Thread by @QOrigins

I’m worried I’m leaving a BUNCH of people out, but:

@2021_Karma, @QuacksAnonymous, @ResearchFQX, @kunstderfuge1, @AlxnderThaGr8, @nickbackovic himself, @TheOndrakGuy.

Also, shout out to @conspirator0 and @ZellaQuixote, who were THE first two analysts to notice & explain QAnon.

https://twitter.com/nickbackovic/status/1453768118212468744

OK, more people:

@get_innocuous for Stop the Steal fuckery in general and its intersection w/QAnon in particular

@GThonks for having had only one (1) bad take and about 1,000,000 good takes on QAnon, which is MUCH better than me

(Also, if you think I’m leaving you out, DM me!)

NON-QANON LIGHTNING ROUND:

@bellingcat for inspiring me to get into OSINT work at all and, inexplicably, publishing me three times (!!!) — special thanks: @AricToler

@NataliaAntonova for teaching me to be sweatily paranoid about how easy it is to stalk people online (TOO EASY)

JOURNALIST TIME

@ariehkovler — really sharp takes; not infrequently makes me go “oh hell, I wish I’d thought of that”

@beyerstein — hands down my favorite journalist that I’ve ever interviewed with. V knowledgeable & able to put things into perspective (p. hard, lemme tell ya!)

@Shayan86 — just a really fucking solid disinfo-beat reporter (see also: @mariannaspring!), with a GREAT sense for how bullshit moves around the Internet & where it’s gonna go next IRL.

@AlKapDC — rapidly becoming Public Enemy #1 in QAnonLand. Clearly he is over the target. :D

I should add that @AlKapDC ALSO maintains the QAnon Candidates List (tm), which is an absolutely vital resource. Y’all should be following him for sure.

Oh no I am drawing a blank right now even though I know a bunch of great journalists.

@vanbadham FOR SURE, BTW. I was, I guess, a test reader(?) for her forthcoming book about Australian QAnon and she knocked it outta the park. I believe it’s out next month, so watch this space.

Uh, uh, uh. Who else???

Oh no, brain shutting down. But still so many good people to praise! :( I guess I’ll take another shot at this once my brain reboots

Oh shit, OK, yes, two bonus entries

From @pinealdecalcify, I have learned SO MUCH about SovCit logic. She also gave me the first real explainer on DUMBs that I ever encountered (“Deep Underground Military Bases”), which turns out to be a p vital concept for QAnon culture.

ALSO, @coolfacejane *fucking gets it* (I would compare her to a sort of… embryonic @dappergander??? Except more academic and also focused on the wider disinfo-sphere).

But like, fundamentally I think she *gets* the emotional underpinnings of ::gestures at all of the bullshit::.

@Blyth_Crawford wrote some of the first serious analysis of the fact that anti-trans rhetoric is *the beating heart* of the far right -- it is the bridge between them & mainstream conservatives, and is a key point of commonality between far-right groups w/different worldviews.

Anyone who's been in far-right spaces has immediately *seen* that transphobia is central to their whole entire deal.

But very little had been written about it. Blyth was like "Fuck that, I'm goin' in," and she did, and it was fuckin' great.

Holy moly, @AmarAmarasingam too. Like, you know how @_MAArgentino knows an *absurd* amount about extremism & is constantly publishing v good qualitative AND quantitative work?

Amar is who *Marc-Andre* looks up to.

Also @az_rww is vital. Arizona's GOP is one of the most radically anti-democracy outfits in the country. Tracking and reporting on them is SUPER important work.

If any of y'all know of similar outfits for North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Texas, BTW, please please please DM me.