Propaganda:

DeletedUser

Guest
ALL CREDIT GOES TO TIC TOC ON WORLD 33


Foreword: This is an informational post in hopes of stemming the leaky faucet-like flow of rubbish posts on World 33.

The What
Propa-who-wha?


Propaganda is the fourth most deadly weapon on Tribal Wars, lying somewhere after Axes and somewhere before Catapults (never found them handy). However, unlike the common units in Tribal Wars, Propaganda is a double edged sword. Using it wisely and cautiously will give you the support of the public. And, as mentioned in another post, it is a lot easier to declare and win a war against a tough opponent if the rest of the world is rooting you on, and likewise its a heavy handicap to be fighting an enemy with the support of the public.

First off let's define Propaganda.
Wikipedia said:
Propaganda is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
>
Dictionary.com said:
(Propaganda is) The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
>
Let's take an example. Two children are fighting on the playground. One of the two punches feebly, and the other immediately points it out. Suddenly the first child is being ridiculed by the mob of children surrounding him. Its a mental attack, a mind game, of being backed into a corner by a mob.

Let's take another example. You neutrally stumble upon a forum thread about a war between two tribes. This thread is by a member of Tribe A, which accuses Tribe B of harboring fugitives and recruiting players that were cleared and being farmed. Tribe A also posts quoted messages between tribe leaders, showing that the leader of Tribe B refuses to comply and uses childish language and insults to justify his actions.

This post has absolutely no rude pictures attached to it with arrows and labels. This post has absolutely no insults or threats. It simply states the situation and gives a public declaration of war. Now, the immediate reaction to this post is that you support Tribe A. The familiarity of the stress from the leader of Tribe A having to deal with the incompetence of Tribe B connects with most players on a basic level, and suddenly Tribe A has the support of the Public.

The Why
The Sunny Upside
The immediate result of this support may be nothing at all, especially if Tribe B does not use the forums. Regardlessly, Tribe B is put into a corner, has no backing for their actions, and is being publicly ridiculed.

If the propaganda is good enough, it may entice more allies to join the side of Tribe A. It may even crush the hope of Tribe B, leaving an opening for an easy victory.

The Downside
A propaganda thread can also backfire. If no evidence is used to back claims a quick and witty comeback can quickly sway the emotions of a mob, turning all of that hard work against you. If evidence is made up and proved incorrect, all credibility of the poster is lost, and he/she quickly becomes a ridicule. If threats, goofy pictures with no meaning, and insults are used, the poster may seem childish and insecure, giving a weakness for an opponent to exploit.

There is also a strict difference between propaganda and self-glorification/flaming. Propaganda uses specific facts while holding back others, or finds flaws in an opponent's logic. Meanwhile, self-glorification/flaming is simply a biased insult in hopes of clawing out some self-glorification from bringing an opponent unlikely of defense down.

There are two major forms of propaganda. The above examples are those against an opponent. However, one more commonly dubbed as spam is also effective, called

And the How.
The How To of Hoot and Hype

Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalized his emotions. - David Borenstein

Make Your Opponent Look like a Monkey

You are a physical representation of your tribe. Don't act like an idiot. Most people can and will fall in love with a group of people if just one person seems likable. If you ever have a position of power or leadership, this is a hugely important part of propaganda. If you can seem gentlemanly under the stress of war and threats, if you can force your opponent into using insults, then you have won. Simply quote him and let everyone enjoy your suave victory.

However, do not think that you must change your attitude for this to work. The exact opposite can be used, too. If you show absolutely no respect to a player, but still manage to find errors in his logic or force him to use insults to counter a goofy attitude, you will effectively break down his own ethos. A great example follows:

kn1ghtmair said:
today at 10:23
do u want 2 merge with my tribe, if you do then please just say so and ill invite u all/.........

My tribal forumms took me hours to update so they are pretty helpful and my description is quite nice so..

Will u join..

please..

Thankyou....if for whatever reason u can't join then please can we be allies.......

i believe that with your help we can conquer all tribes that stand in our way, but without you we can't do that...
Openeye[/quote said:
today at 13:50
Whats with the blue and green?

kn1ghtmair today at 16:07
it looks cool

Openeye today at 17:19
It confuses me.

kn1ghtmair today at 17:24
sorry

Openeye today at 17:27
You should be. Its not nice to confuse people.

Why blue and green? As opposed to say red and purple?

kn1ghtmair today at 17:28
sorry it was just a thought i wont do it again
>
Openeye completely ignored kn1ghtmair's question, and instead pointed out something that seemed ridiculous, thereby tearing down his opponents confidence. You get the idea.


To Err is to be a Loser

An error in argument or logic can be a quick and decisive loss. If you ever quote anything, make sure its reliable and truthful. Make sure anything you say is rock solid. If you accuse Tribe B of harboring fugitives, give overwhelming evidence. Give mail messages, attack reports, TW Plus tribe-change links, and anything else that can seal and lock an idea.

However, finding an error in argument or logic can be a quick and decisive victory. Let's say you are an unlucky victim of propaganda. The absolute best way to defend yourself from bad publicity is to prove it wrong. However, you can effectively destroy the credibility of the author by proving just one part wrong.

Let's say the author misquoted. Let's say he used a single fact wrong. Point it out, and quickly follow it with a witty comment like "Get your facts straight before you publish this on the front page of Times, buddy. No one cares." (You get the idea. If I had a more direct situation I could come up with something better.) Then include a list of your own facts against your opponent. You will see why soon.

It is almost impossible to arrange a counter argument after you have been proving wrong without seceding and admitting that the fact was wrong. This basically "gives up ground" to the opponent, making any counter facts you listed against the opening poster twice as effective. Nothing is worse than an insult the one being insulted agreed upon.


Appease the Crowd

Know what the audience is here for: entertainment. Hell, this is a game. If you can make the audience laugh, make yourself seem funny and likable, public opinion will quickly sway your way. So why not include a bit of sarcasm into an air-tight argument?

If you find yourself corner, make the argument itself seem ridiculous. "So what if I lost a village, you lost three villages of offense. It was a military retreat." (As I wrote, in the back of my mind, I heard Simon Cowell's voice say "That was dreadful!")

However, do not think humor by itself is a form of propaganda. Yes, people will laugh at you if you act like a monkey, but it the end you are still acted like a goddamn monkey. Never use humor in place of logic. A bland but sturdy argument always beats a funny but useless one.

Statement -> Lololol epic fail is not effective propaganda.
Statement -> Proof -> Lololol epic fail is.



Logic stumps emotion.
Facts stump humor.
But emotion and humor govern the crowd.






Afterword: This guide is mainly focused on argumentation form of propaganda, with a poster aiming to change the opinion of the public on themselves by using an opponent. There is plenty of other forms of propaganda, most common being publicity (bragging). Not all propaganda is used against an opponent like this guide is intended. However, the majority of crapaganda on this forum has been the argumentation form. And while bad publicity can be categorized as spam and glechossen, bad propaganda can only fester, being on topic however bad
 
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DeletedUser53562

Guest
Excellent guide, the irony in regards to who posted it here however, has caused me fits of giggles. :lol:
 

DeletedUser

Guest
I use this guide often when I want to be a serious poster, and read it once in a while to ensure that I understand it and to ensure that I'm posting in the way he suggested. It works when you do.

However, I don't know why you posted this here as it clearly has nothing to do with W36. Post it in general discussion, if anywhere. And make sure next time, you put everything the way Tic Toc did. The quote boxes are missing, unlike in his original guide.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Excellent guide, the irony in regards to who posted it here however, has caused me fits of giggles. :lol:

About exactly how I felt.

Though, I don't really see why one would need a guide to post? Would seem to kind of defeat the idea of uniqueness
 

mvvm

Guest
ALL CREDIT GOES TO TIC TOC ON WORLD 33 ... however bad

do ppl actually buy and then use this load of crap?

anyone who wants to seriously use propaganda should read up on a little goebbels (the reagan administration did and he still remains one of the most popular and well thought of amerykan presidents despite economic/social/political policies that clearly rank him as one of the worst - this is not a comment on my own political views)

so lets relate it to the world that we play, who do you think from a tribe like, for ezample, tri, gives 2 sheets about a war w/ nl and gunz? more importantly does it matter who is being rooted for? most leaders dont post the thread praising/flaming them on internal forums, so most players are unaware anyways

if all a tribe does is say, go get em, im rooting for you, then your propaganda is useless, and you have failed in a miserable way, because troops are needed to win wars, and words are only good for a few weeks at most; for example, i can post all i want but w/ 10k attacks daily and no support i will lose

look at that midget dwarven king who posted one of the most useless threads i have ever seen, apparently followed all the rules and still ended up a complete failure, the bottom line is if you cant back up IG your public talk, then you might as well not even post

and what is this half-witted mindless malarky about ppl liking you? jezuz kriste, this is a war game, perhaps some of you folks should try www.tribalhugs.com, you can crap all the rainbows you want there

you think flaming someone is a sign of weakness, that can be exploited? good luck noob; that its a sign of insecurity? pffft, flaming is perhaps the most important part of propaganda, why? because propaganda is most effective when it illicits an emotional response more readily than stats and well founded logic that most ppl cant/dont want to follow anyways and prolly forget w/in a week

and as for those snappy comeback quips, such as so what? is that the best you could? etc., useless... and actually show a lack of imagination and logical thinking on the part of the responder, and encourages the flamer more to come up w/ more elaborate flames (thanks guys, youre my inspiration)
 

DeletedUser

Guest
do ppl actually buy and then use this load of crap?

anyone who wants to seriously use propaganda should read up on a little goebbels (the reagan administration did and he still remains one of the most popular and well thought of amerykan presidents despite economic/social/political policies that clearly rank him as one of the worst - this is not a comment on my own political views)

so lets relate it to the world that we play, who do you think from a tribe like, for ezample, tri, gives 2 sheets about a war w/ nl and gunz? more importantly does it matter who is being rooted for? most leaders dont post the thread praising/flaming them on internal forums, so most players are unaware anyways

if all a tribe does is say, go get em, im rooting for you, then your propaganda is useless, and you have failed in a miserable way, because troops are needed to win wars, and words are only good for a few weeks at most; for example, i can post all i want but w/ 10k attacks daily and no support i will lose

look at that midget dwarven king who posted one of the most useless threads i have ever seen, apparently followed all the rules and still ended up a complete failure, the bottom line is if you cant back up IG your public talk, then you might as well not even post

and what is this half-witted mindless malarky about ppl liking you? jezuz kriste, this is a war game, perhaps some of you folks should try www.tribalhugs.com, you can crap all the rainbows you want there

you think flaming someone is a sign of weakness, that can be exploited? good luck noob; that its a sign of insecurity? pffft, flaming is perhaps the most important part of propaganda, why? because propaganda is most effective when it illicits an emotional response more readily than stats and well founded logic that most ppl cant/dont want to follow anyways and prolly forget w/in a week

and as for those snappy comeback quips, such as so what? is that the best you could? etc., useless... and actually show a lack of imagination and logical thinking on the part of the responder, and encourages the flamer more to come up w/ more elaborate flames (thanks guys, youre my inspiration)

I DON'T UNDERSTAND. :icon_sad:
 

DeletedUser

Guest
mvvm, if this is so bad and your advice is so good, how is it that your forum presence is so bad? I'm not saying I think so, but the general opinion is that you aren't a good PnPer from what I can tell. Explain.
 

mvvm

Guest
mvvm, if this is so bad and your advice is so good, how is it that your forum presence is so bad? I'm not saying I think so, but the general opinion is that you aren't a good PnPer from what I can tell. Explain.

i dont give a rat's butt if you or anyone else think im good, although i might be a little better in your eyes if i pnped for you

but thanks for drawing the line for me... we gonna have us many lulz soon
 

DeletedUser

Guest
And that response is why you don't know propaganda nearly as well as you think you do. Leave it to Axl, please.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
If there was no propaganda going on the forums would be so boring no one would read them. Effective propaganda is the effective use of facts and bending those facts to your purpose.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Interesting yet weird guide...

From what I have already read of this forum, however, it is needed.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Noticed that this was slipping down. Not a necromancer I just think this is needed. *Wink wink nudge nudge at Tri*
 
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