I’ll go first: r/kitty. One of the hundred grillion cat subs back on Reddit, the culture in this one was you posted a cat picture, and the only word allowed in the title or in any comments or replies was “Kitty.”

Someone is using that subreddit for covert communications, I just know it. Either on the level of “if u/PM_me_your_nostrils posts an orange cat, we attack at dawn!” or there’s some steganography going on with the pictures, but that subreddit was too stupid to be as active as it was.

  • Thrillhouse@lemmy.world
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    My city has a local company that rents storage units and they have entirely too many locations relative to the population of our city such that I believe they’re a criminal enterprise. I believe they construct so many new buildings for money laundering purposes and to facilitate human trafficking and drug running out of them.

    Breaking news, I just googled them and one of the owners was convicted in his 20s of trying to sell poached falcons to Saudi Arabian royalty. The plot thickens.

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      We have a computer repair shop in my town that does not do computer repair. Ask them if they can fix something, the answer is always “we don’t do that.” Even simple shit like screen repair on cell phones, which they have signs on their windows saying they do. “We don’t do that.” My landlord owns the local radio station, he says they’ve tried to get them to do computer repair for them. “we don’t do that.” Factory I worked out tried them. “We don’t do that” Friend needed keyboard repaired on laptop. “We don’t do that” I’m so convinced at this point that whenever I meet a local business owner I ask them who they use for any computer repair, and it’s always the same answer as to why they don’t use this one place, that’s a big store, in the only strip mall in town. They only have one dude in the store, who’s constantly got some right wing radio or YouTuber on. There’s no other employees, no reasonable way they’re affording the outrageous rent for such prime real estate. There aren’t many businesses in this town, and almost all of them use someone from the bigger city 35 minutes away

      On top of all of that, there used to be a Mexican grocery store in town (in the same parking lot, in fact) that never actually sold any food, and would always say they were closed if you walked in. They got shut down because they were apparently part of a group that was bringing in undocumented workers. The dude who owns the computer repair place is the cousin of the guy who owned the Mexican grocery store.

      • Today@lemmy.world
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        I would like to see Tulsa King walk in there with a water bottle and confront that guy.

    • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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      Look around for donkeys.

      Forgers and tricksters often have mixed the falcon meat with donkey meat (cheaper, because easier to catch), at a ratio 1:1, that is, one falcon, one donkey.

  • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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    Elon Musk is not an idiot. He was hired by other rich people like the Saudis to destroy Twitter, to prevent further incidents of public protest organization like what happened in Egypt and the Occupy movement. The degradation of the platform is intentional, and the amplification of right-wing voices helps to chase left-leaning social activists off of the platform. There is no equivalent platform for in-the-moment organization of protests.

      • Artyom@lemm.ee
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        30 days ago

        This conspiracy can still be true, even if you assume Elon is an idiot.

    • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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      Okay, my conspiracy is that this is a conspiracy by Elon so people think he’s an evil genius instead of the bumbling, idea-stealing moron with an inflated budget that he really is.

      The only reason Bluesky isn’t more active is because it isn’t as active, which is becoming less of an issue by the day. And I STILL see activists gathering on twitter.

    • Valmond@lemmy.world
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      People who thinks musk, trump, putin etc are stupid are … stupid I guess.

      They usually have mental problems like narcissism or psycopathy and lack all kind of feelings but stupid? No.

      • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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        No, they can be all those things at the same time. Heck, it helps to be all three.

        It was narcissism that made Musk want to buy twitter, but stupidity that made him think it would stop people from mocking him. And he came up with naming it X, so that’s more evidence.

        The only reason the world didn’t realise he was an idiot sooner was because he had enough money to buy the ideas of smarter people.

        • Valmond@lemmy.world
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          You seriously think it bothers billionaires what you think about them?

          I don’t.

          • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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            I don’t think money has any effect on it. Some billionaires are willing to keep to themselves and roll in their money pit. Some billionaires try to buy the white house and publish a book with their face on it. If they don’t care what people think, they’re wasting a lot of money on something they don’t care about.

    • Drunemeton@lemmy.world
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      Or he was backed by some real dirt bags to keep Twitter afloat so the misinformation can continue unabated. Protesters can be easily found out. Humans trafficked. Etc.

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      If something looks, walks, barks and smells like a dog, chances are, it’s a dog.

      The world is complicated enough as is, no need to make it more complicated.

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    Some US states that keep enacting highly unpopular anti-trans, anti-woke, sexist, racist legislation are doing it in an effort to get left-aligned people to move away and not consider going there, with the goal of skewing elections in their favor.

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        It might be one of the oldest type of conspiracy, that humans created when societies started to be a thing.

    • rainynight65@feddit.org
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      It would be more compelling if some US states weren’t also openly and unabashedly engaged in active voter suppression.

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      How is this a conspiracy, the whole red neck stereotype of “We don’t like your kind around here” shows how this has been part of common knowledge for a long time.

      I’m not saying it’s obviously true, I’m saying I thought this was a popular belief.

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        Most politicians seem like grifters and change positions to whatever is popular with their base or donors though. So, it does seem like this is a part of some grand-plan. I don’t think many Republican politicians actually care about women’s sports or who uses which restroom, yet they manufacture outrage and campaign on it. This kind of stuff was on no “normal” person’s mind before media started focusing on it.

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    I think that people being in overly light polluted areas for their entire lives is or at least is a major part of what’s wrong with society these days.

    When you go out at night and look at a sky completely filled with stars it makes you feel a certain way. Full of wonder, small, curious. Conversations always go in the “what if” or “what do you think about” sort of direction. It really puts you in your place in a strangely calm, thoughtful , and healthy way. And the more you can see, the better. If the Milky Way is visible it just puts you in awe.

    People don’t get to experience that very often, if at all, when they live in a populated area.

    I think that is by design.

    If you cannot just go outside and get that huge feeling of idk existential wonder, you’re going to get hard coded into your personal fears and beliefs and all that whatnot. This drives the population apart. Meanwhile, all forms of light pollution measures are either deemed too expensive or just not enforced. At least in my area. And large amounts of the population live somewhat close to an airport. Never really gets dark at night near an airport…

    Anyways that’s my ted talk about how light bulbs are ripping society apart by its very fibers. Next up is how ceilings are a conspiracy to keep the poors underfoot if anyone wants to hear it.

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      Cities tend to be more light polluted, but less racially divided than rural areas, though.

      I think it’s more about exposure. If you’re never exposed to a certain kind of people, some people just won’t trust them.

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        Yeah, people in cities tend to be less conservative and more open minded. The more rural, which means less light pollution, are the opposite. So I don’t think that conspiracy really holds.

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      Take it one step further and that sense of wonder is why I feel the powers that be reacted swiftly to squash psychedelics and shut down all research into them, unless the research benefitted the national security cartel, of course.

      It’s difficult for rulers to maintain capitalist control when you can eat a piece of paper and have the wonders of the universe revealed to you and realize that it’s supposed to be about loving other humans. Makes neverending consumption and 9-5 work seem really lame in comparison.

      • eldoom@lemmy.ml
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        The ceilings one is way simpler.

        When you spend a lot of time in a place with low ceilings it makes you subconsciously feel trapped. After a while of it your actions and behavior will likely start to reflect that and you will probably be less likely to do anything that you can for your future.

        You don’t get that in a place with higher ceilings.

  • JakenVeina@lemm.ee
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    Also related to reddit, since that’s where I was always inundated with this shit, before moving here: the constant stream of Genshin Impact leaks that come out, that the whole obnoxious subculture is built around, are just released by Mihoyo, intentionally, under the guise of all the anonymous leakers that constantly come and go. Seems to me like the only explanation for how CONSTANTLY leaks come out, and how they’re basically never actually damaging to the game or the company, while being REALLY effective at stirring up obsession in the fanbase, and driving people to invest more time and money into the game to be prepped to get the next new character immediately on release.

    Also how so many of the leakers would release extremely accurate stats and numbers, but then drop statements like “if I release any more than this, I’d be risking my safety” or “since everyone’s been asking about it, I’ll go ahead and confirm X, but after this I’m gonna have to go on hiatus for a while, until things cool down”. Seems like nonsense meant to either inflate the leaker’s ego, or rile up the fanbase.

  • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
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    Insurance companies randomly deny claims just to see if you’ll fight it. If you don’t, they’ll know they can deny more if your claims in the future. This is illegal, but if it’s a “bug” in the software or “AI” than they get away with it. Actually it’s harder with AI since people are more skeptical and have already caught them doing it. However this may be due to the AI being trained on the intentionally buggy software.

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      They actually do use software to find deniable claims that would theoretically have to be reviewed by a doctor. The doctor pulls up a while page of to be denied claims and theoretically gives them the legally required review all at once in the 30 seconds before he hits the button. There is no reason NOT to feed propensity to accept fake denial into the equation. You could even white wash it by presuming that prior denials that stuck were indication of bad claims and assert you are measuring their proclivity for filing wasteful claims.

    • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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      I believe this based off my limited interactions with insurance companies. I was in a car crash that was 100% caused by the idiot who was fucking with their phone instead of looking at what they were crashing into. Their insurance company tried to stick me with months of rental fees from when my car was being repaired. I eventually filed a complaint with my state insurance commissioner and told their insurance company what’s up, they got right on it after that. Literally, that same day they had multiple people contacting me to say we’re all good now and apologizing about the misunderstanding.

    • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
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      Credit card companies do the same thing. They know the poors can’t afford to fight them. They do probe tests occasionally to see what the peasants will do.

  • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
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    Just posted about this in a different thread:

    The US senators: mitch mcconnell, ted cruz, and lindsey graham used fraud to win their respective seats in 2020. All three were in tight races according to the polls but all three won with bigger margins than was to be expected.

    This idea came from a few articles that were discussing this issue a few days after the election, then those articles all just disappeared.

    Maybe the articles disappeared because there was no fraud

    Maybe the articles disappeared because there was?

  • mysticpickle@lemmy.ca
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    Tiktok is a Chinese psyop to turn the next generation of Americans into drooling idiots.

    • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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      The previous generation probably said the same about MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc.

      Let people enjoy what they enjoy. There will always be idiots everywhere, and TikTok emerging won’t suddenly make Americans dumber.

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        There’s a HUGE difference between tiktok and all of the sites you’ve posted. Wikipedia? The fuck are you on about?!

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          Maybe you’re not old enough to realise this, but for a long time Wikipedia was seen as being a dangerous site to learn from, because “anyone can edit it”.

          Every generation goes through shit like this. Stop pretending that TikTok is special, and let people enjoy what they want to enjoy.

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    Elon Musk is paying anti-immigration and anti-trans groups like the Tanron network to spread their rhetoric on social media.

    Oh wait that one is true. Filthy piece of shit.

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    Paper straws were pushed by big corporate polluters to build a negative association with environmentalism.

    Plastic straws are single-use plastics, but seem unexceptional by those standards. It’s almost a meme that they’re being singled out like they’re the single greatest source of plastic waste, or uniquely damaging to ocean life.

    On top of that, there are way better ways of reducing straw usage. I’ve used bioplastics that seemed way better. You could redesign the lids. You can do the plastic bag thing and charge people a nickel for a straw or whatever. Hell, you could just not give straws with every drink, and plenty of people will just drink from their cups and glasses. Instead, we get paper straws, something that is so obviously a bad idea it sounds like a joke, or a metaphor for a useless invention. Often served with cups and lids made entirely out of plastic.

    So you get a bunch of people who have their drinks kind of ruined by a frustrating straw. It’s a small thing, but it’s just a little nudge away from environmentalism. You build an association with disappointment and inconvenience. Maybe it doesn’t cause a big sway, but it makes people maybe a little more anti-environmentalist than they already were, or just less passionate about environmentalism.

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      When most ocean plastic comes from nets, it’s hard to disagree.

      Honestly the obsession with single use plastic seems like a distraction. Every piece of plastic in landfill is oil that isn’t burnt.

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        Every price of plastic in the landfill is oil that was extracted, processed, and required oil burning to get processed. And we do that for something that will be used once. Plastic in the landfill is not a net positive.

    • Zanz@lemmy.world
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      The people who are responsible for the turtle with the straw in the nose video where from the paper straw company. That happened right before the corn plastic straws at the market and after the video all plastic straws were banned in most metropolitan areas, that banned the corn plastic “environmentally friendly” straws before they even hit the market. The paper straws have forever chemicals in them and are essentially Teflon coated so they’re not environmentally friendly at all.

  • Stern@lemmy.world
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    Personal reddit conspiracy theory as to why image hosting is on site:

    1. r/fatpeoplehate exists, does its thing (hating fat people)
    2. They get some images removed from imgur, the image host du juor of reddit at the time.
    3. They go on the offensive and start harassing fat imgur workers.
    4. The subreddit gets banned.
    5. Under a year later, reddit puts in image uploading.

    My theory is that 3 resulted in imgur hitting up reddit and threatening to block the site if they didn’t reign in fatpeoplehate. Reddit did, by 4, because the alternative was no images and that would absolutely fuck reddit up. This in turn leads to 5 to prevent that powerplay again.

    • 🐋 Color 🔱 ♀@lemm.ee
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      Wow, that was an actual subreddit? This is new information to me. My goodness… I don’t get why some people hate people because they’re overweight. It literally does not affect them in the slightest what someone looks like, and people can be overweight for a variety of reasons. We should love eachother, not hate for the pettiest of reasons.

      • MIDItheKID@lemmy.world
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        I don’t condone their actions or views but I remember when that sub existed and I can shed some light on the fat hate redpill train of thought.

        They tried to justify it saying that fat people were a drain on society because of health issues. They took up space in hospital rooms that could otherwise be used for “healthy people with real problems”. Like they saw being fat as an issue that the person could fix by themselves, and they shouldn’t take up medical resources. And they drive up insurance costs for companies because being fat is like a pre existing condition etc.

        But what was it at the end of the day? A hate group. I get that America and other places have issues with weight, but the solution is not hate.

    • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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      Probable. And Reddit didn’t want to do so initially because, of many reasons, this way they also offload the liability on Imgur.

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    JD Vance was forced in as the Trump VP pick by the Heritage Foundation so that when Trump either dies or stops cooperating with them on Project 2025, they already have a man in place to take over. And that’s likely the reason for the assassination attempts.

    If Trump dies, they get Vance (a true believer…unlike Trump who just wants the power to stay out of prison) at the top of the ticket.

    • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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      If Trump dies, they get Vance (a true believer…unlike Trump who just wants the power to stay out of prison) at the top of the ticket.

      And we get some kind of Peter Theil libertarian theocracy.

      Vance’s flexibility to bend in any direction at any time is just… he makes lindsey graham look principled.

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        I hate how the theocratic right has successfully co-opted libertarian in the US to mean alt-republican.

        • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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          30 days ago

          it makes me wonder about a LOT of libertarians, normally I thought they’d recoil from trump but some seem strangely comfortable with him.

          makes me wonder about their principles.

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            Even my local libertarian candidates have been hard right theocrats recently, like they failed to secure a promising outlook for a Republican run and just though libertarian was the same thing. A few are probably even too far right for the Republican ticket.

            What part of “don’t tread on me” includes treading on bodily autonomy and LGBTQ rights? I am starting to think some people don’t actually have principles, and don’t understand words too good neither.

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              I am starting to think some people don’t actually have principles, and don’t understand words too good neither.

              well put.

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      I genuinely believe at this point that Trump wants out but they wont let him, I think the first assassination attempt rattled the shit out of him. He went along as a willing figurehead, he was never a true believer. He was told they would be behind him and protect him as long as he did what he was told, they would . Now he has realised too late that a figurehead is also a lightning rod but that his only way out is through and they will knock him off or throw him to the wolves if he rocks the boat.

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      I believe the official narrative is JD Vance was Donald Trump Jr’s shitbrained idea. Trump Jr and Vance personally both roll with the same “intellectual dark web” theories, neo-eugenics and such.

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    So many people believe that Covid was a way to scare us all indoors, so they could change batteries in all the birds.

    That’s preposterous.

    Birds use rechargeables, that’s why they’re always sitting on the power lines. Like, duh, wake up sheeple.

    • bi_tux@lemmy.world
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      no, you don’t understand, the feds invented the perpetum mobile, birds only sit on power lines to confuse people like you!

  • Andrew@piefed.social
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    There’s a user here, who was ‘101’ at reddthat, then piefed, then feddit.org, and was 911 at lemmynsfw, and is currently 911 at programming.dev, who posts a bunch of articles over a week or so, then deletes their account and moves on to another instance. They’re up to something, surely. (the only real downside to this behaviour - that I can think of - is that new instances won’t be able to get their posts, because Lemmy doesn’t return posts for deleted users)

    • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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      What does this mean? What is 101 and 911? I understand 101 to be the basic information of a course and 911 to be the number for emergencies. I’m trying to understand what you wrote here.

    • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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      I can see instance shopping to find the perfect one, a week is about how long it takes to get a good sense of the local community. Too bad about the lost content though.