#there's also a limit of 30 tags and a character limit of 140 per tag.

[ztmachine]

will you teach me how to use tumblr good sir you seem mostly qualified :3

Uhhh... ok here's a list:

1. if you want other people to see something, reblog it. there is no algorithm. likes are nice, but do literally nothing. I mostly just use them so i know "oh i've seen this before i don't want to reblog it again". If you would like somthing on Twitter you would reblog it on Tumblr. I'm personally pretty liberal with mine, you don't have to be

2. don't like someone? block em. Is someone trying to start an argument or bring you into "the discourse"? block em. this is a bit of an exageration, of course generally i take a quick look at their profile, bio, post history, etc. If i don't see anything worth my time they get blocked

3. mutuals are your friends, amazing people, all of them. I want to hug them all.

4. If you are putting negativity towards a character/ship/fandom, don't put it in that character/ship/fandom's tag. That's not why people are on the tag. it is perfectly fine to dislike something. be vocal about it even! but people don't go to the tag of their favorite ship to see people saying how much better their ship is.

5. You are not obligagated to put anything in your bio. pronouns? optional, sexuality? optional, nothing has to be there. I take the route that everyone is aro/ace and non-binary until proven otherwise. Do check their bio before you use any pronouns though, its just good manners.

6. the search feature is god awful, it doesn't even do a keyword search. Avoid it at all costs. I tag stuff with what media it relates to/what it's about if i think I'll want to find it later.

7. Tags are for your semi-private thoughts. if you want to put your thoughts in the world for people to see but not necassarily be dragged along when someone reblogs it from you or make a joke you might not want everyone to see.

8. It's a bit more text focused stuff here than Twitter and Reddit twitter has the character limit and Reddit is... Reddit. Don't be afraid to post a 8 paragraph essay or whatever. At least your mutuals will see it.

9. You might want to have a personal tag for when something is queued or for when you add something to a post. I inverted this rule with my catch-all tag of "#zt adds something" for me it just marks when something is NOT queued as a concidence whenever I don't add to the post (reaction image, character analysis, HCs, etc) that goes in the queue.

10. The queue! the magical place where I shove all my random reblogs so they get spread out over the day. It exists, idk what else to say. Use it, or don't I'm not the boss of you.

11.

big news! this is how news spreads. Dean at the top says "I love you" Castiel at the bottom says the news. It's from supernatural, I didn't make the rule I'm just telling you about it. It was a whole thing learn more here.

12. confession time! i have not been here very long (only 4 months or so) and most of this info is not time tested, it's just how I personally use the site.

please ask me more follow up questions if you need! (or issue corrections)

[scatterbrainedbot]

(not having easy access to my own tag links was stressing me out so here have an introduction post)

'bout me:

my names zach! or scatterbot if u’d prefer!

im a trans guy and use he/him pronouns

im over 21 but dont intend to post any mature/nsfw stuff here (the only potential exception being maybe some light gore, but ill be sure to put content warnings if i do)

i love writing long rambling analysis in the tags (did u know tumblr has limit of 140 characters per tag, 30 tags per post? it reminds me of this fact. often.)

i write how i think, which is to say, with lots of run-on sentences and at least six thoughts at a time

ive done art for a long time, but am relatively new to working digitally (like about a year?) so im still learning a lot on that front!

i am very slow with responses, and even slower with posting — apologies in advance!

also, this blog is definitely gonna be almost entirely tmnt for the foreseeable future. rise and 03 are my absolute favorites <3 im still catching up with other variations!

tags i use:

#my art - for art i made!

#ask reply - replies to asks

#fandom friends - interactions w mutuals and other folks of the fandom! often involves sona shenanigans

#rb - reblogs and such!

Rat Sons AU: (official title pending lol)

my own tmnt au/iteration, in which Master Splinter is a wise and silly old tortoise, with four skittering, chaotic, ninja rat children. based on a background moment of the 03 series. 🐢🐀🐀🐀🐀

#Rat Sons - general tag for all rat sons content!!

#Rat Sons Fanart - YALL LOOK AT ALL THIS AMAZING ART FOLKS HAVE MADE OF MY SILLY RAT BOYS IM GENUINELY SO EMOTIONAL THAT I GET TO HAVE THIS TAG ILY GUYS <333

Lore/World Building -

The Last Human Hamatos, Splinter Lore (pending),

Character Intro Sheets -

Hamato Sho, Hamato Tang Shen, Hamato Miko (coming soon!), Splinter (pending), Leonardo (pending), Raphael (pending), Donatello (pending), Michelangelo (pending)

[apologies in advance, this is gonna be so chaotic. idk what im doing, all i know is that these rat babies have eaten up my entire brain. look at them go.]

[denimbex1986]

'“Barbenheimer” is officially here, and the battle between the bomb and the bombshell is about to ignite the box office.

Greta Gerwig’s cotton candy-colored “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie as the plastic, fantastic doll, is expected to generate a huge $95 million to $110 million from 4,200 North American theaters over the weekend. Given the omnipresence of “Barbie” (the marketing is practically inescapable, with enough memes and marketing tie-ins to last a lifetime), initial estimates are all over the place. Warner Bros. is projecting a more conservative $75 million to start, while rivals and exhibitors believe the PG-13 movie could make as much as $140 million between Friday and Sunday.

In any case, “Barbie” will claim the top spot over Christopher Nolan’s atomic bomb drama “Oppenheimer,” which is aiming to collect a solid $50 million from 3,600 cinemas through Sunday. Universal is backing the R-rated historical biopic, which cost $100 million.

“Oppenheimer” runs at three hours (“Barbie” clocks in at just under two), which may limit the screenings per day. However, Nolan’s epic will benefit from premium large format screens like Imax, which is dedicating its entire footprint to his film for three weeks.

Together, the seemingly different blockbusters with twin release dates are fueling the phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer.” AMC Theatres, the nation’s biggest cinema chain, reported that 40,000 people have already purchased tickets for double features of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on the same day — up 20,000 from last week.

The $145 million-budgeted “Barbie” stars too many A-listers to name, but we’ll give it a shot: Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Dua Lipa, Simu Liu, Helen Mirren, John Cena and Will Ferrell round out the cast of the fantasy comedy, which follows Barbie and Ken as they leave the comfort and familiarity of Barbie-Land on a quest for self-discovery in the real world.

“Oppenheimer,” adapted by Nolan from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “American Prometheus,” is an equally star-studded character study about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy plays the man who led the development of the atomic bomb, alongside an ensemble of Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Alden Ehrenreich.

The potent combination of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” as well as last weekend’s champion “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” is expected to fuel one of the biggest box office weekends in ages. Summer season has otherwise produced a string of underperforming options, like “The Flash,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.”

Tom Cruise’s newest “Mission” looks to add $28 million to $30 million in its second weekend of release, a decline of roughly 50% from its debut. The seventh installment in Paramount and Skydance’s globe-trotting action franchise opened to $56 million in North America and $234 million globally. It cost $291 million before marketing, so Ethan Hunt’s latest death-defying adventure needs to remain a draw throughout the summer to justify that price tag.

Elsewhere, the unlikely box office hit “Sound of Freedom” is imminently crossing the $100 million mark, which will put the film among the top 16 highest grossing of the year. The low-budget, faith-based movie about child sex trafficking has generated a remarkable $85.7 million to date. That’s thanks mostly to the religious and conservative media groups that have rallied behind the film.

Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst, calls “Barbenheimer” a “movie marketers dream come true.” He adds that the craze is “creating a rising tide of interest that should also boost the fortunes of ‘MI7’ and ‘Sound of Freedom’ as moviegoers flood the multiplex in search of movies to catch on the big screen.”'

[strandedcrow]

yes yes!! that was the context, haha. but the actual tags are... a bit longer. (i think i hit tag limit? is there a tag limit???)

sincerely, 🐌

wkfkskf lets gooooo !!

and ye, it’s 140 characters per tag (i hit it often)

[ggukkiereads]

I posted 1,937 times in 2021

928 posts created (48%)

1009 posts reblogged (52%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 1.1 posts.

I added 3,987 tags in 2021

#🌷 chats - 804 posts

#ggukkierecommends - 751 posts

#anon - 574 posts

#jungkook x reader - 516 posts

#fichunting - 305 posts

#jungkook - 244 posts

#jungkook fanfic - 229 posts

#asks - 206 posts

#m:jjk - 182 posts

#jungkook smut - 176 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i feel like i spent more time with the banner than putting all the fic recs because i drooled over bangtan photos i couldn't make up my mind

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

(navi)

🌷 some semblance of organization🌷

Ultimate Favorites - #holygrailfics 

Fic Recs / Reactions - #ggukkierecommends

prefer to read drabbles? - #drabbleslikedbyggukkie

Masterpost of Fave Fics per Member - ot7 but only posted two members so far 😥👉👈🌹

Yoongi - series

Jungkook - one shot | series

🌹 sadly not updated because #lazybish me won 😔 sucks I wasn’t able to update my lists when that is the main purpose of this blog. Feel free to send me a message if you want to chat about fics though!

The Type of AUs I enjoy  - I usually get asks on AUs but there are themes/genres I don’t read much on

🌷 fic recs based on ASKs | #ggukkiereadingcollection

🥕 - personal favorite 

Author Recs

Author Recs | SMAUs 🥕

Author Recs | Fluff/Angst (Non-Smut) content - Taehyung & Jungkook 🥕🥕🥕

Fic Recs | Fic List

Werewolf AUs - Taehyung  🥕

Werewolf AUs - Jungkook  🥕🥕

Mafia AUs, Supernatural/Fantasy, Secret Agents/Spy/Assassin AUs   🥕

Established Relationship - Jungkook  🥕

Recommended Angst, Smut, Fluff, E2L - Jimin  🥕🥕

Witch or Vampire Jungkook (similar to ADOW)

Vampire AUs - Jungkook

College AUs - Yoongi  🥕🥕

Extreme Angst Edition - Jungkook  🥕

Infidelity AUs 🥕 + Part 2  ⭐new*

Enemies to Lovers - Yoongi

Sports, Jock AUs - Jungkook 🥕

Chubby or Curvy Reader

Submissive - Jungkook

See the full post

1636 notes • Posted 2021-01-13 07:30:37 GMT

------------------------

#4

hello gukkie I'm trying to read aus other than college / fwb, f2l. What are your go to aus or tropes and fics to recommend? do you have aus you don't like too? Am I the only one tired of pwps 🥴? By the way thank you for your fic recs

🌷 Hi there, anonie! I actually read variety of tropes/AUs but I have limited exposure to the ff.: idolverse (I find it too close for comfort), hogwarts (probably just read four or five fics), not much poly fics yet. 

I also had a phase of Hanahaki AUs/ Soulmate AUs and Dystopian AUs / Sci-fi / Alien AUs. But will only put my Top 3 AUs below, in order of obsession (lol). 

Mafia/Gang/Mobster AUs

Supernatural & Fantasy

Secret Agent AU, Assassins, Spy AUs, Heists

The fic recs per AU are also top of mind; but given much thought, there are more fics to recommend.

note: mostly mature | m x f |

These fics are not mine. Credits go to the authors and I’d like to thank you all for sharing your fics 🥰.  

See the full post

1665 notes • Posted 2021-02-02 18:49:11 GMT

------------------------

#3

What are your favorite established relationship jk fics? Can u recommend me? ❤️ Maybe husband or dad jk too haha

🌷 Hello! Sharing fics that are memorable to me. Hope it satisfies your Jungkook needs 😉.

Please note that the fics are NOT mine. Please show these authors love by reblogging their fics, giving them feedback, and engaging in any positive interaction you can think of! 🥰

Established Relationship | Jungkook

@angelguk ’s drabbles + scenarios 

Jock!jk drabble series

On My Mind

Breakfast in Bed

In Your Arms Tonight - the one where he has a thing for you in his clothes).

She also has a dad!jk drabbles (just Jungkook with his daughter)

@kpopfanfictrash sequels or drabbles - read the original fic first

The Art of More Sequel + drabbles -  L is for Lunacy +  The Party + S if for Sexy - ^

Over the Edge - sequel to Ruin the Friendship

The Next - Dad!JK + pregnant reader

Taming of the Flu - sick OC

Click 

Together (boyfriend series) @httpjeon - collection of their “firsts”  

And a Hard Place drabbles (ongoing) @minloop - angsty, idol!au

Appetence @jiminimoon - idol!au, imagine boyfriend!jungkook dancing for you

Aurora @/mintseesaw - secret love affair, princess!reader, general jungkook, historical au (I really love this)

Bare Necessities @gguksgalaxy - Disneyland date

Bicker @littlemisskookie - sequel to Banter; Superhero AU

Bounce @jeonsweetpea -  workout session 😉

A Call + All Mine @follovvthelight - idol!jungkook, secret relationship, OC gets hit on by others because they thought she is single, fluffy smut but real relationship talk

Come & Come Again @/jjungkookislife - drabbles based on real time jungkook (Not Today!JK & Blue-haired Drummer JK)

Doxology @dark-muse-iris - pwp in a church (sorry 🙈)

Dungeons and Dick @jungkookiebus - OC killed his character lol (cute)

Edacity @jjungkooksthighs - college au, jungkook making food 😋 (I actually read this on AO3 and was checking my bookmarks when I remember this)

Empty Stalls @bts-bookstore - boyfriend au, pwp, public place

Everything’s Alright + Sweet Saturdays @guklore - quarterback!jungkook who is so sweet and reassuring. Plus, the use of the sappy Still Into You by Paramore as a ringtone is a big plus 😂 Let’s not mention whipped cream slight smut 🤤

See the full post

1865 notes • Posted 2021-02-04 23:56:21 GMT

------------------------

#2

hi! can you list your recommendations for enemies to lovers with jungkook? thankieeee 💜💜💜💜

🌷 Hello! This has actually been requested but for all members (see pinned note 📌). Since I have read/reblogged a lot of Jungkook E2L fics throughout the years, I’ll create a separate list (this has around 70 fics at least 😨)

Credits go to all the writers 🥰. I love this trope, something I easily and happily consume so thank you for sharing these stories.

If you’re a 💜reader💜 who found this list helpful, you can show appreciation by reblogging the fics or commenting/letting authors know how much you like their stories 😊.

Enemies to Lovers | Jungkook

S - smut | F - fluff | A - angst | mostly Mature, minors DNI

fics are listed per category (college, slice of life, fantasy, etc)

there are other fics I haven’t included/reblogged yet plus there are new fics I‘ve yet to read 🥺 (I will just update this or I might add it to the all-member’s version)

if link’s not working, click on author’s name and check their masterlist 👍

See the full post

2178 notes • Posted 2021-06-10 10:30:49 GMT

------------------------

#1

Fics Recs | Werewolf AUs - Jungkook

Decided to post a list of werewolf aus based on an ask received by @joonkookiemonster​ (who also has an amazing werewolf fic and it’s included in this list🥰)

Please note that the fics are NOT mine. I’m just a reader and I love collecting (if you’re familiar with Strengthsfinder by Gallup, "input” is one of my themes 😬)

DO show these authors love by reblogging their fics, giving them feedback, and engaging in any positive interaction you can think of! 🥰

S - smut | F - fluff | A - angst | 🥕- personal favorites

Note: if link to fic doesn’t work, click on author and go to their masterlist

🌷 I sometimes post a reaction/commentary in case reading reviews help  though not all because I’m a lazy blog writer 😭 so I just reblog on another sideblog of mine

See the full post

2893 notes • Posted 2021-01-12 18:11:41 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[gildedmuse]

Thanks, Tumblr. What I really need is a reminder of how bad this year was for me.

Okay, let's see the damage report.

So, right away, a little under a third from the previous like two years. Gee, wonder what kidney could have caused such a drop in productivity rates.

At first I was like, wait, wouldn't that mean I used an average of about 3.5 tags per post? That seems highly inaccurate. Then I remember it's not counting all the tags I use repeatedly. Give me THAT statistic Tumblr, that's the one that shows just how much I've lost my mind. I mean, sure, there are tags I use all the time. Tags like....

#one piece - 157 posts [So, you're telling me out of 161 posts I've only used #one piece 157 times!? I kind of have to know about those four posts now.]

#roronoa zoro - 82 posts [And out of those 157 One Piece posts, a whole 75 didn't involve Zoro!? That's almost as many posts as were about my boy! This must be rectified.]

#trafalgar d. water law - 61 posts [No, that's fair.]

#trafalgar law - 58 posts [Have no doubt, right after this I will find the 3 posts where I failed to tag both Law tags and immediately correct this embarrassing oversight.]

#wano arc - 48 posts [What can I say? I enjoy Wano. But also, how is ZoLaw not higher on this list?]

#amusing musings - 47 posts

#zolaw - 39 posts [Here is is! Though, the fact this makes up only 28% of this blog is my personal shame.]

#zoro x law - 30 posts [This might actually be because I go between Zoro x Law and Law x Zoro. Must be more consistent. Or what is the point.]

#dracule mihawk - 30 posts [Again, this is a blog about swords so this checks out.]

#akagami no shanks - 23 posts [.... Shanks how the fuck did you sneak in here?]

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#legit just telling the other strawhats to go and die for his plan but then gets all zoro-ya why are you trying so hard to die for my plan!?

This is a blatant lie. I mean, yeah, that is ONE of my longest tags, but I have a few tags that hit the 140 character limit, And then it goes and counts the comma like that's you're choice. Still, as far as my long tags go, I like this one. I shall allow it.

Well, I can't get to wait to see what my most popular posts are. Maybe it's one of my posts where I actually examine and discuss an aspect of the show. Or, uh, how could would it be if it was a piece of writing. So many possibilities.

Posted 2021-03-08 23:46:03 GMT

Or, you know, it could be me freaking out about Benn's wanted poster. That's equally valid.

Hey, there are still four more to go. The next ones will probably be some overly long analytical piece about....

Posted 2021-10-14 10:08:49 GMT

Posted 2021-03-23 11:26:37 GMT

[Please note, between when I originally took these screenshots and when I posted, this And the ext one switched places I'm not THAT bad at numbers, people. I am however, too lazy too correct it.]

I mean, at least I've got a style, even if that style is posting short, rather throw away posts. Could be worse, I suppose. I could be one of those people who wrote up epically long posts about things like-

See the full post || Posted 2021-12-14 23:51:57 GMT

Oh, yeah. Forgot how many people cared about Benn's style choices. Not too mention how much I clearly did.... Also, why are so many of these posts about Benn? Where my swordsmen at!?

Let's pay attention to exactly what the Heart Pirates do during these scenes.

Law: *Tells them to prepare to submerge*

Bepo: *Instructs crew to open vents*

Jean Bart: *Opens the vents*

Shachi: *Confirms water intake is good*

See the full post || Posted 2021-10-04 19:52:33 GMT

Oh, right, pretending to know how their ships work. I remember now.

[willowiswriting]

Willow’s Guide to Blood Loss

CW towards the bottom for in-depth discussion of the process of death (from 2.5 liters lost onward.) hopefully i tagged this post thoroughly enough for blacklists, but PLEASE let me know if i didn’t!

Now, before we get started, some notes:

the average person has about 5 liters of blood in their body

smaller people have less, bigger people have more

healthy people will be less affected (for a lot of reasons, but mostly bc the body can bounce back more quickly)

people with high heart rates will move more blood, and thus, die faster

I’m not a medical professional, please don’t lose a lot of blood and then use this guide as medical advice I beg u

Losing half a liter of blood

10% of your total blood

stage 1 Hypovolemia (up to 15%)

about the amount of blood given during a blood donation

small-ish wounds or a lot of tiny wounds

most people can lose around 14% of their blood without experiencing major side effects or changes in vital signs

your character definitely won’t die

symptoms can include:

fatigue

lightheadedness

heart rate, respiratory rate, and mental status are all normal

blood pressure remains normal

your character will recover more quickly if they:

have their wounds tended to

ate before blood loss occurred

are eating foods rich in iron (such as beef, turkey, spinach, shrimp, sweet, potato, or beans)

are combining high iron intake with vitamin C (such as tomatoes, citrus fruits, or red, orange, and yellow peppers)

Losing 1 liter of blood

20% of total blood is lost

stage 2 Hypovolemia (up to 30%)

bigger cuts, stabs, internal bleeding

hemorrhagic shock begins to set in, and gets worse with the more blood you lose

if you want your character to still be fully coherent, this is the limit you want to be at

your character will not die (at least from blood loss)

symptoms can include:

slight tachycardia (>100 BPM heart rate)

elevated blood pressure

elevated respiratory rate

nausea

skin becoming cooler, clammy, and/or paler

potential for anxiousness or restlessness

Losing 1.5 liters of blood

30% of total blood is lost

stage 2-3 Hypovolemia (up to 40%)

you could get away with limb loss at this stage

your character will likely not die, although medical attention is needed ASAP

symptoms can include:

tachycardia (up to 120 BPM heart rate)

pulse is weakening

blood pressure lowering

increased respiratory rate (up to 30 breaths per minute)

anxiousness and disorientation due to blood loss

skin feels cooler and clammier, paler

Losing 2 liters of blood

40% of total blood is lost

stage 3 Hypovolemia (up to 40%)

a limb has been lost on top of other wounds, and the character cannot immediately be tended to

there’s a good chance your character will die at this point

beyond this point, blood transfusion becomes difficult

symptoms can include:

tachycardia (>120 BPM heart rate)

pulse is very weak

blood pressure is very low

shallow, rapid breathing, possibly hyperventilation

very confused and lethargic

increased perspiration

Losing 2.5 liters of blood

50% of total blood is lost

that’s half your character’s blood

stage 4 Hypovolemia

needed medical attention yesterday

your character will almost certainly die unless aggressive life-saving measures are taken

symptoms can include:

tachycardia (>140 BPM)

pulse cannot easily be detected

very shallow, rapid breathing

loss of consciousness or coma

extreme perspiration, skin may become mottled

Beyond this point

Your character will certainly die

Blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate will slow

Organs begin shutting down

After loss of consciousness, your character slips into a coma and then dies

Bleeding to death can take as little as five minutes or less, depending on if and how hemorrhaging is managed.

It can also take days if the cause of bleeding is a clotting problem or a slow internal bleed.

[redcubedigitalmarketing]

If your brand has any product, service or a unique story to tell, Instagram is the best platform for you.

About 25 million businesses worldwide are now using Instagram for its branding, and more than 200 million people view at least one brand page per day. Instagram has become “the new habitat for brands,” where users can engage with brands, follows them to stay updated and businesses can achieve their goals in true sense. Today, from fashion brands to health and fitness to media houses each of them has carved a space of their own and is using Instagram for their businesses. In fact, fashion and beauty brands are the most engaged niches on Instagram.

According to a recent study, more than 98% of luxury shoppers carry smartphones, around 92% of brands and businesses have an Instagram account. It was also found that more than 81% of these shoppers’ are highly influenced by digital content and make their purchase decisions.

Here is how you can leverage Instagram for your business like a PRO in 2020, for deriving maximum returns from your Instagram account:

Combination of Video and images

We all know that videos are the most engaging forms of content consumption on the internet today, but we have to remember that images have not lost their charm yet. The best way to boost the visibility of the page is to use the combination of photos and videos together which makes a great impact on the audience to engage and connect with your Instagram profile. Whether your content is in the form of video or in the form of an image, just remember to provide value to your audience through all your creatives. Also try to make some engagement posts, which allow users to engage with your brand and helps in the organic growth of the page.

Long captions will work in 2020!

Usually, brands like to keep their captions short and crisp. In the past few years, it is seen that the average caption length on Instagram by different brands and individuals is around 140-150 characters. Earlier it was believed that posts with shorter captions work well and the longer captions do not perform well. But there is no clear proof of lower engagement rates for posts with lengthier captions. In 2020 it is seen that posts with longer captions are performing well and individuals & brands are trying to convey more value in the caption also. The total limit is 2200 characters on Instagram’s caption. Just remember caption content definitely matters!

Use the power of Hashtags 

Hashtags still rule the game! The best way to allow your content to reach out to more people of your niche is by using relevant hashtags. It allows you to access to specific interest groups and marks your content discoverable organically. Studies show that posts with at least one hashtag get 12% more reach and engagement, hence, one should not shy away from using them. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags to be used in a single post.

Mentions are a necessary integral!

Not used by many, @mentions generally results in more reach and engagement. Generally, @mentions are used in caption part of the post; a solid caption with the mention works well to reach out to more people and increases engagement of the post and your profile as well. Stories on Instagram also allows @mentions, still not known by many!

Geo-tagging boosts engagement

The posts marked with a location get 78% more engagement when compared to the one without a tagged location. It allows you to take your Instagram presence a step further, as people discover you when they might not even be trying.

Call-to-Actions are important

A simple Call-to-Action like “Tag your friend who would love this” or “select the option you like most” would be ideal to help boost engagement on your post as it will allow people to comment and tag. And the simple algorithm of Instagram that everyone knows, the more engagement, the more your post will get viral. Instagram itself allows it to discover to relevant people.

Feature on the explore tag

The Explore Tab is a blockbuster! It is the best approach to keep your profile or page in the eye of your users even if they do not follow your account. Instagram tracks user activity and understands every individual user’s interests, then customize the Explore feed of an individual. It is one of the direct methods you can implement to create brand awareness on a large scale. It also results in increasing the number of followers of your page.

Interaction is key

With new updates on a regular basis, Instagram is providing different ways to interact with your audience. The polls and questions in the story section allow users to respond and interact with the brand. Going for different polls and questions allows you to know that what your audience likes, how they react to a new product, and their opinions on the products and services. It allows you to redefine your strategy to reach to more number of people. Nothing works better than interacting with your audience!

IGTV is a big hit

With video platforms like Tik Tok creating a great effect in the digital market, we can say that videos have their own appeal in attracting the audience. Instagram IGTV is a powerful tool that allows you to be featured on Instagram feeds organically. Earlier the challenges with IGTV video were that it only allows vertical videos to be featured, but now it has come up with the horizontal video facility as well, which allows more people and brands to post a video of more than a minute on Instagram. Brands need to leverage this and not leave a stone unturned to hit their target audience.

Every brand and business requires a social media marketing strategy to derive maximum returns from their social media handles. A well-executed optimization and marketing policy will allow your potential customers to engage with your brand’s Instagram page

[felassan]

Patch 1.06 Combat Balance Updates

We’ve received a lot of community feedback about balance issues in multiplayer. We have improved the overall experience based on that feedback and our own testing.

Powers and weapons were underperforming at higher difficulties—particularly power combos and assault rifles. As a result, players relied heavily on the Vanquisher sniper rifle and melee-focused classes.

We found current damage levels significantly slowed the pace of games on Gold and Silver difficulties. To fix this, we started to overhaul the balance in multiplayer. Today’s changes are the first step in that process.

For general Patch 1.06 notes, click here.

For patch notes in other languages, click here.

Rest under cut for length. EDIT: Now updated with tags for the changes which only apply to multiplayer.

[source]

Powers

We determined that the base damage of powers were too low, which caused them to be underpowered in the late stages. We’ve now increased the base damage of powers and improved some of the bonuses granted by additional skill points. We’ve also improved damage from passive skill trees.

Combo detonations on Gold and Silver difficulties also received a buff because they inflicted less damage than intended.

Weapons

Mass Effect multiplayer is more fun when it’s fast-paced, but low weapon damage limited that pace on Gold and Silver difficulties. There was also a noticeable imbalance between weapon classes, particularly for shotguns and assault rifles.

We’ve boosted the base damage for several underperforming assault rifles, pistols, and shotguns to make them more effective. In particular, we wanted shotguns to become better skirmish weapons, so we boosted their damage and accuracy outside of cover, while reducing the extra accuracy bonus when firing from cover.

Finally, we reduced the damage of the Vanquisher sniper rifle to make it comparable with other weapons. Its overwhelming damage far outclassed other weapons and made this particular sniper rifle a must-have. We’ve now evened the playing field so players feel more comfortable bringing something besides the Vanquisher to a Gold-level game.

We’ll continue to consider potential adjustments for some weapons.

Enemy Factions

We’ve also changed how difficult some enemy factions are to fight.

Due to their individual survivability, the kett were the most difficult faction. To combat this, we reduced their health and defenses. We also lessened the chance the Fiend will sync-attack on Silver and Gold difficulties. We’re investigating latency issues that cause the Fiend to appear like it teleports when it jumps.

We wanted to make the Outlaws more challenging, so we improved the ability of Sharpshooters and Hydras to push players into cover. We also made the Berserker easier to fight from cover and the Hydra is now stronger and more dangerous.

We left the Remnant untouched and continue to monitor their performance.

Player:

Fixed a bug that made Silver and Gold difficulties use normal stats for Shield Gate and Health Gate

Fixed a bug that made Silver and Gold difficulties use normal stats for damage reduction due to armor. Enemy armor now reduces 15 damage per hit on Silver and 20 damage per hit on Gold, to a minimum of 10 damage per hit

Powers:

All Damage Powers

[MP] Raw damage upgrades increased by a cumulative 25-35% per power

All Offensive Passive Lines

[MP] Power damage upgrades increased by a cumulative 20% per line

Power Combos

[MP] Fixed an issue that caused combos in Gold and Silver difficulties to inflict incorrect base damage

[MP] Increased base combo damage by approximately 60% in Bronze, 140% in Silver, and 200% in Gold.

[MP] Increased the value of combo damage upgrades in all passives from +30% to +50%

Combat Powers:

Barricade

Increased base duration from 12s to 13s

Decreased Rank 4 duration bonus from 40% to 35%, although the end duration is still greater than before

Increased Rank 5 buff from 20% to 30% power damage bonus

Flak Cannon

Increased base primary damage from 180 to 250

Increased base power cell count from 2 to 4

Tech Powers:

Assault Turret

Increased the Rank 5 flamethrower’s damage per second from 45 to 150, and burn damage over time from 22 to 35 damage per second

Increased the Rank 2 health upgrade from +30% to +50%, and the Rank 4 health upgrade from +50% to +75%

The power’s cooldown now triggers when the turret spawns, instead of when it is destroyed.

Increased base bullet damage from 20 to 36

The cooldown is now 30s, but can be reduced to 10s with the Rank 4 cooldown upgrade.

Fixed a bug causing the Rank 6 cryo ammo to inflict no damage

Incinerate

[MP] Increased the base damage from 120 to 350

[MP] Decreased the damage over time from 50 to 45 damage per second

Overload

[MP] Increased base uncharged damage from 150 to 200, and charged damage from 200 to 300

Flamethrower

Increased base damage from 220 to 240 damage per second

Cryo Beam

[MP] Increased base damage per second from 135 to 150

Energy Drain

[MP] Increased base damage from 160 to 175

Shield Boost

Increased base radius from 6m to 8m

[MP] Increased support score generated by successfully giving another player shields from 10 to 20

Invasion

Improved Rank 4 infection radius and Rank 5 spread radius

Remnant VI

Increased base health from 500 to 800

Increased Rank 2 health upgrade from 15% to 65%

Improved Rank 4 health regeneration rate and delay

Increased Rank 5 close-combat health upgrade from 120% to 200%

Increased the Rank 6 missile damage from 90 to 450

Decreased the Rank 6 missile cooldown from 10s to 5s

[MP] Increased base beam damage from 70 to 100 damage per second

[MP] Fixed issue where VI would occasionally get stuck

[MP] VI will now teleport to player if its path is too complex

Biotic Powers:

Pull

[MP] Increased Rank 5’s crushing grip damage over time from 35 to 60 damage per second

Throw

Increased base damage from 225 to 240

Shockwave

Increased base damage from 225 to 245

Singularity

Decreased base cooldown from 24s to 20s

Increased Rank 5 recharge rate bonus from +25% to +40%

Backlash

[MP] Increased base aegis health from 350 to 400

[MP] Increased base reflection damage bonus from +180% to +200%

[MP] Increased Rank 4 and Rank 5 bonuses

Charge

Increased base damage from 250 to 275

Nova

Increased base damage from 400 to 420

Annihilation

Increased the base cooldown penalty from 60% to 75%

Decreased the Rank 4 radius bonus from 50% to 35%

Damage and bonuses from different users will now stack on the same target

Lance

Slightly improved aim assist at longer ranges

Passive Powers:

Barrier

[MP] Barrier Drain: shield regeneration value from melee attacks decreased from 20% to 15%

[MP] Biotic Link: can now only apply its effect once every 5s

[MP] Saving Barrier: cooldown on the automatic shield regeneration increased from 10s to 15s

Biotic Ascension

[MP] Improved the bonuses for Rank 6 evolutions

Character Stats:

Asari Adept

[MP] Decreased base shields from 250 to 200

Krogan Vanguard

[MP] Decreased base shields from 180 to 150

Weapons

Assault Rifles

Avenger

Increased damage from 35–47 to 39–50

Mattock

Increased damage from 50–63 to 90–113

Increased magazine size from 16 to 20

Zalkin

Increased damage from 60–76 to 79–99

Valkyrie

Increased damage from 86–99 to 164–190

Increased magazine size from 16 to 20

Increased total spare ammo from 128–160 to 140–175

Soned

Increased damage from 51–59 to 70–81

Improved rate-of-fire charge time from 1s to 0.5s

Improved accuracy when firing from the hip or firing blindly over barriers

Maximum accuracy while aiming down sights was slightly decreased; the accuracy penalty for firing was reduced.

PAW

Increased damage from 35–40 to 58–67

Halberd

Increased damage from 90–113 to 150–180

Pistols

Carnifex

Increased damage from 175–220 to 255–321

Hornet

Increased damage from 46–55 to 101–121

Sidewinder

Increased damage from 150–180 to 167–200

Hurricane

Increased damage from 49–57 to 65–75

Eagle

Increased damage from 69–80 to 96–111

Improved accuracy

Rozerad

Increased damage from 48–56 to 73-84

Increased rate of fire from 420–525 to 490–613

Improved rate-of-fire charge time from 2s to 1s

Improved accuracy

Ushior

Increased damage from 463–535 to 775–896

Increased magazine size from 1 to 2

Increased total ammo from 18–23 to 20–25

Reduced weight from 0.25–0.13 to 0.2–0.1

Charger

Accuracy slightly reduced

Shotguns

Katana

Increased damage per pellet from 46–61 to 64–85

Piranha

Increased damage per pellet from 54–62 to 59–68

Disciple

Increased damage per pellet from 60–76 to 79–99

Ruzad

Increased damage per pellet from 98–123 to 171–215

Crusader

Increased damage from 382–442 to 699–808

Bullet trails added to the slug

Hesh

Increased damage per pellet from 55–66 to 66–79

Scattershot

Increased damage per pellet from 46–55 to 66–79

Dhan

Increased damage from 595–688 to 850–983

Increased magazine size from 2 to 3

Increased total spare ammo from 20–25 to 21–26

Deals extra weak point damage

Venom

Increased damage from 290–348 to 352–422

The initial round will now explode on contact with a target and the fragments will travel faster and longer before they explode

Sniper Rifles

Vanquisher

Reduced damage from 675–810 to 600–720

Shadow

Increased damage from 38–46 to 85–102

Increased damage as the Shadow gets closer to overheating; weapon will overheat faster

Valiant

Increased damage from 463–535 to 550–636

Total spare ammo increased from 35–44 to 45–56

Naladen

Increased damage from 496–574 to 650–752

Enemies

Kett

Wraith

Reduced health by 20%

Chosen

Reduced health by 5%

Anointed

Reduced shields by 47%

Destined

Reduced shields by 67%

Fiend

Decreased the chance that a Fiend initiates a sync attack on Hardcore and Insanity difficulties in single-player and Silver and Gold difficulties in multiplayer

Ascendant

Cobra RPG can now damage the Ascendant after its Orb is destroyed; on Normal or Bronze difficulty, the Cobra RPG can kill the Ascendant in one shot

Increased effectiveness of powers and weapons that lack extra weak point damage against the Orb

Outlaws

Angaran Saboteur

Increased armor by 33%

Turian Anarchist

Increased armor by 33%

Increased weapon damage by 20%

Salarian Agent

Increased armor by 33%

Now fires more frequently

Asari Pariah

Increased armor by 33%

Increased weapon damage by 20%

Sharpshooter

Increased shields by 60%

Increased frequency of firing at targets in cover

Decreased aiming time against out-of-cover targets at higher difficulties

Decreased sniper rifle damage by 18%

[SP] Fixed a bug that caused Roekaar Sharpshooters to deal 75% more sniper rifle damage than intended

Krogan Berserker

Reduced armor by 20%

Hydra

Increased armor by 38%

Weak point health now scales per difficulty in proportion to base health, effectively making it harder to break the weak point on Hardcore and Insanity difficulties in single-player and on Silver and Gold difficulties in multiplayer

Bonus damage from destroying the weak point now also scales with health

Increased normal shot damage by 67%

Normal shot projectile speed doubled

Bug Fixes

The Destroyer and Hydra’s remains will properly disappear after being defeated

Matches / Missions

Match Medals

Score required to achieve a Support Medal for Bronze, Silver, and Gold difficulties increased from 400/800/1,200 to 800/1,600/2,000

Store

Item Store

Added Experience Boosters to the Item Store

Equipment

Adaptive War Amp

Increased damage bonus from 15% to 30%

Engineering Kit

Increased damage bonus from 15% to 30%

Enhanced Munitions

Increased damage bonus from 15% to 30%

[uncleyarn2-blog]

Our 2018 all-Chicago holiday gift guide

Sustenance

1/ Local coffee subscription: Back of the Yards, Dark Matter, or Metric Coffee

Coffee is the social lubricant that wakes you up, keeps you awake—or maybe puts you to sleep. You can drink it hot in winter to stay warm! But drink good, fresh coffee. Chicago is home to many fine craft coffee roasters, and may offer subscriptions for a steady supply. Metric Coffee offers espresso ($20) and blend ($20) subscriptions as well as a Roasters Choice Subscription ($22) and Single Origin Subscription ($24) each with two different eight-ounce bags in every weekly or monthly delivery. Dark Matter Coffee offers three, six, and twelve-month subscriptions to their monthly limited blends for $20 per month—with discounts for longer subscriptions. Back of the Yards Coffee Co.'s Coffee Club subscriptions page is currently under construction. Hopefully that will be available again soon. In the meantime, they do sell their espresso and 47th Street Blend medium-dark roast coffee in twelve-ounce bags ($15.99), with one dollar from every 47th Street Blend going to their Social Impact fund to benefit the neighborhood.—John Dunlevy Prices vary at backoftheyardscoffee.com, darkmattercoffee.com, and metriccoffee.com.

2/ Coffee maker Nº3 by Manual.is

Manual's newest coffee maker is four usages in one: pour over, French press, cold brew, and a pitcher. It can keep its liquids hot for about an hour in the double-wall insulated design. With this elegant, hand-blown borosilicate glass vessel, even a person who doesn't drink coffee regularly (me) will savor the ritual of making, and serving coffee. —Sue Kwong $140 at Manual Shop & Studio, 3251½ W. Bryn Mawr, 312-870-0799, manual.is.

3/ Mushroom tree ornaments by Facture Goods

The handcrafted mushroom Christmas ornaments come in earthy brown clay glazed in gray and flecked with 22-karat gold. They typically sell out in minutes when creator Aron Fischer puts a fresh batch in his online shop. But on November 24 you can find them at Martha Mae in Andersonville during Small Business Saturday. The mushrooms come in enoki, morel, shiitake, and straw varietals. Plus, while you're there, you can snag plenty more gifts for loved ones in Jean Cate's magical shop. —Maya Dukmasova $18 each or $60 for a set of four at facturegoods.com and on November 24 only at Martha Mae, 5407 N. Clark, 872-806-0988, marthamae.info.

4/ Malort soy candle

Everyone's favorite drink in candle form. —Vince Cerasani $30 at reuse-first.com.

5/ Tellicherry Black Whole Peppercorns from Reluctant Trading Experiment

Pretty amazing pepper from an outfit started by Scott Eirinberg, the entrepreneur who founded, and later sold, The Land of Nod. —Suggested by Kate Schmidt, written by Reader staff Starting at $6.50 at reluctanttrading.com.

Self Care

1/ Houseplant from Foyer

This little plant and stationary store opened in Andersonville a few months ago. It's run by a tremendously helpful and non-judgmental Alma Vescovi, who wants you to get past your fear of killing houseplants. The stock is refreshed weekly and she carries hard-to-find varietals like pilea, monstera, and satin pothos alongside all kinds of succulents and cacti. There are also vintage planters and pots as well as ones made by local artists. If things don't go well with your new plant friend, you can always bring it back for a check-up with Vescovi. She once helped me resuscitate a delicate plumosa fern. It's doing great. Plants are the gift that keeps on giving.—Maya Dukmasova Starting at $8 at 1480 W. Berwyn, 713-994-0302, foyer.shop.

2/ Sound wave art, Soundwaves by Mordecai

Kathleen Mordecai turns sound waves from parts of songs or special moments (for example Pat Hughes saying "Chicago Cubs win the World Series" or children's laughter, as pictured) into sculptures she handcrafts using reclaimed wood. Whether you're shopping for someone who lives in a tiny studio, or in a mansion with plenty of wall space to fill, there's likely an option that will fit; the current selection of sculptures in her online shop runs from 12 inches to 4 feet. Mordecai also takes custom orders, and for those who want to be able to hear the sound while enjoying the visuals, she offers an option for audio playback. —Jamie Ludwig Starting at $76 at etsy.com/soundwavesbyMordecai.

3/ Soap Distillery

The brand tagline for Soap Distillery may promise "Small batches. No hangovers," but no such claim can be made about whether these boozy body care miracles are addictive. Because they are, friends. A bottle of the Beer + Cigarettes hand and body wash disappeared so quickly from my bathroom that I'm not entirely convinced my partner wasn't drinking it. Perfect for the person on your list who always smells so damn good. —Karen Hawkins Prices vary at soapdistillery.com. Catch up with founder Danielle Martin at a holiday shopping event or click here for a list of retailers.

4/ King Spa & Sauna

King Spa & Sauna, the Korean spa in Niles, does not fulfil the glossy magazine ideal of the spa day. There are no fluffy white robes, no soothing music or nice-smelling oils and lotions. Instead, there's a series of saunas, each filled with a different substance that will relieve you of a different source of stress, each more baroque than the last: amethyst geodes, living crystals, 350-million-year-old salt rocks, a 23-karat gold pyramid. The admission fee gets a person access to all of them, plus the soaking pools, food court, and movie theater. (Massages and other spa treatments are extra.) The spa's open 24 hours, so guests can stay as long as they like. In Korea, entire families go to spas for an easy weekend getaway. Maybe they're onto something? —Aimee Levitt $40 admission at King Spa & Sauna, 809 Civic Center Drive, Niles, 847-972-2540, kingspa.com/chicago. Gift cards available.

5/ Mochimochi Land knitting kits

Forget sweaters and scarves, Mochimochi Land gives you the tools to show off your needle skills by knitting something truly unique: cute miniature characters like tiny burgers or tiny walruses or tiny robots and really any other tiny thing you can dream up. The kits go for $12-$15 and include yarn, stuffing, notions, and patterns—all you need are knitting needles, available separately on the website. Mochimochi Land creator Anna Hrachovec features her knitted friends in stop-motion animated videos and GIFs of everyday life in the mystical, yarn-covered land of her own creation. Hrachovec also used the style in her book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land, which follows the adventures of a talking doughnut and a lovelorn balloon, of course. The online shop offers patterns for larger, equally adorable knitting projects ranging from $5-$8 and, for the less crafty among us, pre-knit gnomes, hedgehogs, zombies, and unicorns for $25 each. —Brianna Wellen Prices vary at mochimochiland.com.

6/ Mano y Metal handmade accessories

These aren't your basic accessories. Mano y Metal offers handmade metal jewelry that spices up any look. Owner Desiree T. Guzman features hand stamped metal rings, cuff bracelets, earrings, necklaces, dog tags and more with empowering sayings engraved on them like "be badass" ("chingona" in Spanish) or "me vale madre" which translates to "I don't give a damn." The online shop even offers options available for customization and a Chicago collection. —Marissa De La Cerda $10 for keychains, $16 for rings, $20-$22 for double finger rings, $16-$28 for bracelets, $17-$58 for necklaces at manoymetal.com.

7/ The WasteShed Art Supplies

Help fuel your loved one's winter craft addiction and help rescue markers, knitting needles and paints from the landfill. Cultivating a more sustainable culture, The WasteShed accepts donations of art supplies and repurposes art, craft and school supplies. Pull together a gift basket for a DIY project from their low cost offerings, or grab a gift certificate for the creatives and teachers on your list. While you're there, drop off the crocheting you gave up on. The WasteShed is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) so your donations are tax deductible! See their web site for complete list of acceptable donations. — Jamie Ramsay Prices vary at 2842 W. Chicago, 773-666-5997, thewasteshed.com.

8/ Mermaid lessons at AquaMermaid

Who doesn't know someone who once dreamed of being a mermaid? (If your answer is "me," feel free to skip this item.) Fortunately, AquaMermaid exists for the sole purpose of helping people fulfill this glorious dream. Weekly lessons are available on Sunday afternoons at the UIC Sports and Fitness Center pool for both kids and adults; parties can also be arranged. You'll learn basic mermaid maneuvers, like how to glide gracefully underwater, flip your fins, and wave gracefully with your tail. And yes, tails are provided—though you'll have to wear your own bathing suit, or a seashell bra if you want to go full Ariel. Be warned: being a mermaid is a lot harder than it looks, but you'll get a great core workout. —Aimee Levitt Starting at $60 at UIC Sports and Fitness Center, 901 W. Roosevelt Road, 866-279-2767, aquamermaid.com.

Community Care

1/ Chicago Community Bond Fund donation

What better way to spread holiday cheer than to help someone in jail get home to their family? CCBF accepts donations large and small to pay bail for those awaiting trial in Cook County Jail. —Maya Dukmasova Visit chicagobond.org to see the criteria they use to select whose bail to pay.

2/ Women & Children First gift certificate

This post-#MeToo moment is a really good time to give all the sexist jerks in your life a gift certificate to one of the oldest and most significant women-owned bookstores in the US. Making people support women-owned businesses and select from an array of books including a higher-than-average spate by women and nonbinary folks is truly a gift that will benefit generations to come. —Anne Elizabeth Moore Prices vary at 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com.

3/ My Block, My Hood, My City gear

Founded by Jamal Cole, MBMHMC is a connectivity-encouraging, mentoring nonprofit that focuses on providing underserved teenagers exposure to opportunities beyond their familiar neighborhoods. Through excursions in STEM, art, entrepreneurism, and community development, called the Explorers Program, as well as service projects like shoveling snow for seniors, MBMHMC fosters experiences to nurture and empower Chicago youth. Twenty percent of all apparel sales go toward the Explorers Program. On December 1 and 8, volunteer to help hang holiday lights from 51st to 87th Streets along historic Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Like their Facebook page or check https://www.formyblock.org/events/ for updates on projects, calls to action, and to learn about volunteering. —Jamie Ramsay from $50 for hoodies (available in English, Spanish and Mandarin), $25 for skullies, at formyblock.org.

4/ Haymarket Books Book Club

If there's a radical or revolutionary on your shopping list, or, at the very least, someone who cares about social and economic justice, odds are they already know about Haymarket Books, the Buena Park-based publisher of Angela Davis, Rebecca Solnit, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Eve Ewing, among many, many others. Membership in Haymarket's book club provides regular monthly shipments of all the publisher's new titles, in either print or e-book format, plus discounts on everything on the backlist. Not only will you provide someone with the foundation of a great personal library, you'll also be supporting a local business. It's a win for everybody. —Aimee Levitt $20-$30/month at haymarketbooks.org.

5/ T-Shirt from the Silver Room

I discovered Silver Room when I first saw Eve Ewing wearing a "Make Chicago Great Again" Harold Washington T-shirt at Pitchfork last year. But the store has a lot more to offer, with shirts by local artists ranging from a profile of Colin Kaepernick made out of tiny red fists to one that looks like a hand-painted bodega advertisement for Hyde Park. The store is full of hand-crafted leather goods, jewelry, and home decor, many by black makers. —Maya Dukmasova $20-$30 at Silver Room, 1506 E. 53rd St., 773-947-0024, thesilverroom.com.

6/ Rebel Betty Arte prints and zines

Support a Latinx artist this holiday season by buying zines, prints, buttons and other artwork by Rebel Betty, an Afro-Latina artist, DJ, and educator. Her work focuses on raising awareness and creating discussions about gentrification and issues affecting black and brown communities. —Marissa De La Cerda $5-$35 for prints, $5-$15 for zines, $10-$15 for buttons and other items at rebelbettyarte.com.

Good Times

1/ Hollow Leg cocktail class

Contrary to popular belief, Hollow Leg is not a store where you can buy a leg lamp a la A Christmas Story, it's a company that offers mixology classes at various venues around the city. Founded by Devin Kidner, Hollow Leg aims to share the art and science behind crafting cocktails so that anyone who attends their events leaves with the knowledge, taste, and skill to finally make a decent drink—and since they offer plenty of non-alcoholic options, everyone can join in on the fun. You can purchase individual tickets or gift certificates to workshops such as Liquid Confidence: Mixology 101, or book them for a holiday shindig so you can give a whole bunch of your friends the gift that keeps on giving (and giving, and giving . . . depending on who you hang out with). Though most classes are hands-on, they also offer tastings, so you and your guests can just sit back, sip, and learn. The best part might be that they'll play "cocktail whisperer," and tailor the menu for their audience, so if, for example, you hate sugary sweet drinks, you won't have to waste your time—or your booze—mixing one. —Jamie Ludwig $60-$95 for gift certificates at hollowleg.com.

2/ Fat Tiger Workshop hat

Streetwear boutique Fat Tiger Workshop first set up in a small Congress Theater storefront four years ago. Founding designers Vic Lloyd, Desmond Owusu, Terrell Jones, and Joe "Freshgoods" Robinson quickly made the space a home for friends, aspiring artists, and established musicians. One day I wandered in to find Chuck Inglish and Sulaiman filming a music video behind the storefront; on another I bought a Save Money shirt during a pop-up helmed by Joey Purp. Fat Tiger has changed locations twice since then, and the owners still make sure its large West Town headquarters is an open-door community space, even as their individual profiles have risen. Robinson has become a streetwear celebrity since he made a one-off clothing line in homage to our previous president, "Thank U Obama" (Chance the Rapper wore one such hoodie while collecting his first Grammy), and he's since been enlisted to make clothes for the Chicago Bears, McDonald's, and the MCA. All four designers make gear for their individual brands, but they also have a run of Fat Tiger clothes. The simple, bold Fat Tiger hat is a great way to show love for all four of these independent, community-driven designers. —Leor Galil $30 for a signature hat at 836 N. Milwaukee, fattigerworkshop.com.

3/ Custom handmade guitar strap from Souldier

In 2004, Chicago musician Jen Tabor started making instrument straps for her friends, and soon began selling them at shows. Nearly 15 years later, her company Souldier, which specializes in hand-cut leather guitar, bass, and banjo straps, has helped support the instruments of artists such as Jeff Tweedy, Tom Petty, and Kim Gordon, and has practically come to have rock-star status of its own. You can find Souldier straps at a number of instrument shops and other retailers throughout the city, or purchase directly through their website, where there's more fun to be had by customizing a strap of your own. Choose between dozens of color and fabric patterns to match anyone's personality and/or artistic aesthetic. And though Souldier is most known for their instrument accessories, their product line also includes camera straps, headbands, wrist cuffs, dog collars, and more, so there are plenty of gift options for your non-musician human and canine friends. —Jamie Ludwig Prices vary at souldier.us.

4/ Fine Prints cassettes

Chicago's rock scene–if you can say there is one single community–is a lot broader than it often gets credited. Local label Fine Prints gets it. Founded by Robby Haynes (who helps run Hermosa studio Strange Magic Recording) and Ziyad Asrar (of Baby Blue, formerly of Whitney), Fine Prints has put out only a handful of cassette releases, but the small catalog shows how weird and wonderful Chicago rock can get. The label launched in August by releasing tapes from prog misfits Mayor Daley, art punks Wage, and synthpop hypnotists Desert Liminal; in October, Haynes and Asrar dropped the second EP by bedroom-pop wizard Adam Schubert, aka Ruins. The acts Fine Prints have worked with don't overlap stylistically, and that's partly why these four cassettes work well as a single package; they're great individual documents, and all together they unintentionally function as a reminder that there's a lot of great music happening in the city beyond the sounds on these tapes. —Leor Galil $7 per cassette at fineprints.bandcamp.com.

5/ Sharkula T-shirt

Can you really claim to be a Chicagoan if you've never met Sharkula? For the past couple decades, the oddball rapper who also answers to Thigahmahjigggee and Dirty Gilligan has roamed around the city's streets, selling his wares hand-to-hand: usually that means CD-Rs of his unpredictable raps housed in a photocopied sheet of paper littered with his drawings. He recently started making his own T-shirts, and his detailed, gritty graffiti style gives his pieces a lived-in quality. Sharkula designs each shirt by hand and no two are identical, which means this is the most unique gift you can give the Chicago hip-hop fan in your life. And, since buying a shirt requires that you call Sharkula, this also gives anyone who has never met him before the opportunity to finally meet a local legend. —Leor Galil Starting at $30 at 773-647-4995.

6/ Experimental Sound Studio tickets

Experimental Sound Studio, founded in 1986 and based in Edgewater since 2006, is one of the city's great incubators of avant-garde and experimental music. The nonprofit's facility houses a full-service recording studio, of course, as well as a small public gallery that hosts exhibitions, workshops, and other events. ESS also provides a home for the Creative Audio Archive, which it describes as "an invaluable collection of recordings, print, and visual ephemera related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music"—including a trove of Sun Ra material dating back to the 1950s and thousands of improvised and underground shows captured between 1981 and 2006 by Chicago sound recordist Malachi Ritscher. The concert series that ESS presents in its cozy live room, including Option and Oscillations, feature internationally celebrated Chicagoans—drummer Hamid Drake, sound artist Olivia Block, visionary multi-instrumentalists Ben Lamar Gay and Douglas Ewart—as well as renowned out-of-towners such as trumpeter Greg Kelley, saxophonist Don Dietrich, and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn. —Philip Montoro $40 for a pack of five tickets good for any concerts, which usually cost $10 apiece—and if you e-mail info@ess.org in advance to make a reservation, they'll even get you into one of the handful each year that sell out, 5925 N. Ravenswood, 773-998-1069, ess.org.

7/ Ninja Zombie DVD

In 1992, aspiring writer-director Mark Bessenger and a small crew filmed a low-budget Super-8 horror comedy in Chicago, the exurbs, and Wisconsin. No distributor wanted to touch his movie, Ninja Zombie, though I have a little trouble understanding why; the sight of a green, shirtless zombie adeptly fighting off a small army of ninjas would've sold me in 1992, but I was also seven at the time. Bessenger made a few VHS copies for friends, but the film otherwise disappeared. More than two decades later a copy wound up in the hands of cinema fanatic Zack Carlson, who helps run Bleeding Skull, a site and film distributor that documents obscure horror pictures. In 2014, Carlson brought the VHS to his Bleeding Skull collaborators (writer Annie Choi and site founder Joseph Ziemba, an Illinois native) who were so charmed by the goofy, light-footed picture they decided to find a way to release it. Last month, Bleeding Skull and Austin-based nonprofit the American Genre Film Archive co-released Ninja Zombie on DVD. I just hope with this wide release it may soon become a midnight staple. —Leor Galil $13.99 at americangenrefilm.com/releases/ninja-zombie.

About the artists

To accompany our gift guide, we commissioned two local artists to create the gift wrap featured on our two variant covers. To take full advantage of the festivities, pick up a paper copy of this week's Reader.

Justin Clemons from Chicago Lawn is also the Production Manager at Magnolia Printing. His gift wrap features hands spelling "C-H-I-C-A-G-O" in American Sign Language. The piece started as a hand study he painted at age 17 in the program After School Matters, and his instructor noted that it evoked the feeling of people being deaf to the youth of Chicago and their issues. Years later, Justin completed the painting in acrylics. It was featured in Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition hosted at the Museum of Science+Industry Chicago 2014.

Laura Berger is an artist living in Chicago who paints, sculpts and also animates. Her beautifully minimalistic work often focuses on themes of nature, dreams, or travel. Sometimes, her images feature a host of culturally diverse naked bodies—as appear on one of our variant covers. She is interested in how people create meaning and a sense of belonging to a greater whole.

For more info on Justin's work: justinianart.com. For more info on Laura's work: lauraberger.com.   v

Source: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-reader-2018-holiday-gift-guide/Content?oid=63481605

[jameyoverton-blog]

Twitter Views This As Churn

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[stormdoors78476]

Nevermind The Russians, Meet The Bot King Who Helps Trump Win Twitter

At 7:23 on Sunday evening, the conservative internet personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that former national security adviser Susan Rice had requested the “unmasking” of Americans connected to the Trump campaign who were incidentally mentioned in surveillance readouts. At 7:30, the owner of the Twitter account MicroMagicJingleTM noticed, and began blasting out dozens of tweets and retweets about the story.

“Would be nice to get 'Susan Rice' trending,” he tweeted at 8:16. And then, he made exactly that happen.

MicroMagicJingleTM is the latest incarnation of MicroChip, a notorious pro-Trump Twitter ringleader once described by a Republican strategist as the "Trumpbot overlord.” He has been suspended from the service so frequently, he can’t recall the exact number of times. A voluminous tweeter, his specialty is making hashtags trend. Over the next 24 hours, following his own call to arms, MicroChip tweeted or retweeted more than 300 times about Rice, everything from a photoshopped image of Donald Trump eating her head out of a taco bowl to demands that she die in jail, almost always accompanied by the tag #SusanRice. Meanwhile, in massive threaded tweets and DM groups, he implored others to do likewise.

By 9 a.m. Monday, the tag was being tweeted nearly 20,000 times an hour, and was trending on Twitter; by 11 a.m., 34,000 an hour. (As of Tuesday morning, the tag was still trending, partially thanks to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.) At 4:48 p.m. Monday, 18-odd hours after he started his campaign, MicroChip was ready to call it a success:

Before? What did he mean by “before"? Before the election, before the campaign, and long since before “Russian interference” was the mantra of every political consultant, British former member of parliament, and American senator turned Tolstoy enthusiast, MicroChip has been figuring out how to make pro-Trump tags go viral on Twitter. When people talk about Russian Twitter bots, they are, very likely, sometimes talking about his work. They’ve ranged from the innocuously rah-rah (#TrumpTrain) to the wildly xenophobic (#Rapefugees) to the extremely unconfirmed (#cruzsexscandal and #hillarygropedme). What they’ve all had in common is a method, the focus of speculation for nearly a year, and a chief promulgator, MicroChip, about whom little is known.

Indeed, MicroChip, who operates behind a VPN (a special secure network that obscures his location), is an object of fascination and fear, even among some of his political and ideological fellow travelers, who hope not to end up on the wrong side of one of his Twitter campaigns. One conservative observer of the alt-right, who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition that his name not be used, claimed he once hired private investigators to trace him.

“You can’t,” the observer wrote in a text message. “He’s too good.”

Unconvincing internet investigations have suggested that MicroChip may be anyone from the prominent alt-righter Baked Alaska to Justin McConney, the director of social media for the Trump Organization, to a shadowy Russian puppet master.

But in an interview with BuzzFeed News — his first with a media organization — MicroChip said the truth, both about his identity and the method he developed for spreading pro-Trump messages on Twitter, is far more prosaic. Though he would not divulge his real name or corroborate his claim, MicroChip said that he is a freelance mobile software developer in his early thirties and lives in Utah. In a conversation over the gaming chat platform Discord, MicroChip, who speaks unaccented, idiomatic American English, said that he guards his identity so closely for two reasons: first, because he fears losing contract work due to his beliefs, and second, because of what he calls an “uninformed” discourse in the media and Washington around Russian influence and botting.

“I feel like I'm a scientist showing electricity to natives that have been convinced electricity is created by Satan, so they murder the scientist,” he said.

Indeed, in a national atmosphere charged by unproven accusations about a massive network of Russian social media influence, the story of how MicroChip helped build the most notorious pro-Trump Twitter network seems almost mundane, less a technologically daunting intelligence operation than a clever patchworking of tools nearly any computer-literate person could manage. It also suggests that some of the current Russian Trumpbot hysteria may be, well, a hysteria.

“It’s all us, not Russians,” MicroChip said. “And we’re not going to stop.”

MicroChip claims he was a longtime “staunch liberal” who turned to Twitter in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and “found out that I didn’t like what was going on. So I redpilled myself.” Through Twitter, he found a network of other people who thought liberal politicians had blindly acceded to PC culture, and who had found a champion in Donald Trump. In his early days on the platform, MicroChip said, he started “testing,” dabbling in anti-PC tags like #Rapefugees and seeing what went viral. His experience as a mobile developer had exposed him to the Twitter API, and a conversation with a blogger who ran social media bots convinced him he could automate the Twitter trending process.

“Micro is a true believer alt-right guy,” wrote the alt-right observer who had MicroChip investigated. “He’s brilliant and is not LARPing. His tech skills are real as is his opsec.”

As MicroChip found other like-minded accounts, he said, they began to organize themselves into enormous, 50-person direct message groups. Within these groups, members would distribute content from the Drudge Report and Reddit’s r/The_Donald subreddit, then tweet it with a commonly decided hashtag, and retweet one another’s tweets ad infinitum. MicroChip called the DM rooms, simply, “retweet groups,” and by September of last year, there were 15 of them. Some of the groups were chock-full of egg and anime avatars, according to MicroChip, but others were composed of Christian conservatives or hardcore Zionists. Taken together, they were like a strange Twitter mirror image of the Trump coalition.

MicroChip added automation to these dedicated DM groups, which he insisted are populated entirely by real people with real accounts. He started using AddMeFast, a kind of social media currency exchange, in which people can retweet or like other tweets in exchange for points that they can then can spend to list their own content (such as pro-Trump hashtagged tweets) to be promoted. You can also buy these points, and an investment of several hundred dollars, according to MicroChip, can yield thousands or even tens of thousands of retweets.

A third component of MicroChip’s blended army of DM groups and crowdsourced social media signal boosters were simple Google script bots. These bots, which MicroChip said “you don’t have to do any programming at all to run,” can be programmed to find and like or retweet tweets featuring certain terms or hashtags.

At its height, MicroChip said, the network he helped create could reliably generate 35,000 retweets a day.

“It’s high volume and it takes work,” he said. “You can’t take a break — you sit at the screen waiting for breaking news 12 hours per day when you’re knee-deep in it.” It’s hard work: MicroChip would sometimes reach his daily limit of 1,000 tweets a day, sometimes taking Adderall to focus — though he added, “Shaping a message is exhilarating.”

Along the way, Twitter started to suspend MicroChip’s accounts — first his original handle @WDfx2EU, then subsequent variations, each started with a link to his Keybase page to verify his identity, and each presided over by the same avatar: the Instagram hunk Brock O’Hurn wearing a Make America Great Again hat and eating an ice cream cone. MicroChip showed BuzzFeed dozens of other accounts he owns, ready to activate if and when his current account, @WDFx2EU95, gets suspended.

While it may take work to stay active, MicroChip said he has has an ideal platform in Twitter with which to shape a message. "Twitter is easier [than other social networks] and more volatile," he said. "Emotions run high at 140 characters. The chaos is perfect."

MicroChip is well aware that many of the tags and stories he promotes haven’t been proven or aren’t true. He’s thrown his network behind #Pizzagate and #SpiritCooking. And days before the election, he posted a tweet to r/The_Donald about an alleged plot by then-president Obama and Hillary Clinton to have Trump assassinated in Reno.

“This ignorant shit needs to be stopped,” replied one user.

“I can make whatever claims I want to make,” MicroChip shot back. “That’s how this game works.”

It’s true that MicroChip can make any claim he wants, and it’s impossible to say that his stories about his identity are true: He could be Vladimir Putin. But multiple aspects of his method can be confirmed: MicroChip provided records of his activity on AddMeFast to BuzzFeed News, alt-right sources confirmed that he was a consistent presence in their DM groups, and the day after the election multiple pro-Trump accounts thanked him for his efforts:

“Micro put in serious work during the election and I really respect his lack of ego,” said another source within the Trump internet world who has worked closely with MicroChip. “He's anonymous and doesn’t care about the credit.”

Indeed, the fact that MicroChip’s network — that much pro-Trump internet activity — is now reflexively assumed to be part of a Russian influence campaign is one of the reasons MicroChip wanted to explain how he helped build it: not to take credit (he repeatedly referred to the network as a group effort) but to set the record straight.

“I’m not Russian,” MicroChip said. “I don’t work for Trump. There could very well be Russian bots. I just never saw them and we were in this deep. We’ve been on Twitter every day for the last year and a half. I haven’t seen any bots that I don’t know who they are.”

And if MicroChip is a Russian agent, it’s worth wondering why he, nearly three months into the Trump presidency, has plans to expand his network in the coming weeks with a new set of botting tools.

In a Twitter argument Monday with the Brooklyn developer Nathan Bernard, MicroChip teased that his network is about to get much, much bigger.

"The botnet [is] about to happen 10 X in about a week," he wrote. "Get ready."

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oBN47M

[repwincoml4a0a5]

Nevermind The Russians, Meet The Bot King Who Helps Trump Win Twitter

At 7:23 on Sunday evening, the conservative internet personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that former national security adviser Susan Rice had requested the “unmasking” of Americans connected to the Trump campaign who were incidentally mentioned in surveillance readouts. At 7:30, the owner of the Twitter account MicroMagicJingleTM noticed, and began blasting out dozens of tweets and retweets about the story.

“Would be nice to get 'Susan Rice' trending,” he tweeted at 8:16. And then, he made exactly that happen.

MicroMagicJingleTM is the latest incarnation of MicroChip, a notorious pro-Trump Twitter ringleader once described by a Republican strategist as the "Trumpbot overlord.” He has been suspended from the service so frequently, he can’t recall the exact number of times. A voluminous tweeter, his specialty is making hashtags trend. Over the next 24 hours, following his own call to arms, MicroChip tweeted or retweeted more than 300 times about Rice, everything from a photoshopped image of Donald Trump eating her head out of a taco bowl to demands that she die in jail, almost always accompanied by the tag #SusanRice. Meanwhile, in massive threaded tweets and DM groups, he implored others to do likewise.

By 9 a.m. Monday, the tag was being tweeted nearly 20,000 times an hour, and was trending on Twitter; by 11 a.m., 34,000 an hour. (As of Tuesday morning, the tag was still trending, partially thanks to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.) At 4:48 p.m. Monday, 18-odd hours after he started his campaign, MicroChip was ready to call it a success:

Before? What did he mean by “before"? Before the election, before the campaign, and long since before “Russian interference” was the mantra of every political consultant, British former member of parliament, and American senator turned Tolstoy enthusiast, MicroChip has been figuring out how to make pro-Trump tags go viral on Twitter. When people talk about Russian Twitter bots, they are, very likely, sometimes talking about his work. They’ve ranged from the innocuously rah-rah (#TrumpTrain) to the wildly xenophobic (#Rapefugees) to the extremely unconfirmed (#cruzsexscandal and #hillarygropedme). What they’ve all had in common is a method, the focus of speculation for nearly a year, and a chief promulgator, MicroChip, about whom little is known.

Indeed, MicroChip, who operates behind a VPN (a special secure network that obscures his location), is an object of fascination and fear, even among some of his political and ideological fellow travelers, who hope not to end up on the wrong side of one of his Twitter campaigns. One conservative observer of the alt-right, who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition that his name not be used, claimed he once hired private investigators to trace him.

“You can’t,” the observer wrote in a text message. “He’s too good.”

Unconvincing internet investigations have suggested that MicroChip may be anyone from the prominent alt-righter Baked Alaska to Justin McConney, the director of social media for the Trump Organization, to a shadowy Russian puppet master.

But in an interview with BuzzFeed News — his first with a media organization — MicroChip said the truth, both about his identity and the method he developed for spreading pro-Trump messages on Twitter, is far more prosaic. Though he would not divulge his real name or corroborate his claim, MicroChip said that he is a freelance mobile software developer in his early thirties and lives in Utah. In a conversation over the gaming chat platform Discord, MicroChip, who speaks unaccented, idiomatic American English, said that he guards his identity so closely for two reasons: first, because he fears losing contract work due to his beliefs, and second, because of what he calls an “uninformed” discourse in the media and Washington around Russian influence and botting.

“I feel like I'm a scientist showing electricity to natives that have been convinced electricity is created by Satan, so they murder the scientist,” he said.

Indeed, in a national atmosphere charged by unproven accusations about a massive network of Russian social media influence, the story of how MicroChip helped build the most notorious pro-Trump Twitter network seems almost mundane, less a technologically daunting intelligence operation than a clever patchworking of tools nearly any computer-literate person could manage. It also suggests that some of the current Russian Trumpbot hysteria may be, well, a hysteria.

“It’s all us, not Russians,” MicroChip said. “And we’re not going to stop.”

MicroChip claims he was a longtime “staunch liberal” who turned to Twitter in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and “found out that I didn’t like what was going on. So I redpilled myself.” Through Twitter, he found a network of other people who thought liberal politicians had blindly acceded to PC culture, and who had found a champion in Donald Trump. In his early days on the platform, MicroChip said, he started “testing,” dabbling in anti-PC tags like #Rapefugees and seeing what went viral. His experience as a mobile developer had exposed him to the Twitter API, and a conversation with a blogger who ran social media bots convinced him he could automate the Twitter trending process.

“Micro is a true believer alt-right guy,” wrote the alt-right observer who had MicroChip investigated. “He’s brilliant and is not LARPing. His tech skills are real as is his opsec.”

As MicroChip found other like-minded accounts, he said, they began to organize themselves into enormous, 50-person direct message groups. Within these groups, members would distribute content from the Drudge Report and Reddit’s r/The_Donald subreddit, then tweet it with a commonly decided hashtag, and retweet one another’s tweets ad infinitum. MicroChip called the DM rooms, simply, “retweet groups,” and by September of last year, there were 15 of them. Some of the groups were chock-full of egg and anime avatars, according to MicroChip, but others were composed of Christian conservatives or hardcore Zionists. Taken together, they were like a strange Twitter mirror image of the Trump coalition.

MicroChip added automation to these dedicated DM groups, which he insisted are populated entirely by real people with real accounts. He started using AddMeFast, a kind of social media currency exchange, in which people can retweet or like other tweets in exchange for points that they can then can spend to list their own content (such as pro-Trump hashtagged tweets) to be promoted. You can also buy these points, and an investment of several hundred dollars, according to MicroChip, can yield thousands or even tens of thousands of retweets.

A third component of MicroChip’s blended army of DM groups and crowdsourced social media signal boosters were simple Google script bots. These bots, which MicroChip said “you don’t have to do any programming at all to run,” can be programmed to find and like or retweet tweets featuring certain terms or hashtags.

At its height, MicroChip said, the network he helped create could reliably generate 35,000 retweets a day.

“It’s high volume and it takes work,” he said. “You can’t take a break — you sit at the screen waiting for breaking news 12 hours per day when you’re knee-deep in it.” It’s hard work: MicroChip would sometimes reach his daily limit of 1,000 tweets a day, sometimes taking Adderall to focus — though he added, “Shaping a message is exhilarating.”

Along the way, Twitter started to suspend MicroChip’s accounts — first his original handle @WDfx2EU, then subsequent variations, each started with a link to his Keybase page to verify his identity, and each presided over by the same avatar: the Instagram hunk Brock O’Hurn wearing a Make America Great Again hat and eating an ice cream cone. MicroChip showed BuzzFeed dozens of other accounts he owns, ready to activate if and when his current account, @WDFx2EU95, gets suspended.

While it may take work to stay active, MicroChip said he has has an ideal platform in Twitter with which to shape a message. "Twitter is easier [than other social networks] and more volatile," he said. "Emotions run high at 140 characters. The chaos is perfect."

MicroChip is well aware that many of the tags and stories he promotes haven’t been proven or aren’t true. He’s thrown his network behind #Pizzagate and #SpiritCooking. And days before the election, he posted a tweet to r/The_Donald about an alleged plot by then-president Obama and Hillary Clinton to have Trump assassinated in Reno.

“This ignorant shit needs to be stopped,” replied one user.

“I can make whatever claims I want to make,” MicroChip shot back. “That’s how this game works.”

It’s true that MicroChip can make any claim he wants, and it’s impossible to say that his stories about his identity are true: He could be Vladimir Putin. But multiple aspects of his method can be confirmed: MicroChip provided records of his activity on AddMeFast to BuzzFeed News, alt-right sources confirmed that he was a consistent presence in their DM groups, and the day after the election multiple pro-Trump accounts thanked him for his efforts:

“Micro put in serious work during the election and I really respect his lack of ego,” said another source within the Trump internet world who has worked closely with MicroChip. “He's anonymous and doesn’t care about the credit.”

Indeed, the fact that MicroChip’s network — that much pro-Trump internet activity — is now reflexively assumed to be part of a Russian influence campaign is one of the reasons MicroChip wanted to explain how he helped build it: not to take credit (he repeatedly referred to the network as a group effort) but to set the record straight.

“I’m not Russian,” MicroChip said. “I don’t work for Trump. There could very well be Russian bots. I just never saw them and we were in this deep. We’ve been on Twitter every day for the last year and a half. I haven’t seen any bots that I don’t know who they are.”

And if MicroChip is a Russian agent, it’s worth wondering why he, nearly three months into the Trump presidency, has plans to expand his network in the coming weeks with a new set of botting tools.

In a Twitter argument Monday with the Brooklyn developer Nathan Bernard, MicroChip teased that his network is about to get much, much bigger.

"The botnet [is] about to happen 10 X in about a week," he wrote. "Get ready."

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oBN47M

[chpatdoorsl3z0a1]

Nevermind The Russians, Meet The Bot King Who Helps Trump Win Twitter

At 7:23 on Sunday evening, the conservative internet personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that former national security adviser Susan Rice had requested the “unmasking” of Americans connected to the Trump campaign who were incidentally mentioned in surveillance readouts. At 7:30, the owner of the Twitter account MicroMagicJingleTM noticed, and began blasting out dozens of tweets and retweets about the story.

“Would be nice to get 'Susan Rice' trending,” he tweeted at 8:16. And then, he made exactly that happen.

MicroMagicJingleTM is the latest incarnation of MicroChip, a notorious pro-Trump Twitter ringleader once described by a Republican strategist as the "Trumpbot overlord.” He has been suspended from the service so frequently, he can’t recall the exact number of times. A voluminous tweeter, his specialty is making hashtags trend. Over the next 24 hours, following his own call to arms, MicroChip tweeted or retweeted more than 300 times about Rice, everything from a photoshopped image of Donald Trump eating her head out of a taco bowl to demands that she die in jail, almost always accompanied by the tag #SusanRice. Meanwhile, in massive threaded tweets and DM groups, he implored others to do likewise.

By 9 a.m. Monday, the tag was being tweeted nearly 20,000 times an hour, and was trending on Twitter; by 11 a.m., 34,000 an hour. (As of Tuesday morning, the tag was still trending, partially thanks to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.) At 4:48 p.m. Monday, 18-odd hours after he started his campaign, MicroChip was ready to call it a success:

Before? What did he mean by “before"? Before the election, before the campaign, and long since before “Russian interference” was the mantra of every political consultant, British former member of parliament, and American senator turned Tolstoy enthusiast, MicroChip has been figuring out how to make pro-Trump tags go viral on Twitter. When people talk about Russian Twitter bots, they are, very likely, sometimes talking about his work. They’ve ranged from the innocuously rah-rah (#TrumpTrain) to the wildly xenophobic (#Rapefugees) to the extremely unconfirmed (#cruzsexscandal and #hillarygropedme). What they’ve all had in common is a method, the focus of speculation for nearly a year, and a chief promulgator, MicroChip, about whom little is known.

Indeed, MicroChip, who operates behind a VPN (a special secure network that obscures his location), is an object of fascination and fear, even among some of his political and ideological fellow travelers, who hope not to end up on the wrong side of one of his Twitter campaigns. One conservative observer of the alt-right, who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition that his name not be used, claimed he once hired private investigators to trace him.

“You can’t,” the observer wrote in a text message. “He’s too good.”

Unconvincing internet investigations have suggested that MicroChip may be anyone from the prominent alt-righter Baked Alaska to Justin McConney, the director of social media for the Trump Organization, to a shadowy Russian puppet master.

But in an interview with BuzzFeed News — his first with a media organization — MicroChip said the truth, both about his identity and the method he developed for spreading pro-Trump messages on Twitter, is far more prosaic. Though he would not divulge his real name or corroborate his claim, MicroChip said that he is a freelance mobile software developer in his early thirties and lives in Utah. In a conversation over the gaming chat platform Discord, MicroChip, who speaks unaccented, idiomatic American English, said that he guards his identity so closely for two reasons: first, because he fears losing contract work due to his beliefs, and second, because of what he calls an “uninformed” discourse in the media and Washington around Russian influence and botting.

“I feel like I'm a scientist showing electricity to natives that have been convinced electricity is created by Satan, so they murder the scientist,” he said.

Indeed, in a national atmosphere charged by unproven accusations about a massive network of Russian social media influence, the story of how MicroChip helped build the most notorious pro-Trump Twitter network seems almost mundane, less a technologically daunting intelligence operation than a clever patchworking of tools nearly any computer-literate person could manage. It also suggests that some of the current Russian Trumpbot hysteria may be, well, a hysteria.

“It’s all us, not Russians,” MicroChip said. “And we’re not going to stop.”

MicroChip claims he was a longtime “staunch liberal” who turned to Twitter in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and “found out that I didn’t like what was going on. So I redpilled myself.” Through Twitter, he found a network of other people who thought liberal politicians had blindly acceded to PC culture, and who had found a champion in Donald Trump. In his early days on the platform, MicroChip said, he started “testing,” dabbling in anti-PC tags like #Rapefugees and seeing what went viral. His experience as a mobile developer had exposed him to the Twitter API, and a conversation with a blogger who ran social media bots convinced him he could automate the Twitter trending process.

“Micro is a true believer alt-right guy,” wrote the alt-right observer who had MicroChip investigated. “He’s brilliant and is not LARPing. His tech skills are real as is his opsec.”

As MicroChip found other like-minded accounts, he said, they began to organize themselves into enormous, 50-person direct message groups. Within these groups, members would distribute content from the Drudge Report and Reddit’s r/The_Donald subreddit, then tweet it with a commonly decided hashtag, and retweet one another’s tweets ad infinitum. MicroChip called the DM rooms, simply, “retweet groups,” and by September of last year, there were 15 of them. Some of the groups were chock-full of egg and anime avatars, according to MicroChip, but others were composed of Christian conservatives or hardcore Zionists. Taken together, they were like a strange Twitter mirror image of the Trump coalition.

MicroChip added automation to these dedicated DM groups, which he insisted are populated entirely by real people with real accounts. He started using AddMeFast, a kind of social media currency exchange, in which people can retweet or like other tweets in exchange for points that they can then can spend to list their own content (such as pro-Trump hashtagged tweets) to be promoted. You can also buy these points, and an investment of several hundred dollars, according to MicroChip, can yield thousands or even tens of thousands of retweets.

A third component of MicroChip’s blended army of DM groups and crowdsourced social media signal boosters were simple Google script bots. These bots, which MicroChip said “you don’t have to do any programming at all to run,” can be programmed to find and like or retweet tweets featuring certain terms or hashtags.

At its height, MicroChip said, the network he helped create could reliably generate 35,000 retweets a day.

“It’s high volume and it takes work,” he said. “You can’t take a break — you sit at the screen waiting for breaking news 12 hours per day when you’re knee-deep in it.” It’s hard work: MicroChip would sometimes reach his daily limit of 1,000 tweets a day, sometimes taking Adderall to focus — though he added, “Shaping a message is exhilarating.”

Along the way, Twitter started to suspend MicroChip’s accounts — first his original handle @WDfx2EU, then subsequent variations, each started with a link to his Keybase page to verify his identity, and each presided over by the same avatar: the Instagram hunk Brock O’Hurn wearing a Make America Great Again hat and eating an ice cream cone. MicroChip showed BuzzFeed dozens of other accounts he owns, ready to activate if and when his current account, @WDFx2EU95, gets suspended.

While it may take work to stay active, MicroChip said he has has an ideal platform in Twitter with which to shape a message. "Twitter is easier [than other social networks] and more volatile," he said. "Emotions run high at 140 characters. The chaos is perfect."

MicroChip is well aware that many of the tags and stories he promotes haven’t been proven or aren’t true. He’s thrown his network behind #Pizzagate and #SpiritCooking. And days before the election, he posted a tweet to r/The_Donald about an alleged plot by then-president Obama and Hillary Clinton to have Trump assassinated in Reno.

“This ignorant shit needs to be stopped,” replied one user.

“I can make whatever claims I want to make,” MicroChip shot back. “That’s how this game works.”

It’s true that MicroChip can make any claim he wants, and it’s impossible to say that his stories about his identity are true: He could be Vladimir Putin. But multiple aspects of his method can be confirmed: MicroChip provided records of his activity on AddMeFast to BuzzFeed News, alt-right sources confirmed that he was a consistent presence in their DM groups, and the day after the election multiple pro-Trump accounts thanked him for his efforts:

“Micro put in serious work during the election and I really respect his lack of ego,” said another source within the Trump internet world who has worked closely with MicroChip. “He's anonymous and doesn’t care about the credit.”

Indeed, the fact that MicroChip’s network — that much pro-Trump internet activity — is now reflexively assumed to be part of a Russian influence campaign is one of the reasons MicroChip wanted to explain how he helped build it: not to take credit (he repeatedly referred to the network as a group effort) but to set the record straight.

“I’m not Russian,” MicroChip said. “I don’t work for Trump. There could very well be Russian bots. I just never saw them and we were in this deep. We’ve been on Twitter every day for the last year and a half. I haven’t seen any bots that I don’t know who they are.”

And if MicroChip is a Russian agent, it’s worth wondering why he, nearly three months into the Trump presidency, has plans to expand his network in the coming weeks with a new set of botting tools.

In a Twitter argument Monday with the Brooklyn developer Nathan Bernard, MicroChip teased that his network is about to get much, much bigger.

"The botnet [is] about to happen 10 X in about a week," he wrote. "Get ready."

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oBN47M

[porchenclose10019]

Nevermind The Russians, Meet The Bot King Who Helps Trump Win Twitter

At 7:23 on Sunday evening, the conservative internet personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that former national security adviser Susan Rice had requested the “unmasking” of Americans connected to the Trump campaign who were incidentally mentioned in surveillance readouts. At 7:30, the owner of the Twitter account MicroMagicJingleTM noticed, and began blasting out dozens of tweets and retweets about the story.

“Would be nice to get 'Susan Rice' trending,” he tweeted at 8:16. And then, he made exactly that happen.

MicroMagicJingleTM is the latest incarnation of MicroChip, a notorious pro-Trump Twitter ringleader once described by a Republican strategist as the "Trumpbot overlord.” He has been suspended from the service so frequently, he can’t recall the exact number of times. A voluminous tweeter, his specialty is making hashtags trend. Over the next 24 hours, following his own call to arms, MicroChip tweeted or retweeted more than 300 times about Rice, everything from a photoshopped image of Donald Trump eating her head out of a taco bowl to demands that she die in jail, almost always accompanied by the tag #SusanRice. Meanwhile, in massive threaded tweets and DM groups, he implored others to do likewise.

By 9 a.m. Monday, the tag was being tweeted nearly 20,000 times an hour, and was trending on Twitter; by 11 a.m., 34,000 an hour. (As of Tuesday morning, the tag was still trending, partially thanks to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.) At 4:48 p.m. Monday, 18-odd hours after he started his campaign, MicroChip was ready to call it a success:

Before? What did he mean by “before"? Before the election, before the campaign, and long since before “Russian interference” was the mantra of every political consultant, British former member of parliament, and American senator turned Tolstoy enthusiast, MicroChip has been figuring out how to make pro-Trump tags go viral on Twitter. When people talk about Russian Twitter bots, they are, very likely, sometimes talking about his work. They’ve ranged from the innocuously rah-rah (#TrumpTrain) to the wildly xenophobic (#Rapefugees) to the extremely unconfirmed (#cruzsexscandal and #hillarygropedme). What they’ve all had in common is a method, the focus of speculation for nearly a year, and a chief promulgator, MicroChip, about whom little is known.

Indeed, MicroChip, who operates behind a VPN (a special secure network that obscures his location), is an object of fascination and fear, even among some of his political and ideological fellow travelers, who hope not to end up on the wrong side of one of his Twitter campaigns. One conservative observer of the alt-right, who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition that his name not be used, claimed he once hired private investigators to trace him.

“You can’t,” the observer wrote in a text message. “He’s too good.”

Unconvincing internet investigations have suggested that MicroChip may be anyone from the prominent alt-righter Baked Alaska to Justin McConney, the director of social media for the Trump Organization, to a shadowy Russian puppet master.

But in an interview with BuzzFeed News — his first with a media organization — MicroChip said the truth, both about his identity and the method he developed for spreading pro-Trump messages on Twitter, is far more prosaic. Though he would not divulge his real name or corroborate his claim, MicroChip said that he is a freelance mobile software developer in his early thirties and lives in Utah. In a conversation over the gaming chat platform Discord, MicroChip, who speaks unaccented, idiomatic American English, said that he guards his identity so closely for two reasons: first, because he fears losing contract work due to his beliefs, and second, because of what he calls an “uninformed” discourse in the media and Washington around Russian influence and botting.

“I feel like I'm a scientist showing electricity to natives that have been convinced electricity is created by Satan, so they murder the scientist,” he said.

Indeed, in a national atmosphere charged by unproven accusations about a massive network of Russian social media influence, the story of how MicroChip helped build the most notorious pro-Trump Twitter network seems almost mundane, less a technologically daunting intelligence operation than a clever patchworking of tools nearly any computer-literate person could manage. It also suggests that some of the current Russian Trumpbot hysteria may be, well, a hysteria.

“It’s all us, not Russians,” MicroChip said. “And we’re not going to stop.”

MicroChip claims he was a longtime “staunch liberal” who turned to Twitter in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and “found out that I didn’t like what was going on. So I redpilled myself.” Through Twitter, he found a network of other people who thought liberal politicians had blindly acceded to PC culture, and who had found a champion in Donald Trump. In his early days on the platform, MicroChip said, he started “testing,” dabbling in anti-PC tags like #Rapefugees and seeing what went viral. His experience as a mobile developer had exposed him to the Twitter API, and a conversation with a blogger who ran social media bots convinced him he could automate the Twitter trending process.

“Micro is a true believer alt-right guy,” wrote the alt-right observer who had MicroChip investigated. “He’s brilliant and is not LARPing. His tech skills are real as is his opsec.”

As MicroChip found other like-minded accounts, he said, they began to organize themselves into enormous, 50-person direct message groups. Within these groups, members would distribute content from the Drudge Report and Reddit’s r/The_Donald subreddit, then tweet it with a commonly decided hashtag, and retweet one another’s tweets ad infinitum. MicroChip called the DM rooms, simply, “retweet groups,” and by September of last year, there were 15 of them. Some of the groups were chock-full of egg and anime avatars, according to MicroChip, but others were composed of Christian conservatives or hardcore Zionists. Taken together, they were like a strange Twitter mirror image of the Trump coalition.

MicroChip added automation to these dedicated DM groups, which he insisted are populated entirely by real people with real accounts. He started using AddMeFast, a kind of social media currency exchange, in which people can retweet or like other tweets in exchange for points that they can then can spend to list their own content (such as pro-Trump hashtagged tweets) to be promoted. You can also buy these points, and an investment of several hundred dollars, according to MicroChip, can yield thousands or even tens of thousands of retweets.

A third component of MicroChip’s blended army of DM groups and crowdsourced social media signal boosters were simple Google script bots. These bots, which MicroChip said “you don’t have to do any programming at all to run,” can be programmed to find and like or retweet tweets featuring certain terms or hashtags.

At its height, MicroChip said, the network he helped create could reliably generate 35,000 retweets a day.

“It’s high volume and it takes work,” he said. “You can’t take a break — you sit at the screen waiting for breaking news 12 hours per day when you’re knee-deep in it.” It’s hard work: MicroChip would sometimes reach his daily limit of 1,000 tweets a day, sometimes taking Adderall to focus — though he added, “Shaping a message is exhilarating.”

Along the way, Twitter started to suspend MicroChip’s accounts — first his original handle @WDfx2EU, then subsequent variations, each started with a link to his Keybase page to verify his identity, and each presided over by the same avatar: the Instagram hunk Brock O’Hurn wearing a Make America Great Again hat and eating an ice cream cone. MicroChip showed BuzzFeed dozens of other accounts he owns, ready to activate if and when his current account, @WDFx2EU95, gets suspended.

While it may take work to stay active, MicroChip said he has has an ideal platform in Twitter with which to shape a message. "Twitter is easier [than other social networks] and more volatile," he said. "Emotions run high at 140 characters. The chaos is perfect."

MicroChip is well aware that many of the tags and stories he promotes haven’t been proven or aren’t true. He’s thrown his network behind #Pizzagate and #SpiritCooking. And days before the election, he posted a tweet to r/The_Donald about an alleged plot by then-president Obama and Hillary Clinton to have Trump assassinated in Reno.

“This ignorant shit needs to be stopped,” replied one user.

“I can make whatever claims I want to make,” MicroChip shot back. “That’s how this game works.”

It’s true that MicroChip can make any claim he wants, and it’s impossible to say that his stories about his identity are true: He could be Vladimir Putin. But multiple aspects of his method can be confirmed: MicroChip provided records of his activity on AddMeFast to BuzzFeed News, alt-right sources confirmed that he was a consistent presence in their DM groups, and the day after the election multiple pro-Trump accounts thanked him for his efforts:

“Micro put in serious work during the election and I really respect his lack of ego,” said another source within the Trump internet world who has worked closely with MicroChip. “He's anonymous and doesn’t care about the credit.”

Indeed, the fact that MicroChip’s network — that much pro-Trump internet activity — is now reflexively assumed to be part of a Russian influence campaign is one of the reasons MicroChip wanted to explain how he helped build it: not to take credit (he repeatedly referred to the network as a group effort) but to set the record straight.

“I’m not Russian,” MicroChip said. “I don’t work for Trump. There could very well be Russian bots. I just never saw them and we were in this deep. We’ve been on Twitter every day for the last year and a half. I haven’t seen any bots that I don’t know who they are.”

And if MicroChip is a Russian agent, it’s worth wondering why he, nearly three months into the Trump presidency, has plans to expand his network in the coming weeks with a new set of botting tools.

In a Twitter argument Monday with the Brooklyn developer Nathan Bernard, MicroChip teased that his network is about to get much, much bigger.

"The botnet [is] about to happen 10 X in about a week," he wrote. "Get ready."

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oBN47M

[grgedoors02142]

Nevermind The Russians, Meet The Bot King Who Helps Trump Win Twitter

At 7:23 on Sunday evening, the conservative internet personality Mike Cernovich tweeted that former national security adviser Susan Rice had requested the “unmasking” of Americans connected to the Trump campaign who were incidentally mentioned in surveillance readouts. At 7:30, the owner of the Twitter account MicroMagicJingleTM noticed, and began blasting out dozens of tweets and retweets about the story.

“Would be nice to get 'Susan Rice' trending,” he tweeted at 8:16. And then, he made exactly that happen.

MicroMagicJingleTM is the latest incarnation of MicroChip, a notorious pro-Trump Twitter ringleader once described by a Republican strategist as the "Trumpbot overlord.” He has been suspended from the service so frequently, he can’t recall the exact number of times. A voluminous tweeter, his specialty is making hashtags trend. Over the next 24 hours, following his own call to arms, MicroChip tweeted or retweeted more than 300 times about Rice, everything from a photoshopped image of Donald Trump eating her head out of a taco bowl to demands that she die in jail, almost always accompanied by the tag #SusanRice. Meanwhile, in massive threaded tweets and DM groups, he implored others to do likewise.

By 9 a.m. Monday, the tag was being tweeted nearly 20,000 times an hour, and was trending on Twitter; by 11 a.m., 34,000 an hour. (As of Tuesday morning, the tag was still trending, partially thanks to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.) At 4:48 p.m. Monday, 18-odd hours after he started his campaign, MicroChip was ready to call it a success:

Before? What did he mean by “before"? Before the election, before the campaign, and long since before “Russian interference” was the mantra of every political consultant, British former member of parliament, and American senator turned Tolstoy enthusiast, MicroChip has been figuring out how to make pro-Trump tags go viral on Twitter. When people talk about Russian Twitter bots, they are, very likely, sometimes talking about his work. They’ve ranged from the innocuously rah-rah (#TrumpTrain) to the wildly xenophobic (#Rapefugees) to the extremely unconfirmed (#cruzsexscandal and #hillarygropedme). What they’ve all had in common is a method, the focus of speculation for nearly a year, and a chief promulgator, MicroChip, about whom little is known.

Indeed, MicroChip, who operates behind a VPN (a special secure network that obscures his location), is an object of fascination and fear, even among some of his political and ideological fellow travelers, who hope not to end up on the wrong side of one of his Twitter campaigns. One conservative observer of the alt-right, who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition that his name not be used, claimed he once hired private investigators to trace him.

“You can’t,” the observer wrote in a text message. “He’s too good.”

Unconvincing internet investigations have suggested that MicroChip may be anyone from the prominent alt-righter Baked Alaska to Justin McConney, the director of social media for the Trump Organization, to a shadowy Russian puppet master.

But in an interview with BuzzFeed News — his first with a media organization — MicroChip said the truth, both about his identity and the method he developed for spreading pro-Trump messages on Twitter, is far more prosaic. Though he would not divulge his real name or corroborate his claim, MicroChip said that he is a freelance mobile software developer in his early thirties and lives in Utah. In a conversation over the gaming chat platform Discord, MicroChip, who speaks unaccented, idiomatic American English, said that he guards his identity so closely for two reasons: first, because he fears losing contract work due to his beliefs, and second, because of what he calls an “uninformed” discourse in the media and Washington around Russian influence and botting.

“I feel like I'm a scientist showing electricity to natives that have been convinced electricity is created by Satan, so they murder the scientist,” he said.

Indeed, in a national atmosphere charged by unproven accusations about a massive network of Russian social media influence, the story of how MicroChip helped build the most notorious pro-Trump Twitter network seems almost mundane, less a technologically daunting intelligence operation than a clever patchworking of tools nearly any computer-literate person could manage. It also suggests that some of the current Russian Trumpbot hysteria may be, well, a hysteria.

“It’s all us, not Russians,” MicroChip said. “And we’re not going to stop.”

MicroChip claims he was a longtime “staunch liberal” who turned to Twitter in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and “found out that I didn’t like what was going on. So I redpilled myself.” Through Twitter, he found a network of other people who thought liberal politicians had blindly acceded to PC culture, and who had found a champion in Donald Trump. In his early days on the platform, MicroChip said, he started “testing,” dabbling in anti-PC tags like #Rapefugees and seeing what went viral. His experience as a mobile developer had exposed him to the Twitter API, and a conversation with a blogger who ran social media bots convinced him he could automate the Twitter trending process.

“Micro is a true believer alt-right guy,” wrote the alt-right observer who had MicroChip investigated. “He’s brilliant and is not LARPing. His tech skills are real as is his opsec.”

As MicroChip found other like-minded accounts, he said, they began to organize themselves into enormous, 50-person direct message groups. Within these groups, members would distribute content from the Drudge Report and Reddit’s r/The_Donald subreddit, then tweet it with a commonly decided hashtag, and retweet one another’s tweets ad infinitum. MicroChip called the DM rooms, simply, “retweet groups,” and by September of last year, there were 15 of them. Some of the groups were chock-full of egg and anime avatars, according to MicroChip, but others were composed of Christian conservatives or hardcore Zionists. Taken together, they were like a strange Twitter mirror image of the Trump coalition.

MicroChip added automation to these dedicated DM groups, which he insisted are populated entirely by real people with real accounts. He started using AddMeFast, a kind of social media currency exchange, in which people can retweet or like other tweets in exchange for points that they can then can spend to list their own content (such as pro-Trump hashtagged tweets) to be promoted. You can also buy these points, and an investment of several hundred dollars, according to MicroChip, can yield thousands or even tens of thousands of retweets.

A third component of MicroChip’s blended army of DM groups and crowdsourced social media signal boosters were simple Google script bots. These bots, which MicroChip said “you don’t have to do any programming at all to run,” can be programmed to find and like or retweet tweets featuring certain terms or hashtags.

At its height, MicroChip said, the network he helped create could reliably generate 35,000 retweets a day.

“It’s high volume and it takes work,” he said. “You can’t take a break — you sit at the screen waiting for breaking news 12 hours per day when you’re knee-deep in it.” It’s hard work: MicroChip would sometimes reach his daily limit of 1,000 tweets a day, sometimes taking Adderall to focus — though he added, “Shaping a message is exhilarating.”

Along the way, Twitter started to suspend MicroChip’s accounts — first his original handle @WDfx2EU, then subsequent variations, each started with a link to his Keybase page to verify his identity, and each presided over by the same avatar: the Instagram hunk Brock O’Hurn wearing a Make America Great Again hat and eating an ice cream cone. MicroChip showed BuzzFeed dozens of other accounts he owns, ready to activate if and when his current account, @WDFx2EU95, gets suspended.

While it may take work to stay active, MicroChip said he has has an ideal platform in Twitter with which to shape a message. "Twitter is easier [than other social networks] and more volatile," he said. "Emotions run high at 140 characters. The chaos is perfect."

MicroChip is well aware that many of the tags and stories he promotes haven’t been proven or aren’t true. He’s thrown his network behind #Pizzagate and #SpiritCooking. And days before the election, he posted a tweet to r/The_Donald about an alleged plot by then-president Obama and Hillary Clinton to have Trump assassinated in Reno.

“This ignorant shit needs to be stopped,” replied one user.

“I can make whatever claims I want to make,” MicroChip shot back. “That’s how this game works.”

It’s true that MicroChip can make any claim he wants, and it’s impossible to say that his stories about his identity are true: He could be Vladimir Putin. But multiple aspects of his method can be confirmed: MicroChip provided records of his activity on AddMeFast to BuzzFeed News, alt-right sources confirmed that he was a consistent presence in their DM groups, and the day after the election multiple pro-Trump accounts thanked him for his efforts:

“Micro put in serious work during the election and I really respect his lack of ego,” said another source within the Trump internet world who has worked closely with MicroChip. “He's anonymous and doesn’t care about the credit.”

Indeed, the fact that MicroChip’s network — that much pro-Trump internet activity — is now reflexively assumed to be part of a Russian influence campaign is one of the reasons MicroChip wanted to explain how he helped build it: not to take credit (he repeatedly referred to the network as a group effort) but to set the record straight.

“I’m not Russian,” MicroChip said. “I don’t work for Trump. There could very well be Russian bots. I just never saw them and we were in this deep. We’ve been on Twitter every day for the last year and a half. I haven’t seen any bots that I don’t know who they are.”

And if MicroChip is a Russian agent, it’s worth wondering why he, nearly three months into the Trump presidency, has plans to expand his network in the coming weeks with a new set of botting tools.

In a Twitter argument Monday with the Brooklyn developer Nathan Bernard, MicroChip teased that his network is about to get much, much bigger.

"The botnet [is] about to happen 10 X in about a week," he wrote. "Get ready."

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oBN47M