THE ENEMY WITHIN THE CHAT FORUM

The DAG is at a critical stage in its life. It needs to be rock-fast in its resolve, united & determined to achieve its Mission.

++Members are a disparate group of people who share one thing in common -- the loss of life savings entrusted to people who they had every reason to believe were trustworthy guardians of their money.

The DAG CHAT Forum should be a place where members can feel a real sense of community, a place where they can feel they are not alone, somewhere were they find support, encouragement, and hope.

Unfortunately the Forum, like all forums of its kind, has a problem which is undermining the morale of its members.

I think there are people in the Forum whose objective is to disrupt the business of the Forum so as to take members' eyes off its Mission .

All forum's are at risk of:

• people whose 'playtime' is to surf the internet to find a forum where they can 'play around' with its members. They are 'trolls' Their game is to screw up members by 'flaming' to make them angry & get at each others throats. They sit back revelling in the chaos they cause by their manipulative gameplay;

• people who infiltrate to deliberately weaken the collective strength of a membership that is pursuing a just cause which is resisted by the agencies who are the cause of the injustice. Forums that are the most vulnerable to this infiltration are those that have a political agenda because the resolution of an injustice involves a political solution.

I think this Forum is particularly vulnerable to people in the second group.

They are the enemy within

I don't know who these 'spooks' are. Governments that like to spy on its citizens (do you know of one?) have the wherewithal to do so. Lets just call them 'spooks'. The DAG is out to expose the hanky-panky of government agencies so the 'powers that be' will be out to weaken our unity, resolve & ability to do it

These are the tactics of 'spooks':

• to pose as a genuine member with the intention of distracting members from keeping their eyes on the ball. They come in on an apparently innocuous - & seemingly genuine - tack. The tactics are to get members to 'warm' to them & engage in long drawn out commentaries which really have nothing to do with the DAG's Mission;

• to undermine the contribution of a Forum activist who is putting forward good ideas. The object is to render impotent anyone who is making a positive contribution as to how best the DAG can achieve its priimary objective.
  The tactics are to engage in belittling put-downs, gratuitous verbal abuse and systematic character assasination;

• to get important key topics to go 'off-topic'. The tactics are to dilute any discussion that is generating good ideas to advance the strength of the topic.
  It also includes sabotaging good ideas emerging by attacking the messenger.
  A favourite tactic is to introduce a different secondary topic under the primary Post;

• to endeavourr to engage a popular activist in a diversionary discussion with the sole objective of discrediting the activist and anything (s)he says

• to get members frightened of making a contribution for fear of being verbally attacked & abused by another member;

• to create chaos so as to make members disenchanted about the efficacy of the Forum The objective is to disillusion members & make them think the Forum is little more than a rabble-babble of headless chickens drifitng along without purpose or direction.

These activities undermine the strength of the DAG by causing disunity & confusion. They are calculated to make members have doubts about the integrity of anyone who is pro-active who is putting forward ideas that stengthen the resolve and ability of the DAG to achieve its objectives.

Unfortunately, genuine members can find themselves unwittingly engaging in these activities! This then makes it very difficult to distinguish the genuine member from the counterfeit 'spook'. So it makes the job of the 'spook' so much easier.

What is the answer? Simple really

1. don't make any contribution that looks as though it falls into anything outlined above. Then only those who do will come under suspicion as to their motives!
2. abide by the code of good forum etiquette that is common to ALL forums

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Forum etiquette in a nutshell

• Posts support & contribute to the Forum's aims, objectives & mission

• comments to Posts are in response to the Post & should address the issues therein and should not go 'off-topic'

• comments made under a Post that are not about or related to the Post are not acceptable

• 'trolling' is inadmissible

• 'flaming' is inadmissible

• the use of vulgar/obscene/offensive/ insulting language is inadmissible

++
Members - include people who are not depositors but who are proxy members having joined the DAG because they have relatives or friends who have lost their life savings; they are here on their behalf to support them & the just cause of the DAG to win the fight to get back their money.

There are a few who have joined for altruistic reasons because they feel a sense of outrage for what has happened and want to offer their knowledge, professional expertise & skills to help the DAG to achieve it goal. They do this without any financial remuneration & bear the costs involved in offering their services. It is offensive in the extreme when such people are the subject of gross abuse.

LJ

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