Reply All: #166 Country of Liars

September 21, 2020 4:54 PM

Who is Q-Anon? PJ tells the surprising origin story of the Q scam, and the man who now seems to be in control of it.
posted by dnash (6 comments total)

I went into this thinking it was just gonna be another "basics of Qanon," but while it has some of that, it also has a ton of story I'd never heard before. Including some pretty likely clues as to which nutcase is currently trying to be "Q."
posted by dnash at 5:05 PM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

Similarly - I had heard about 8Chan and it's original founder, but not what happened next.
Well worth the listen.
posted by From Bklyn at 7:18 AM on September 22, 2020

I'm not entirely sure how to square this with the several interviews I've heard from Brennan on QAnonAnonymous (a QAnon watchdog podcast, not a Q-enthusiast podcast.) I really want to like the guy, but every cynical, asshole "too good to be true" hair on my body tingles. He's clearly been through some real shit and several people I respect trust him. I want to believe.

But, this is definitely interesting and valuable, despite my unwarranted skepticism. I'm happy to see Reply All cover it.
posted by eotvos at 8:17 PM on September 24, 2020

Excellent and well sources, great reporting. I wrote this summary of the major claims for some friends, hope it's helpful.

• QAnon started on 4chan as one of a bunch of similar troll / role playing jokes that somehow got more serious
• It migrated early to 8chan where maybe Paul Furber was Q. Furber gets Q on InfoWars and then to Reddit where it spreads big.
• Ron Watkins (who owned 8chan) realized Q was powerful and took control of it and runs it even now that 8chan was knocked offline
• The primary evidence for much of this is Fredrick Brennan's word; he founded 8chan and was working there. But he's kinda guessing.
• There's a lot of shenanigans with the trip codes (a sort of password alternative) and verification of identity that suggest that Watkins took control of Q.

posted by Nelson at 2:09 PM on September 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Honestly I don't know how much I trust Brennan's word, though there's plenty of more trustworthy evidence that backs up his most important claims.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:39 PM on September 26, 2020

Just popping in with some follow up... "Q" has been silent since 11/3/2020 , and Ron Watkins left 8Kun at the same time.

"Is QAnon’s silence tied to Ron Watkins’ departure from 8kun?"
posted by dnash at 7:32 PM on November 10, 2020 [1 favorite]