Toward a Minor Tech:Wilson5000 - Revision history

Simoon at 10:06, 13 September 2023

2023-09-13T10:06:23Z

Jack: /* QAgg */

2023-08-11T09:11:05Z

QAgg

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:11, 11 August 2023
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	Given that QAgg’s archive contains a wealth of additional materials (Twitter, Gab, and TRUTH Social posts from several figures who have–in one way or another–become incorporated into QAnon’s worldview), the act of mapping Q Drops onto the external materials and events in the world is effectively automated by way of the various means of corpus-building within its interface. In essence, the affordances of QAgg represent the methodological ''avant-garde'' of QAnon ‘research,’ wherein every thinkable mechanism for the extraction of meaning, bringing into relation, and ultimate production of ‘research’ findings have been operationalised upon its materials–and if these affordances are not sufficient than a user can go to QAgg’s ‘Data Science’ tab and download JSONs or CSVs of QAgg’s archives and perform whatever further analysis upon these materials they wish. Although QAgg’s preoccupation with metadata speaks to a certain effort towards the appropriation of data science’s methods in the aggregator, the provision of these files warrants further reflection. Specifically, because it represents an attempt to utilise technical apparatus of neoliberal governmentality and epistemology (Chun) – aspects of the QAnon subject’s alleged ‘oppressors’ – towards furthering the epistemic basis of the phenomenon’s fascist worldview.<ref>See also Lee et al. on Covid-19 sceptics’ use of analogous rhetoric and methods towards similarly reactionary aims.</ref>		Given that QAgg’s archive contains a wealth of additional materials (Twitter, Gab, and TRUTH Social posts from several figures who have–in one way or another–become incorporated into QAnon’s worldview), the act of mapping Q Drops onto the external materials and events in the world is effectively automated by way of the various means of corpus-building within its interface. In essence, the affordances of QAgg represent the methodological ''avant-garde'' of QAnon ‘research,’ wherein every thinkable mechanism for the extraction of meaning, bringing into relation, and ultimate production of ‘research’ findings have been operationalised upon its materials–and if these affordances are not sufficient than a user can go to QAgg’s ‘Data Science’ tab and download JSONs or CSVs of QAgg’s archives and perform whatever further analysis upon these materials they wish. Although QAgg’s preoccupation with metadata speaks to a certain effort towards the appropriation of data science’s methods in the aggregator, the provision of these files warrants further reflection. Specifically, because it represents an attempt to utilise technical apparatus of neoliberal governmentality and epistemology (Chun) – aspects of the QAnon subject’s alleged ‘oppressors’ – towards furthering the epistemic basis of the phenomenon’s fascist worldview.<ref>See also Lee et al. on Covid-19 sceptics’ use of analogous rhetoric and methods towards similarly reactionary aims.</ref>

	While ~~that~~ the actual content of QAgg’s materials is effectively secondary to their metadata, QAgg nevertheless offers several means through which users can share Q Drops to other platforms and, therefore, facilitate the dissemination of their ‘research.’ This includes means to generate a direct link to a given Q drop, copy its text, or generate a jpeg image of it as it appears on QAgg. The most interesting distribution tool, however, is ‘digital camo.’ This affordance produces a randomly generated dazzle camouflage pattern underneath the content of a Q Drop in an effort to evade image recognition-based moderation systems and therefore–in theory–allow for the circulation of Q drops on platforms where QAnon has been banned (Facebook, Google, Twitter, see also fig. 10). Whether or not such mechanisms of evasion work, such anticipation of machinic moderation speaks to questions of QAnon’s potential to develop minor tech in the recognition and subversion of platform governance strategies. It also speaks to particular mechanisms of subject formation within QAnon where the stigmatisation of this material serves to reify it as – essentially – ‘what they don’t want you to see’ (see Barkun). That the effort to subvert this marginalisation takes the form of a camouflage is also instructive as it speaks to the militaristic ontology of the QAnon subject; they are not just ‘researchers,’ but “digital soldiers” (Roose) in an insurgency.		While the actual content of QAgg’s materials is effectively secondary to their metadata, QAgg nevertheless offers several means through which users can share Q Drops to other platforms and, therefore, facilitate the dissemination of their ‘research.’ This includes means to generate a direct link to a given Q drop, copy its text, or generate a jpeg image of it as it appears on QAgg. The most interesting distribution tool, however, is ‘digital camo.’ This affordance produces a randomly generated dazzle camouflage pattern underneath the content of a Q Drop in an effort to evade image recognition-based moderation systems and therefore–in theory–allow for the circulation of Q drops on platforms where QAnon has been banned (Facebook, Google, Twitter, see also fig. 10). Whether or not such mechanisms of evasion work, such anticipation of machinic moderation speaks to questions of QAnon’s potential to develop minor tech in the recognition and subversion of platform governance strategies. It also speaks to particular mechanisms of subject formation within QAnon where the stigmatisation of this material serves to reify it as – essentially – ‘what they don’t want you to see’ (see Barkun). That the effort to subvert this marginalisation takes the form of a camouflage is also instructive as it speaks to the militaristic ontology of the QAnon subject; they are not just ‘researchers,’ but “digital soldiers” (Roose) in an insurgency.
	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|[[File:QAgg Digital Camo 1.png\|200px]]		\|[[File:QAgg Digital Camo 1.png\|200px]]

Simoon at 10:04, 22 July 2023

2023-07-22T10:04:05Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:04, 22 July 2023
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	While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview output, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).		While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview output, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).

	[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|~~440px~~\|thumb\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]		[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|420px\|thumb\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]

	QAnon’s fetishization of individual interpretation as well as the salience of primary sources therein has been identified by Marwick and Partin as an instance ‘scriptural inference.’ Tripodi characterises scriptural inference as a prevailing epistemology among religious and right-wing actors in the United States wherein “those who believe in the truth of the Bible approach secular political documents (e.g., a transcript of the president’s speech or a copy of the Constitution) with the same interpretative scrutiny” (6). While Tripodi notes an analogous compulsion among their research subjects to “do their own research” (6), the extent to which epistemic authority is located in the ‘researching’ subject is unclear. In comparison, the centrality of a particular QAnon subject’s ‘research’ to themselves is an explicit refrain: even prominent QAnon promoters describe their findings with this qualification (Colley; ''Dylan Louis Monroe at Conscious Life Expo 2019''; ''The Fall of the Cabal'').		QAnon’s fetishization of individual interpretation as well as the salience of primary sources therein has been identified by Marwick and Partin as an instance ‘scriptural inference.’ Tripodi characterises scriptural inference as a prevailing epistemology among religious and right-wing actors in the United States wherein “those who believe in the truth of the Bible approach secular political documents (e.g., a transcript of the president’s speech or a copy of the Constitution) with the same interpretative scrutiny” (6). While Tripodi notes an analogous compulsion among their research subjects to “do their own research” (6), the extent to which epistemic authority is located in the ‘researching’ subject is unclear. In comparison, the centrality of a particular QAnon subject’s ‘research’ to themselves is an explicit refrain: even prominent QAnon promoters describe their findings with this qualification (Colley; ''Dylan Louis Monroe at Conscious Life Expo 2019''; ''The Fall of the Cabal'').

Simoon at 10:03, 22 July 2023

2023-07-22T10:03:16Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:03, 22 July 2023
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	While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview output, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).		While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview output, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).

	[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|440px\|~~frame~~\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]		[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|440px\|thumb\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]

	QAnon’s fetishization of individual interpretation as well as the salience of primary sources therein has been identified by Marwick and Partin as an instance ‘scriptural inference.’ Tripodi characterises scriptural inference as a prevailing epistemology among religious and right-wing actors in the United States wherein “those who believe in the truth of the Bible approach secular political documents (e.g., a transcript of the president’s speech or a copy of the Constitution) with the same interpretative scrutiny” (6). While Tripodi notes an analogous compulsion among their research subjects to “do their own research” (6), the extent to which epistemic authority is located in the ‘researching’ subject is unclear. In comparison, the centrality of a particular QAnon subject’s ‘research’ to themselves is an explicit refrain: even prominent QAnon promoters describe their findings with this qualification (Colley; ''Dylan Louis Monroe at Conscious Life Expo 2019''; ''The Fall of the Cabal'').		QAnon’s fetishization of individual interpretation as well as the salience of primary sources therein has been identified by Marwick and Partin as an instance ‘scriptural inference.’ Tripodi characterises scriptural inference as a prevailing epistemology among religious and right-wing actors in the United States wherein “those who believe in the truth of the Bible approach secular political documents (e.g., a transcript of the president’s speech or a copy of the Constitution) with the same interpretative scrutiny” (6). While Tripodi notes an analogous compulsion among their research subjects to “do their own research” (6), the extent to which epistemic authority is located in the ‘researching’ subject is unclear. In comparison, the centrality of a particular QAnon subject’s ‘research’ to themselves is an explicit refrain: even prominent QAnon promoters describe their findings with this qualification (Colley; ''Dylan Louis Monroe at Conscious Life Expo 2019''; ''The Fall of the Cabal'').

Simoon at 10:01, 22 July 2023

2023-07-22T10:01:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:01, 22 July 2023
Line 44:		Line 44:
	While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview output, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).		While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview output, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).

	[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|~~466x277px~~\|frame\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]		[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|440px\|frame\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]

	QAnon’s fetishization of individual interpretation as well as the salience of primary sources therein has been identified by Marwick and Partin as an instance ‘scriptural inference.’ Tripodi characterises scriptural inference as a prevailing epistemology among religious and right-wing actors in the United States wherein “those who believe in the truth of the Bible approach secular political documents (e.g., a transcript of the president’s speech or a copy of the Constitution) with the same interpretative scrutiny” (6). While Tripodi notes an analogous compulsion among their research subjects to “do their own research” (6), the extent to which epistemic authority is located in the ‘researching’ subject is unclear. In comparison, the centrality of a particular QAnon subject’s ‘research’ to themselves is an explicit refrain: even prominent QAnon promoters describe their findings with this qualification (Colley; ''Dylan Louis Monroe at Conscious Life Expo 2019''; ''The Fall of the Cabal'').		QAnon’s fetishization of individual interpretation as well as the salience of primary sources therein has been identified by Marwick and Partin as an instance ‘scriptural inference.’ Tripodi characterises scriptural inference as a prevailing epistemology among religious and right-wing actors in the United States wherein “those who believe in the truth of the Bible approach secular political documents (e.g., a transcript of the president’s speech or a copy of the Constitution) with the same interpretative scrutiny” (6). While Tripodi notes an analogous compulsion among their research subjects to “do their own research” (6), the extent to which epistemic authority is located in the ‘researching’ subject is unclear. In comparison, the centrality of a particular QAnon subject’s ‘research’ to themselves is an explicit refrain: even prominent QAnon promoters describe their findings with this qualification (Colley; ''Dylan Louis Monroe at Conscious Life Expo 2019''; ''The Fall of the Cabal'').

Simoon at 09:54, 22 July 2023

2023-07-22T09:54:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:54, 22 July 2023
Line 108:		Line 108:
	While that the actual content of QAgg’s materials is effectively secondary to their metadata, QAgg nevertheless offers several means through which users can share Q Drops to other platforms and, therefore, facilitate the dissemination of their ‘research.’ This includes means to generate a direct link to a given Q drop, copy its text, or generate a jpeg image of it as it appears on QAgg. The most interesting distribution tool, however, is ‘digital camo.’ This affordance produces a randomly generated dazzle camouflage pattern underneath the content of a Q Drop in an effort to evade image recognition-based moderation systems and therefore–in theory–allow for the circulation of Q drops on platforms where QAnon has been banned (Facebook, Google, Twitter, see also fig. 10). Whether or not such mechanisms of evasion work, such anticipation of machinic moderation speaks to questions of QAnon’s potential to develop minor tech in the recognition and subversion of platform governance strategies. It also speaks to particular mechanisms of subject formation within QAnon where the stigmatisation of this material serves to reify it as – essentially – ‘what they don’t want you to see’ (see Barkun). That the effort to subvert this marginalisation takes the form of a camouflage is also instructive as it speaks to the militaristic ontology of the QAnon subject; they are not just ‘researchers,’ but “digital soldiers” (Roose) in an insurgency.		While that the actual content of QAgg’s materials is effectively secondary to their metadata, QAgg nevertheless offers several means through which users can share Q Drops to other platforms and, therefore, facilitate the dissemination of their ‘research.’ This includes means to generate a direct link to a given Q drop, copy its text, or generate a jpeg image of it as it appears on QAgg. The most interesting distribution tool, however, is ‘digital camo.’ This affordance produces a randomly generated dazzle camouflage pattern underneath the content of a Q Drop in an effort to evade image recognition-based moderation systems and therefore–in theory–allow for the circulation of Q drops on platforms where QAnon has been banned (Facebook, Google, Twitter, see also fig. 10). Whether or not such mechanisms of evasion work, such anticipation of machinic moderation speaks to questions of QAnon’s potential to develop minor tech in the recognition and subversion of platform governance strategies. It also speaks to particular mechanisms of subject formation within QAnon where the stigmatisation of this material serves to reify it as – essentially – ‘what they don’t want you to see’ (see Barkun). That the effort to subvert this marginalisation takes the form of a camouflage is also instructive as it speaks to the militaristic ontology of the QAnon subject; they are not just ‘researchers,’ but “digital soldiers” (Roose) in an insurgency.
	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|[[File:QAgg Digital Camo 1.png\|~~214px~~]]		\|[[File:QAgg Digital Camo 1.png\|200px]]
	\|[[File:Qagg Digital Camo 2.png\|~~214px~~]]		\|[[File:Qagg Digital Camo 2.png\|200px]]
	\|[[File:QAgg Digital Camo 3.png\|~~214px~~]]		\|[[File:QAgg Digital Camo 3.png\|200px]]
	\|-		\|-
	\| colspan="3" \|Figure 10: Some examples of digital camo as applied to Q drop 4966.		\| colspan="3" \|Figure 10: Some examples of digital camo as applied to Q drop 4966.
	\|}		\|}

	~~<div class="page-break"></div>~~

	== Conclusion ==		== Conclusion ==

Simoon at 09:52, 22 July 2023

2023-07-22T09:52:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:52, 22 July 2023
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	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|[[File:QAgg's Digging Options.png\|~~200px~~]]		\|[[File:QAgg's Digging Options.png\|180px]]
	\|Figure 9: Screenshot of QAgg’s ‘digging options.’ From top to bottom:		\|Figure 9: Screenshot of QAgg’s ‘digging options.’ From top to bottom:
	* ‘Post Deltas’ are the temporal interval between any two Q Drops or – if it is the most recent Drop – said Drop and the present. Short ‘deltas’ between materials–say a Q Drop and a tweet by Donald Trump–are taken as evidence of these parties’ cooperation.		* ‘Post Deltas’ are the temporal interval between any two Q Drops or – if it is the most recent Drop – said Drop and the present. Short ‘deltas’ between materials–say a Q Drop and a tweet by Donald Trump–are taken as evidence of these parties’ cooperation.

Simoon: /* Minor Tech and Counter-revolution:Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon */

2023-07-22T09:51:07Z

Minor Tech and Counter-revolution:Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:51, 22 July 2023
Line 89:		Line 89:

	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|[[File:QAgg's Digging Options.png]]		\|[[File:QAgg's Digging Options.png\|200px]]
	\|Figure 9: Screenshot of QAgg’s ‘digging options.’ From top to bottom:		\|Figure 9: Screenshot of QAgg’s ‘digging options.’ From top to bottom:

	* ‘Post Deltas’ are the temporal interval between any two Q Drops or – if it is the most recent Drop – said Drop and the present. Short ‘deltas’ between materials–say a Q Drop and a tweet by Donald Trump–are taken as evidence of these parties’ cooperation.		* ‘Post Deltas’ are the temporal interval between any two Q Drops or – if it is the most recent Drop – said Drop and the present. Short ‘deltas’ between materials–say a Q Drop and a tweet by Donald Trump–are taken as evidence of these parties’ cooperation.
	* ‘Reply Deltas’ is the measure of time it took for Q to reply to another post on 8kun (if a given Q Drop contains a reply).		* ‘Reply Deltas’ is the measure of time it took for Q to reply to another post on 8kun (if a given Q Drop contains a reply).

Simoon at 19:56, 21 July 2023

2023-07-21T19:56:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:56, 21 July 2023
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	'''Jack Wilson'''		'''Jack Wilson'''
	= Minor Tech and Counter-revolution:<br>Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon =		= Minor Tech and Counter-revolution:<br>Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon =

			<span class="running-header">Minor Tech and Counter-revolution: Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon</span>

	== Abstract ==		== Abstract ==

Simoon: /* Minor Tech and Counter-revolution: Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon */

2023-07-21T19:54:32Z

Minor Tech and Counter-revolution: Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 21 July 2023
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	__NOTOC__		__NOTOC__
	~~= Minor Tech and Counter-revolution: Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon =~~
	'''Jack Wilson'''		'''Jack Wilson'''
			= Minor Tech and Counter-revolution:<br>Tactics, Infrastructures, QAnon =

	== Abstract ==		== Abstract ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:06, 13 September 2023
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	For many people, researching for themselves, thinking for themselves, and trusting their own conclusions can make following Q difficult. When you’re accustomed to someone telling you what to think, thinking for yourself can be a painful adjustment. (Hayes 17)</blockquote>		For many people, researching for themselves, thinking for themselves, and trusting their own conclusions can make following Q difficult. When you’re accustomed to someone telling you what to think, thinking for yourself can be a painful adjustment. (Hayes 17)</blockquote>

	While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview ~~output~~, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).		While Q possesses a certain authority in terms of having the proverbial ‘last word’ with regard to the work of QAnon subjects, this is not exercised in most cases. It is always the QAnon subject’s obligation to ‘do your own research’ – which is, again, the mapping of contemporary events to the content, metadata, and meaning of the Q Drops. Indeed, despite Q’s ostensibly ‘final’ authority with regard to what is and is not an aspect of the phenomenon’s worldview, there are some instances where the figure has been effectively ignored due to the salience of the individual and their ‘research.’ For example, there many QAnon subjects who believe that the deceased son of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy – John F. Kennedy Jr. – is still alive (Sommer, “QAnon, the Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theorists, Now Believe JFK Jr. Faked His Death to Become Their Leader”), and this despite Q’s explicit denial thereof (fig. 2).

	[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|420px\|thumb\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]		[[File:Screenshot 2023-03-31 at 13.38.09.png\|420px\|thumb\|Figure 2: Q Drop 2611. 'No.' ]]
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	The overarching impression is that ‘research’ within QAnon is not so much about working towards the production of a body of knowledge that all QAnon subjects can agree upon rather than it is concerned with the proliferation of many personalised ‘truths.’ As in the Q Drops, as in the mediatic traces of the world–all are material available for the individual’s interpretation of one in terms of the other towards the production of increasingly personalised and complex ‘research.’ That these conditions work to produce an worldview that is characterised at the micro- and macro-levels by a swirling mess of complexity and contradictions is simply taken as evidence of the phenomenon’s good health; there is no ‘groupthink’ (Hayes).		The overarching impression is that ‘research’ within QAnon is not so much about working towards the production of a body of knowledge that all QAnon subjects can agree upon rather than it is concerned with the proliferation of many personalised ‘truths.’ As in the Q Drops, as in the mediatic traces of the world–all are material available for the individual’s interpretation of one in terms of the other towards the production of increasingly personalised and complex ‘research.’ That these conditions work to produce an worldview that is characterised at the micro- and macro-levels by a swirling mess of complexity and contradictions is simply taken as evidence of the phenomenon’s good health; there is no ‘groupthink’ (Hayes).

	Nevertheless, the phenomenon’s internal heterogeneity all points to the asserted ‘truth’ of QAnon’s worldview, with contrary analysis pathologized as either being the uncritical work of someone in the thrall of the ‘mainstream’ episteme or deliberately malicious efforts of the Deep State and its agents. Actual difference – being that which is definitionally other to a subject or particular set of conditions – is not tolerated within QAnon. What is true of the phenomenon’s epistemology is also true of its worldview and accounts for QAnon’s ~~actual~~ hostility towards minoritarian movements. To the QAnon subject, America being made ‘Great Again’ is a fantasy of fascist restoration, a perverted ‘end of history’ wherein the conditions for the different or new are permanently evacuated.		Nevertheless, the phenomenon’s internal heterogeneity all points to the asserted ‘truth’ of QAnon’s worldview, with contrary analysis pathologized as either being the uncritical work of someone in the thrall of the ‘mainstream’ episteme or deliberately malicious efforts of the Deep State and its agents. Actual difference – being that which is definitionally other to a subject or particular set of conditions – is not tolerated within QAnon. What is true of the phenomenon’s epistemology is also true of its worldview and accounts for QAnon’s hostility towards minoritarian movements. To the QAnon subject, America being made ‘Great Again’ is a fantasy of fascist restoration, a perverted ‘end of history’ wherein the conditions for the different or new are permanently evacuated.

	== Scales of ‘Research’: the Q Drop Aggregators ==		== Scales of ‘Research’: the Q Drop Aggregators ==
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	As a result, if one were to look for the Q Drops in-situ, they would find them spread across three websites, containing seven boards therein (chronologically: /pol/ on 4chan, then /CBTS/, /TheStorm/, /GreatAwakening/ on 8chan, and /QResearch/, /patriotsfight/ and /projectdcomms/ on 8kun) with local archives for these boards ranging from non-existent (4chan) to extremely patchy and unsearchable (8chan/kun), to say nothing about the veritable ocean of unrelated and likely obscene content that one would also encounter. Under such conditions, QAnon’s ur-text appears as a distributed and disjointed series of image board posts with unstable authorship.		As a result, if one were to look for the Q Drops in-situ, they would find them spread across three websites, containing seven boards therein (chronologically: /pol/ on 4chan, then /CBTS/, /TheStorm/, /GreatAwakening/ on 8chan, and /QResearch/, /patriotsfight/ and /projectdcomms/ on 8kun) with local archives for these boards ranging from non-existent (4chan) to extremely patchy and unsearchable (8chan/kun), to say nothing about the veritable ocean of unrelated and likely obscene content that one would also encounter. Under such conditions, QAnon’s ur-text appears as a distributed and disjointed series of image board posts with unstable authorship.
	Q drop aggregators intervene at this point, collecting the (currently 4,~~399~~) Q drops into an online archive and presenting them as a coherent corpus through which ‘research’ can occur. QAnon subjects do not need to navigate the hostile interface and culture of a chan board–and few do (see “Do You Believe in Coincidences?”).<ref>Many QAnon subjects may, in fact, be entirely unaware of the boards. For example, the Capitol Riot’s ‘poster boy’ (Hsu) Doug Jensen–in an interview with FBI agents a few days after the events of January 6th–located the origin of the phenomenon in a Q Drop aggregator (either QAnon.pub or QMap): “it started off on Twitter – no, it started off with q.pub, and then q.pub got shut down, and now I have another one, it's like qalert.something” (Jensen 7).</ref> Instead, they can ‘research’ Q Drops at their leisure on the aggregators. Additionally, the Q Drop aggregators afford the circulation of Drops across the wider web, including the major corporate platforms despite QAnon’s ostensive ‘deplatforming’ after its pandemic-facilitated ‘boom’ and the events of 6 January 2020 (O’Connor et al.). In essence, by enabling distributed small scale acts of individual‘research’ on the part of QAnon subjects, Q drop aggregators facilitate the production of QAnon at the immense scale that the phenomenon has achieved. The paper will now proceed with a comparative analysis of how two major Q Drop aggregators (QAnon.pub and QAgg) make their materials available for users’ ‘research’ efforts.		Q drop aggregators intervene at this point, collecting the (currently 4,966) Q drops into an online archive and presenting them as a coherent corpus through which ‘research’ can occur. QAnon subjects do not need to navigate the hostile interface and culture of a chan board–and few do (see “Do You Believe in Coincidences?”).<ref>Many QAnon subjects may, in fact, be entirely unaware of the boards. For example, the Capitol Riot’s ‘poster boy’ (Hsu) Doug Jensen–in an interview with FBI agents a few days after the events of January 6th–located the origin of the phenomenon in a Q Drop aggregator (either QAnon.pub or QMap): “it started off on Twitter – no, it started off with q.pub, and then q.pub got shut down, and now I have another one, it's like qalert.something” (Jensen 7).</ref> Instead, they can ‘research’ Q Drops at their leisure on the aggregators. Additionally, the Q Drop aggregators afford the circulation of Drops across the wider web, including the major corporate platforms despite QAnon’s ostensive ‘deplatforming’ after its pandemic-facilitated ‘boom’ and the events of 6 January 2020 (O’Connor et al.). In essence, by enabling distributed small scale acts of individual‘research’ on the part of QAnon subjects, Q drop aggregators facilitate the production of QAnon at the immense scale that the phenomenon has achieved. The paper will now proceed with a comparative analysis of how two major Q Drop aggregators (QAnon.pub and QAgg) make their materials available for users’ ‘research’ efforts.

	== QAnon.pub ==		== QAnon.pub ==
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	* After the steganography toggle, the subsequent six options are for filtering for particular types of Q Drops (where Q is replying to another 8kun user, where they are not, if a Drop has images) or to change the order of Q Drops from their original order to being sorted by timestamp or numerological reduction.		* After the steganography toggle, the subsequent six options are for filtering for particular types of Q Drops (where Q is replying to another 8kun user, where they are not, if a Drop has images) or to change the order of Q Drops from their original order to being sorted by timestamp or numerological reduction.
	* ‘Think Mirror’ is a quote from Q Drop 128 and, in this case, mirrors all materials in QAgg’s interface along the vertical plane.		* ‘Think Mirror’ is a quote from Q Drop 128 and, in this case, mirrors all materials in QAgg’s interface along the vertical plane.
	* Finally, the ‘Q Abbreviations’ option allows for mouseover elaborations of abbreviations commonly used by Q.An example of what a Drop looks like with all metadata-related options (i.e. the first 8) toggled on can be found in fig.7.		* Finally, the ‘Q Abbreviations’ option allows for mouseover elaborations of abbreviations commonly used by Q. An example of what a Drop looks like with all metadata-related options (i.e. the first 8) toggled on can be found in fig.7.
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