Who Is Spoonkymonkey and why we Phished Reddit
Summary
Jesse Brown investigates a toxic surge on the Canada Land subreddit, suspecting coordinated harassment by sock puppet accounts. He uses IP tracking to link four suspicious users to a single source, leading to accusations against historian Mark Burry. The episode explores Burry’s history of online manipulation, including Wikipedia bans, and features a tense recorded confrontation between Brown and Burry regarding their long-standing feud.
Topics discussed
Intro, ads, and Reddit hate
The CanadaLand subreddit explosion
Investigating sock puppets and IP traps
Ethics of undercover reporting and phishing
Ad break: Article and Slow Burn
Mark Burry's history and Wikipedia bans
Phone call with Mark Burry
Linguistic analysis and new moderators
Ian Runkle and Reddit moderation ethics
Journalism vs. Anonymity and Outro
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