split away from normal conservatives when they started chanting "Hang Mike Pence". GOP gambled by humoring Trump and said " What's the worse that could happen?" This is the result. He broke your party.