Shadow Banning is in the news this week, with Silicon Valley tech giants Google (YouTube), Facebook, LinkedIn, and Apple all kicking Alex Jones off their platforms in a simultaneous multi-platform purge. Predictably, the Streisand Effect kicked in, sending Alex Jones’s InfoWars app trending to #3 on the download list at the App Store.
Twitter kept Jones on and CEO (and Burner?) Jack Dorsey went on Fox News’ Hannity talkshow, where he claimed they do not shadow ban accounts or target conservatives. If they don’t shadow ban accounts, then why is there this site shadowban.eu where you can type in your Twitter handle to test if you are shadow banned?
Google are good guys, aren’t they? Don’t be evil? They would never abuse their monopoly power to arbitrarily punish sites. They’re Burners, and used the Burning Man logo to promote their company to the tech industry. So they must love freedom, freedom of speech, and radical self expression, right? The goal of their search engine is to put you in touch with the best information…isn’t it?
Well maybe their vast powers of Artificial Intelligence can give me an explanation for what’s going on.
Burners.Me is by far the largest blog about Burning Man on the Internet, with almost 2000 stories written by 30 different people over 6.5 years. We have 270,000+ followers on Facebook, 15,000+ on Twitter, and tens of thousands more who subscribe to every post on email. We’ve been quoted by the New York Times, Bloomberg, The Guardian, VICE, and many other mainstream media outlets. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of other sites that link in to our articles.
We have been the #1 blog and #1 post on WordPress multiple times; and frequently in Top 100. This is not just about Burning Man, this is out of all blogs in the world. WordPress powers 27% of the Internet, 75 million blogs
So you would think that a search for “Burning Man blog” would bring this site up pretty quickly, yeah? For most of Burners.Me’s life, we were on page 1 of the search results for this. Now, it’s on the bottom of page 5, behind many smaller and abandoned blogs and some totally unrelated content.
What about a search for “Burning Man“? We have thousands and thousands of pages about every aspect of the event.
Bottom of page 11.
Hmmm. What about “burning man drugs” – we have scores of harm reduction posts by Terry Gotham. We have the actual data about drugs found at Burning Man and drug-related arrests from the Pershing County Sheriff’s office, as far as I know the only location on the Internet with that.
Funnily enough, if you search “Terry Gotham” Burners.Me is on page 1.
Use a proper search engine, duckduckgo.com, we come up 3rd for “Burning Man blog”. As it should be. Accurate search results, not Deep Mind controlled propaganda narratives.
This blog’s a hobby for me. My art project. I started it to share my opinion, not to get an audience. So the consequences of this particular search result manipulation are pretty minor. But think about what it means in context: someone from the Burning Man Project went to someone from Google – possibly direct to the Billionaire Burner founders – and said “do us a favor, mute this voice”? And they did it? No trial, no opportunity to mount a defense, no notification that anything at all had even happened. Not even the courtesy of a label like the “Fake News” people get. All you can see (if you pay attention to such things) is your web traffic go way down, for no apparent reason.
How many times a day does this happen to people that “They” don’t like, and how many messages and voices are getting invisibly tuned out of The Matrix like this? Do they do the same thing to me personally, to my friends, to my companies?
Is it right that corporations should have that kind of power? Is it right that a festival should? One that purports to be all about making the world a better place?
Perhaps there is a genuine explanation for why smaller blogs with less content rank higher. I’m all ears, Google.
What she said:
When google “burning man blog” you’re the 5th result on the first page. I’d add a screenshot but not seeing how to to that in the comments here.
Search results are different depending on geography, so that could be why burnersxxx is seeing different results. I’m in Northern California, FWIW.
I’ve done a quick test using VPN to try Google from different countries, and it appears JV is right. The results are different for the US, New Zealand, Estonia, and the UK. It also appears that Google listened to this post and changed our rankings, because I can no longer replicate the previous screen shots…so thanks for that. We went from page 5 to page 3 for the rest of the world.
Ha, I knew you would say Google changed rankings because of this post. In a way that’s probably true in that the algorithm most likely picked up on increased activity around “burning man blog” and this site.
We’re still shadow banned on Facebook, what do you have to say about that?
I don’t doubt that, Facebook is a different entity than Google, and fulfills a different function. Piss off enough individuals and you’ll get banned. I don’t really care anymore about anyone’s gripes about Facebook because, seriously, the only thing to say about Facebook is you shouldn’t have an account. End of story. Get the hell off of Facebook, everyone. For a whole load of reasons.
OK, Pooh B**r, you win, I quit. Your threats of doxing, and your constant lies, and nastiness, are too much. Much obliged for your confirming of your BMOrg social media crew mates hacking the email addresses attempting to comment on this blog, a few days prior, by referring to me as AVP JV, burnersxxx has a good rationale to be a tad paranoid, they are out to destroy his blog, utilizing whatever underhanded techniques of which they might.
I solely commented on burners me within 2018 to request of the BMOrg to release the details of their 2018 cash out in due of their Burning Man ™ trademarks, request of them to pay the costs of the awesome artists from the near to $50 million dollars of tickets, and other levies, Burners pay to attend the party, and pay all the DPW workers laboring on the playa, building the infrastructure of BRC. After Larry passed, I commented in regards to the BMP bylaws are most in need of change, to empower the awesome Burner community for an official voice in the ministering of Burning Man, and of the BMP.
A comment I penned on the Smithsonian post is a summary of my beliefs.
Burning Man is an awesome crowd sourced event, it is an incredible party thrown by thousands of Burners. Near to two thirds of people on the playa are their first burn, or their second burn, and they pay their $500, or $900, or $1,200 ticket, and their camp levies, and expect to be entertained by the sound camps, mutant vehicles, and awesome art, without being of the realization that their ticket does not pay for it, Burners create the awesomeness of this crowd sourced party.
I have never criticized the Burners throwing this crowd sourced party, they are awesome, the Gate, the BRC Rangers, the DPW, the EDM sound camps, the mutant vehicle crews, the camps whom provide entertainment and interactivity, and most of the Burners laboring for the BMOrg, except of their rubbish social media crew, one of whom has trolled this site for near to five years, utilizing different names. Kudos, and Gratitude, to all Burners throwing this crowd sourced party, and kudos towards all the Burners excited and preparing for the 2018 burn.
Might I present a few queries to you?
Do you believe the BMOrg, from the near to $50 million dollars Burners pay for tickets, and levies, should pay the DPW laborers building, for weeks, the infrastructure of Black Rock City?
Should the BMOrg pay the costs of the awesome artists, and the crews, doing the art?
Should the BMOrg disclose their conflicts of interests, in detail, towards donors of cash, stock, art, labour, and entertainment to the ticket buyers?
Should the Burners throwing this awesome crowd sourced party, and the regional events, have official power within the BMOrg, in the place of solely four, or five, people having near to total top down control over the crowd sourced party thrown by numerous others?
Should the awesome Burner community be permitted to have a voice in the manner the party is ministered, in the place of being shut down by the BMOrg social media crew, and excluded from the community of their mates.
I have done my tad towards the throwing of this awesome crowd sourced party, have you done your tad?
Do you show Gratitude towards the numerous Burners throwing this awesome crowd sourced party?
Those are my beliefs, I am most curious of your answers.
burnersxxx stated most brilliantly, in regards of a different festival, ‘Is this another example of the ticket sellers keeping the cash, while the content creators run on love?’ Towards which, Elias has Wonderlust replied, ‘You have no idea’. I am most curious of his, and his moderator mates, comments in regards of the assimilation of the Official Unofficial Burning Man group for the Borg.
Master Sodium, upon a guest post, also stated most brilliantly, ‘Personally, I think those who say critics are missing the point of burning man, are missing the point of most critics. Sure, there are those who flat out attest burning man sucks now, but the majority of critics agree the community is awesome, and it is the org who has forgotten and/or stopped caring about the heart of burning man.’
Thank you, again burnersxxx, for penning your blog, for humoring me, and for the drink the one time we met. I do hope we meet again someday.
My apology, burnersxxx, there was one other place where they might have obtained it. It was a most trusted place, I was not of the belief of it might have leaked. My suspicions were caused by the comments being down on 8 August, and then Pooh Bear most intentionally penned the initials into his rubbish post numerous times.
Thank you, again.
BTW…I despise Alex Jones. I hope the parents win their suit. On the other hand I am uncomfortable with these social media companies banning him as, despite being publicly held companies, they act as if they were public untilities. This feels like censorship. “First they came for the giant paranoid gaping assholes and I said nothing…”
‘This feels like censorship’ is most amusing. The troll
This DudeOne who wants to knowPooh Bear as he admits, assimilated the Official Unofficial Burning Man Facebook Group, with his rubbish BMOrg social media crew mates, for the Borg, within 2015 autumn. The assimilation was purposed to censor, and destroy, the voices of the near to ten thousand Burners within the group, whom desired to discuss topics, the manner of which the BMOrg did not approve.The assimilation was most brilliant, I must give Pooh Bear proper credit in due of the assimilation. A moderator of the group was most naive, in due of she approved Pooh Bear to be a moderator within the group, and he, in an immediate manner, approved a few of his BMOrg social media crew mates to be moderators, and they booted the prior moderators whom refused to obey the BMOrg Kool Aid rules, from the group. Then, Pooh Bear, and his rubbish BMOrg social media crew mates, did a separate, and private, moderators group, within the manner of which they were trained, and ‘invited’ any Burner whom they desired to censor into the private group for a tad, and booted, and blocked, any Burner whom did not desire to be censored. Numerous of us were booted, and blocked, from the group, it was a most brilliant assimilation for the Borg.
Within 2015 autumn, burnersxxx complained of the trolls, and negative comments, occurring from BMOrg HQ, after their Monday morning meetings. In addendum, the BMOrg placed their rubbish social media crew moderators within near to each group of which they might, or they began new groups to compete with the most established groups whom refused to comply, and censor, any discussions of which they did not agree. I must give BMOrg a tad of credit, they changed their direction to their rubbish social media crew, to ignore Burners me, and instruct Burners to ignore Burners me, in the place of attacking it within the comments, and doing attempts to destroy it. One did not get the direction.
JV comments, below, of ‘crystallizes how utterly paranoid you are’ in regards of burnersxxx. My belief, is of burnersxxx must be more disbelieving, and more conspiracy minded, lol, in regards of trolls doing attempts to destroy his blog, it is near to the last Burner community site that does not censor voices of which. the BMOrg, and their rubbish social media crew, does not approve.
Pretty much 100% bullshit. I think AVP is proud of his stalking behavior and “uncovering” the fact I’ve used different names over the years. I’m a Burner, I use different names. Duh. Just this weekend I was given a new playa name by a camp mate, “Velvet Cave”. I wasn’t trying to hide it. I’ve always used the same email to validate my comments. I assumed Burnersxxx had that information. It’s interesting that AVP has that information considering the recent claims that he and Burnersxxx are actually the same person. I would assume he wouldn’t have access to that information without violating terms of service, but perhaps Burnersxxx is running a loose ship and none of our information is secure (despite the “Address never made public” below). Is AVP secretly working with Burnersxxx and not actually just someone who agrees with his message? Interesting. I am, as I’ve always said, simply an independent Burner who loves Burning Man and despises Burnersxxx’s mendacious attack on the Individuals who put on Burning Man. I DO NOT WORK FOR THE ORG. I DO NOT WRITE ANY OF WHAT I WRITE BECAUSE OF ANY CONNECTION TO THE ORG. I am just trying to do the right thing as I see it. At least AVP is admitting my criticisms are valid. The fact that he has to lie about who I am proves that. It also proves how paranoid suppositions become conspiracy theories and then morph into facts in the minds of Burnersxxx and AVP. It appears that leads them to justify conspiring behind the scenes to stalk me. If you are using this sight you might want to think about that.
I was never a moderator (to my knowledge) of the Facebook group you describe. I am and have been the moderator of exactly one Facebook group about spiritual practice. You are simply lying about the claim that a bunch of people connected to the Org sandbagged your (we might as well say your at this point, since, one person or two, it is clear AVP is clearly not just an avid reader of this blog) writing in that Facebook group. It’s simply, outside this comfortable space, lots more people saw the lies and said something about them.
I myself got tired of all the various bitching and left the group. I think I’ve commented about four times in Burning Man Facebook groups in the last couple of years, as I’m sure you have discovered (creepy). Get some help. Choose a better life. You’ll be happier.
I am not working secretly with anyone. A Balanced Perspective has written guest posts on this blog, as have many others, and we are very grateful for it. We resent you trying to hound people out of our community. You’ve commented 4 times in Burning Man groups in the last couple of years? Interesting because you’ve commented 449 times here.
As I am now curious How many different “names” does This Dude aka Velvet Cave use to make comments?
Not interested in Email (required) (Address never made public) which hasn’t been posted. Though it could be comicality interesting to learn what they might be. I leave it to This Dude/Velvet Cave to disclose them.
We have associated the following screen names with this person:
This Dude
Velvet Cave
Pooh Bear
One Who Wants To Know
The Fouled
Peace
Add Action Jackson to his list of names
BTW…most of the time you are using “in due of” you are actually looking for the word “for” as in “I must give him credit for” rather than “I must give him credit in due of”.
Why blame google for being hacked by alex jones and tru,ps friends they violated the terms of use as per radical inclusion; if you violate and exclude people via subverting democracy in the country where burning man started i say ban facebook from burning man violating decommodification by overthrowing all of our communications: fuck fackbook. Stop blaming google !
Facebook shadow banned us years ago. We used to show up in the feeds of everybody who followed us, all the time – remember those days? Now even boosted stories only get a couple of likes and a few hundred views. However, if we spend MORE money to boost it, suddenly the likes and reach are in the proportion they used to be. So people like the content and engage with it – when they get to see it.
These massive tech companies are abusing their monopoly power. Since they were started with huge amounts of government/Deep State funding, and are running on government funded infrastructure, they should be treated like a public utility like water and electricity. Neutral, and a basic right. We can’t have phone lines that shut down if you start talking about topics the government/BMorg doesn’t like.
“Someone went to Google …and said do us a favor, mute this voice”. Would you mind posting the transcript of that entire conversation along with it’s source so we can see this isn’t just more paranoid supposition. Seems like you are still pretty high on lists that have thousands or millions of hits.
I don’t want to seem helpful but what you wrote, assuming you don’t have proof, is libalist. Kinda like Alex Jones saying the SH parents were in on it, for which he is having his ass sued off. You might want to add a “in my opinion” or “I believe” to the statement to protect yourself.
Thanks for the free legal advice. Whom are you accusing me of libelling? And what is the defamatory statement? What financial harm did it cause the injured party?
You failed to address the basic question of the post: why would smaller blogs with much less content rank higher? We have been the #1 blog and #1 post on WordPress multiple times; and frequently in Top 100. This is not just about Burning Man, this is out of all blogs in the world. WordPress powers 27% of the Internet, 75 million blogs
Get up to speed on Sandy Hook. Do Your Own Research. Wolfgang Halbig, a former LEO who advises schools nationwide on shooting incidents, was also sued by “Lenny Posner”. He demanded his day in court, and on the day, Lenny didn’t even show up. Case dismissed. I hope Alex demands his day in court too. Here’s Wolf with incontrovertible evidence:
http://www.reformation.org/NobodyDiedAtSandyHook.pdf
You buy the Alex Jones line on Sandy Hook? Jesus, man. That’s fucking pathetic. Not sure I can continue reading here.
I definitely don’t agree with Alex Jones on Sandy Hook. I studied the evidence and drew my own conclusions…and presented the evidence too. Did you even look at it? Try watching the video. I believe a professional law enforcement expert who has studied this in depth for years – rather than Alex Jones, or CNN.
Just entered “Burner Blog” on Google. Burners.me was the third entry.
You are libeling Burning Man and Google if you can’t prove the statement “Someone went to Google …and said do us a favor, mute this voice” is actually true. You are saying both sides conspired to silence you which, if true, would impact the reputation of both organizations.
More lies. It comes up on the 5th page.
You are now threatening to doxx people, just for supporting me? I have tolerated you trolling this site for years, but that is going too far.
Corbett made a pretty strong case that Alex Jones is a cia strawman, should still be finable on YouTube or his site
James Corbett? I searched but couldn’t find it, he was on AJ a lot 7 years ago. Got a link?
looking for link, I recall a commentary by James about this video
https://youtu.be/1FyqV2n3Bmk
which shows the huge Infowars studios in Austin Texas. This would have been around late summer 2106, before the Trump election and the ‘outing’ of ‘crazy conspiracy theorist’ Jones…and by implication any other ‘conspiracy theorist’.
Corbett had changed his tune on Infowars by this time.
Reports of people unable to comment – they’re censoring the complaints of censorship