A (3:07)

So I think the story of the Suki Project is interesting for anyone who, you know, is really compelled to learn more about Online cults or chan culture. But it's also a story that made me personally reflect on why I was initially attracted to like, early forms of social media as a young boy and a teen in the 90s. You know, I like the idea that you could like, drop into like a local BBS server or a Usenet group about like, you know, any topic you're interested in. Like, for example, I really like the Simpsons. I didn't know anyone who wanted to talk about the Simpsons, but there was a Usenet group full of people who were more obsessed with the Simpsons than I was. And there were obviously, they were clearly adults and they understood references that I didn't get. You know, I felt like it was enriching my experience and, you know, discovering that and discovering like there. There's just this large community of people who are. Had the kind of like, same kind of like, mind, like me was very validating.

C (3:59)

Yeah, I feel like we've, we've hit a critical mass of that now where it's like, if you want to like, fuck toasters or whatever, yeah, you'll be able to find a community. Like there's, there must have been some point where it was good enough that there are all the reasonable hobbies and communities. You can find someone and it'll enrich your life. And then it gets, it gets to a point where it's like, no, maybe there shouldn't be communities of people encouraging each other to fuck toasters.

B (4:22)

Yeah, see, I didn't know that, that. I didn't know that you could do that on the Internet. When I was a teenager and had Internet in the house for the first time, I basically understood like, America Online, like chat room. You know, chat rooms and instant messages. And before that it was prodigy chat rooms. Essential, like in the later years, like, yeah, downloading, like maybe like one pics, like a pixelated image of pornography. Like, I didn't know that there were forums where you could go and like discuss like, you know, specific topics like that. And as far as I was concerned, like, that part of the Internet didn't exist to me. It was just like going into like chat rooms and being like, hey. And pretending to be like an older person, like sometimes, you know, like some. But like a police officer or something. Just something that I thought was cool, you know, Too much information.

A (5:11)

No, no, no, no, no, no. That's, that's, that's, that's a good, you know, like, perspective.

B (5:15)

I just didn't realize that there was like, forums where it was like, oh, I could go to like, like I didn't know that there probably would have been like a Ghostbusters forum where I could go talk about Ghostbusters with like minded people when I was a teenager with access to the Internet.

C (5:27)

Yeah, it's very easy. Like everyone knows, everyone who would be into that probably already knows they can. Like Google.

B (5:33)

Yeah.

C (5:33)

Community.

B (5:34)

Yeah. People know what the Internet does now. Whereas like in when like Travis and I like first, when I first got it in my house, like we didn't know the extent of like what it was able to do. I remember asking my, I remember showing it to my grandfather. We were like, this is the Internet. You can connect to it, you can ask it questions and stuff. We had maybe like an ask Jeez browser. And he was like, really? And I was like, yeah, what do you want to know? And he was like, google Jewish basketball players from 1923. Like that's what he was like, wanted to know like what Jews, what Jews had played basketball professionally.

C (6:05)

I feel like we hit a critical mass in relation to that which has resulted in 70 year olds knowing what QAnon is.

A (6:15)

The Suki project began on the 4chan board, R9K. So this is probably, I would say it's the third most notorious board on 4chan. So yeah, the original board is also probably the most famous and notorious is the B board Random, which is like, you know, known for being this chaotic, vulgar and sometimes creative laboratory of Internet memes. And the second most famous probably is the pull board, birthplace of Q. Some other insider nons. Also the famous sort of like gathering place of like, you know, the Internet. Far right. But the culture of R9k is based around shared alienation of its users. The board was originally developed to test a piece of moderation software called Robot 9000. But it evolves into a home for sharing painful anecdotes From Socially Awkward 4 Channers who self deprecatingly call themselves robots.

C (7:06)

My understanding is the difference between R9k and B is that on R9k you can't make the same post that someone else has already made. So you know, on B they'll have like, this is a thread and we. You remake the thread continually, but you can't have that. So it has to be some new weird shit. That's no one, no one has said before.

B (7:23)

And that's how they eventually got to this religion.

C (7:26)

Yeah, eventually, you know, it's. It's monkeys typing on a typewriter.

A (7:30)

Posts on R9K are frequently made from young men and occasionally young women who express frustration about, you know, the hurdles of getting romantic attention, making friends generally, or finding fulfilling work. They romanticize the life of the neat, the NE T that's an acronym for not in education, employment or training. They talk about, like getting neat bucks to live a life of isolation, pursuing solo hobbies, playing video games, watching anime, and consuming pornography. They often feel like society has rejected them and their pain is expressed in existential terms. They convince themselves that their future only holds rejection and tedious, low paying labor. So they wonder if there's any point in trying better their lot. In other words, it's full of people who believe that they have nothing to lose in life, and consequently, it's full of people who are very receptive to the idea that there is a simple way to exit this world and enter another.

B (8:26)

You've been listening to a sample of a premium episode of the QAA podcast. For access to the full episode, as well as all past premium episodes and all of our podcast miniseries, go to patreon.com QAA Travis why is that such a good deal?

A (8:40)

Well, Jake, you get hundreds of additional episodes of the QAA podcast for just $5 per month. For that very low price, you get access to over 200 premium episodes, plus all of our miniseries. That includes 10 episodes of Man Clan with Julia and the Nanny, 10 episodes of Perverts with Julian and Liv, 10 episodes of the Spectral Voyager with Jake and Brad, plus 20 episodes of Trickle down with Me Travis View. It's a bounty of content and the best deal in podcasting. Travis, for once I agree with you. And I also agree that people could subscribe by going to patreon.comqaa well, that's.

B (9:17)

Not an opinion, it's a fact.

A (9:19)

You're so right, Jake.

B (9:20)

We love and appreciate all of our listeners.

A (9:23)

Yes, we do. And Travis is actually crying right now, I think out of gratitude. Maybe that's not true. The part about me crying, not. Not me being grateful.

B (9:30)

I'm very grateful, Sam.