The importance of an "ALF" to the community at large:

ALF’s (Anonymous Lying FU**) importance to the community at large:

In news groups in general, ALF’s are a nuisance! Many readers simply put them into their kill-files since an ALF repeats the same BS over and over again. However ALF’s do an incredible service to the community. They are like the vultures or maggots that feast on rotten flesh. They are repulsive creatures but nevertheless vital for the balance in nature. I adore ALF’s! Be it in news groups, in forums or in blogs!

Here is why!

1ts of all blogs, newsgroups and forums that have anything got to do with politics and actual issues that require people to take sides, are definitely not frequented by teens and mere pranksters. An ALF will always shine by his consistency, persistence and punctuality in which he posts his BS. Pranksters might last a week or two and then loose interests. An ALF however sees in himself the crusader, the knight in shining (rusted) armor. An ALF also stands out in that he is mostly active in groups with controversial topics; topics that usually do not appeal to or are much of a concern to the teen and younger generations. Teens usually do their work on the face-book and similar social network sites.
An ALF can be found mostly in places that deal with religion, Lifestyles as homosexuality & nudity, politics on issues of free trade, immigration, war on terror, economy and so forth. An ALF usually is found on the Radical Right side of the points of view spectrum.
An ALF also has another mark that makes him easily identifiable. He never quotes from reliable and accepted sources. For instance he hardly knows what a Webster’s Dictionary is or can quote from the CIA fact book or the likes. His quotes and proof come from RRR fringe publications with no scientific value. An ALF might also be a rejected LEA person. He is someone who was considered by LEA as a loose cannon and too dangerous to be trusted with the enforcement of law in the best interest of the community. In politically incorrect speak: He is a looser! He is a Jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. This makes him a dangerous agitator and a slime ball recruiter to the unaware masses. Similar like an advertisement agent, he operates with ½ truth slogans.
We all know about the $29.99 life insurance policies that will cover you for a million, - providing you don’t smoke, drink, have sex, have high blood pressure etc, - in clear terms it only applies if you are healthy as super-man. The trick is to get you to see one of these agents and then once informed you do not qualify for the 29.99 special you then are coaxed to sign up for a 59.98 special, which, it then turns out you have been paying anyhow with your other life insurance company since years.
An ALF is mostly a middle-aged man who looks back as his life and has to realize that he has been a looser all his 45 years long. He has grand ideas but never got anywhere, even his church sort of sidetracks him and has him in the position of the church clown.
But! Suddenly ALF discovers the Internet! He finds news groups that discuss such issues as the same sex marriage, the acceptance of nudism in the mainstream, the possible amnesty for illegal immigrants and so forth. Now he has something he can sink his teeth in! He attacks and agitates and throws his RRR BS around. If he were to preach this BS before a congregation of similar cooks, he would be very successful. However this is the Internet, not the closed conference room in the church basement.
A news group has listed for example a membership of 1,200 people. However a mere 10-20 regular posters are observed. What are the other 1,180 readers of this group doing? Foremost readers of news groups are people who are concerned about specific issues and want to have more answers. Newsgroups do provide a valuable service in that very often links to otherwise unknown web sites are posted that deal with specific topics in a more analytic way. Activists do have their network of people and are linked with the sites that provide the information required for this topic. The major search engines do not do a good service if one tries to research a topic in more detail. What is also the fact is that those remaining 1.180 readers of a news group are also people in the voting age. The reason why these people are in such news groups is to get informed. If you just want to look at porn pictures, one does not read through miles of political discussions. This is the reason why one joins a news group, to be informed. Again, the readers are mostly middleaged people! The topic they are now following is a topic that had never been part of their concerns until now. The reason for this is of no importance. One might for example never heard or been concerned about nudity, till one suddenly has a neighbor who is an active nudist. Just a conversation with this person now prompts one to research the subject more closely. Or the news hype about same sex marriage or similar. Now people want to know more! So one joins a newsgroup and there is ALF!
The 1st thing the reader sees is ALF’s massive number of posts. At 1st, the slogans and ½ truth the ALF uses might sound appealing to the reader. Maybe the reader joined the group on nudism because he is sure nudism is equal to child molestation. Or he joins a homosexual discussion group because he wants to “show those faggots how wrong they are”, etc. ALF naturally feed them their appetite and reassures them in their fears and phobias. However the longer they read, the more they see the counterarguments from the regular posters. The regular and active poster refrains from profanity and argues with consistency and well-researched material. The informed poster also knows his history and knows what caused things to be as they are today. He is aware what each word means and does not use “one size fits all” slogan to paint everything with the same wide brush.
I usually consider the general reader of a news group as a “fence sitter”. Someone who is not sure as to what is true or what is false on a given issue or topic. These fence sitters are however the people that do mark the X on the petitions, referendums and what have you. It does not matter if it is on a municipal level or on provincial or national levels. What matter is that this reader will place his X in either a NO or a YES circle on a given day on a given issue.
So to ignore the ALF, as many argue is of no use. On the contrary! The ALF demonstrates to the informed person the “stupidity” of the informed RRR or the dangerous agendas some organization have. An ALF who posts constantly KKK slogans and supremacist BS has to be opposed. He is our teaching tool. He is similar to an apprentice ship class in automotive mechanics. He is the “loose battery cable” that is the cause why the car does not start; he is the badly aligned wheel that pulls the car to the side and so on. He is the “Mistake” that is the cause of the problems and controversies. And by proving the ALF wrong, the fence sitter learns and decides.
So the ALF helps us to ensure that the masses get the proper information, not the ½ truth slogans.
The ALF is the maggot that dines on the rotten flesh and thus ensures that no disease will spread to the healthy body. So no matter how repulsive an ALF is, - (no one wants a maggot or a vulture as a pet) – he does provide the community at large with the utmost essential services, - True Information.

Tiny Eden: - http://tinyeden.org - http://tinyeden.blogspot.com/ - Nudism, Bi-sexuality, Mentor-Ship, religion, politics, Tolerance & more.