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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

One thing is certain; recently, I noticed that some entities "Like" everything I comment. Looks like data collection to me by bots.

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Prof. Fred Nazar's avatar

If Substack falls, we are running out of uncensored media. Check their FULL plan:

https://scientificprogress.substack.com/p/the-plan-revealed

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Pete Lincoln's avatar

Your being amplified by someone

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

What does that mean? It's not a single person, and I get "Like"s for something as mundane as "Yes, it is" or "I agree."

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Pete Lincoln's avatar

Bots are used to amplify posts on Twitter, and maybe now on substack.

Some group who likes a certain message may amplify that message, and indirectly the author (not accusing you but “no virus exist” posts serve a certain groups agenda and those who honestly believe it and post on it may be amplified, even without the author knowing or for posts on unrelated subjects).

Indeed, for some big hired social media influencers companies are hired to amplify all the posts for that author in a drastic way. Hence you see what are essentially morons on Twitter with a 100k+ following and a ridiculous amount of likes for a 1 liner comment devoid of substance. Just bots, each with a unique name.

Now maybe I am wrong about your case and someone (plural) just likes you, but you seemed genuinely puzzled so I offer it for your consideration.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Thank you for the explanation. In my case, the number of subscribers are not all that big and my paying supporters enable me to work for about four dollars a day. Many people are afraid of placing "Like"s and even more afraid of financially supporting a project they like. They don't realize that their connections, their e-mails, phone/internet calls, and their browsing fingerprints provide just about everything the system needs to know about them to make them predictable. (So, it is a good idea to sign up for Substacks they normally can't stand and even visit them every once in a while, and "Like" stuff they don't; AI cannot handle contradictions.) Indiscriminate "Like"s of my comments suggests the (probably inconsequential) presence of centralized data collection at this stage.

I've been flabbergasted that my Substack articles keep coming up pretty much on top of Google searches. I don't belong to any group, and I am always ready to change my opinion, when something convincing comes up. Still, I don't get lost among the details and don't lose sight of the whole picture. I don's push any agenda, expect that people must make up their own minds and stay in touch, preferably in person.

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Tsipora Pereira's avatar

I happen to have started liking less lately, not because I like comments less but somehow it didn't feel good any more.

At any rate when I comment back I (mostly) do not like.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

I never mark "Like" when someone praises me, and sometimes I simply forget to "Like" something. I do it in order to express my respect for the other person. I also "Like" articles, whose authors allow me to read and comment for free, but only when I comment. When I have something good to say, I say it, but I tend to fall short on that end.

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Blackwater River's avatar

I don’t want likes. I want engagement in further discussions.

My ego doesn’t need a stroke with a like. I’m happiest when it triggers a long discussion among others. I’m serving a purpose then.

So don’t like this.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

I'll try to remember that I must not "Like" your comments. :)

To me, it's more about camaraderie than supporting egos, but it's perhaps a bit safer not to "Like" anything; that leaves fewer breadcrumbs, but the amount of time spent on a Substack must be recorded by the system and it usually (but not without errors) reveals it all.

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Tsipora Pereira's avatar

I noticed a difference with other Substacks but now I know what it is.

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ws's avatar

That's interesting. I still like to like, but I could see the feel of it changing over time.

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Blackwater River's avatar

I guess we could do inverse to their stats and like everything

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Overloading the AI nearly always works; it cannot handle contradictions.

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ws's avatar

I tend to like everything you comment, so want to establish myself as non-bot.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

I can assure you, you are none of the bots. :)

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ebear's avatar

Could be something as mundane as a system upgrade, data backup or migration. You definitely don't want users interacting while conducting any of those, although a "system temporarily unavailable" message would be nice. So would a lot of other things that Substack lacks, but I'm not holding my breath.

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Christine's avatar

The not being able to edit my own comment happened to me yesterday. Maybe just a glitch?

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Certainly not a glitch. If it was, it would be consistent, but after 20 minutes, I can't edit my own comments on my own site (but I can "ban" myself), or anywhere else.

Contacted Substack support and they haven't gotten back to me after three days, except for a promise that they would do something and they wanted screen shots (???) for goodness knows what reason or to what end.

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Christine's avatar

Just happened to me again. I did one edit to my comment on my own post, then locked out. Will check timing next time.

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Stegiel's avatar

Ray do you think if Substack had more money better software engineering would happen or is this too sophisticated for Substack who cannot compete with old BBS boards like the WELL?

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

I think the intruder using my name is working for Substack.

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Stegiel's avatar

That is like the other outfits who proffer free speech on the cheap I guess. You are a person of interest. Too interesting and too smart who might catch fire.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Want to talk today?

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

That's why this site is only for "three percent of the three percent." So is yours and those of a handful of others; only a few have the independence and the acumen even to appreciate our arguments.

I can't see how much more difference can be made than inspiring our readers to make up their own minds and take responsible and "mostly peaceful" (I mean, in their own lives) actions accordingly.

Yet, you are right, even good things might "trickle down," as opposed to money as Reagan erroneously used to suggest.

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Canny Granny's avatar

Just checking. I don’t know how they appear!

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Don't worry; you are a long way from being a bot. :)

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Canny Granny's avatar

I’m not a bot. Sometimes I forget to like what I read or I just get tired of liking it. Lol

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

What makes you think anyone would think you are?

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Elizabeth Petersen's avatar

iamnotabot.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

What makes you think anyone would think you are?

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Rosalind McGill's avatar

Sometimes I have the option to edit my comment, other times it’s not in the 3 little dots.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Does it depend on the site or the age of the comments?

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Rosalind McGill's avatar

Not sure. Site more than age

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CopperVortex's avatar

Like everything, substack will morph into the establishment. Duckduckgo took 3 years or so. Another site will take its place and do the same. It's just the nature of money, greed, power, etc.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

It was extremely conspicuous with Mercola... He simply sounded scared.

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CopperVortex's avatar

Well, he did have a lot of pressure on him as the number 1 targeted guy, or was it RFK jr/CHD, can't remember. And both never will even allow a discussion on Terrain Theory/lack of evidence for a 'virus', along with Bigtree, Kirsch, McCullough, etc.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Your site is interesting for me; just subscribed.

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CopperVortex's avatar

thanks, and your site is one of the most informative! You mentioned you're in KY, so I recommend Ken Wheeler's YouTube channel, he's in KY: https://www.youtube.com/@kathodosdotcom/videos

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Thanks; I try not to bore people to death by regurgitating the obvious and I cover a wide range of topics and include further considerations regarding the corollaries, usually days, weeks or even months before other authors even touch the topic. Except for a handful authors, information is usually dispersed too little, too late:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/too-little-too-late

Your last article addresses a topic that I have also written a few articles about, and I am always eager to learn more. You are also exhibiting an educated, intelligent, and independent approach. Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you for the link. I'll pass it on to my wife. I don't do videos, only on rare occasions, but she helps out quite a bit with this site. Without her, I couldn't prevail, and I'm running short on time reading and answering comments (I knew that would happen, so the other bonus I offer to paid subscribers is private communication by encrypted e-mails and guaranteed responses).

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Kirsch actually does allow me to say what I mean, and even recommended one of my articles:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/asthma-and-traditional-vaccines-during

Mercola kicked me out about two years ago after eight years of membership, and I don't know about the rest.

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CopperVortex's avatar

Wow, that's what I suspected, b/c I never see anything even in the comments section of Marcola.com, which I've been a member of for 15 years.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Mercola's ghostwriters used quite a bit from my 2012 book (the one I offer to paid subscribers as a bonus), usually a year or more later, without giving me any credit. His pre-2020 comment sections sometimes contained valuable info, and even these days, one in 20 of his articles are worth more than nothing.

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ebear's avatar

Perhaps it's the strident nature of its proponents or their lack of a foundation in scientific reasoning? Not talking about the actual researchers, but their followers, who to me appear excessively dogmatic about their belief system.

This is a generic problem not limited to terrain theory. There are more people who think they know something than those willing to admit that they don't. Similarly, people who hold strong opinions tend to be more proactive in expressing them, as well as dismissive of those challenging them. This tends to drown out the more skeptical among us. Bear in mind, this is all BEFORE active interference enters the picture.

In general, people don't like uncertainty, so when seemingly reasonable explanations for things that confound them suddenly appear, the tendency is to latch on rather than subject them to critical analysis. This is true of theories, but also of those who assume the mantle of leadership, where personality and charisma, not evidence based science are the means of persuasion.

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CopperVortex's avatar

Regardless of whether terrain theory has valid points or not, there is zero discussion given to terrain theory by the big opposition guys, therefore there are purposeful forces behind this, besides the 'dogmatic' nature of terrain theory followers that you mention- maybe censorship, graft, lack of knowledge, controlled opposition, need for the establishment to keep up appearances (even the opposition establishment- that's how they evolve into the establishment, say the protesting Protestants, the revolutionary founding fathers, Twitter, very few sellouts), etc. But there is plenty out there to discuss. I'm drafting my take on terrain theory/lack of no viruses, so look for that, but not quite sure what you're really saying. If you have evidence for 'viruses', please cite your best example paper(s) or other evidence.

And it's not just those guys, but the censorship from the establishment against their narrative, twitter, youtube, fb, amazon banning books, gov databases, etc.

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ebear's avatar

I think Thomas Kuhn had the best take on this. If terrain theory is correct, a crisis will eventually occur where its the only theory that can account for the evidence, at which point a paradigm shift will occur. In the meantime I try to avoid polemics, as for now, neither side has a completely convincing argument.

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CopperVortex's avatar

yeah, I mention Kuhn and the nature of revolutions in my first article. I'm not sure about a shift to terrain theory though simply b/c the force of greed/money is stronger than what would happen if the trillions were taken away from treating the symptoms of nature trying to rectify an imbalance. Petsmart sells antibiotic drops for fish tanks, they can't make money by telling you to clean your fish tank.

btw, thinking about your point, it is pretty strange isn't it, how the alternative guys are seen as quacks just from talking about their everyday stuff, you know like Bigtree/Wakefield's Vaxxed. So by their very nature, they are ridiculed, but you're saying terrain theory Is so beyond the normal alternative narrative that it can't be discussed, and well, that's actually the case, so like I said, it's too big of an issue to even address. Some other things are like that, pedophilia, child trafficking, extra-dimensional beings, esoteric knowledge, etc. Actually, anything that is worthy is not discussed in the public, only amongs trusted friends.

Well if you want to get some airtight logic, listen to Marvin Haberland: https://drtomcowan.com/blogs/podcasts/56-marvin-haberland

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

They can go only to a certain length and people might as well finally learn to read between the lines, especially these days, when free speech is systematically being eliminated:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/what-to-read-now-and-how

Everyone must beware of half-truths:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/how-do-lies-become-the-truth

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Stegiel's avatar

Not job description to plump for qua truth just qua money.

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Stegiel's avatar

The man facing a Mafia more ruthless than a drug cartel of corporations is to live so long as a line crossed is not punishing to family and himself. Now and then on cutting edge it even happens in revenge as with Gary Webb. First exposing in the Knight Ridder newspaper the San Jose Mercury News the Iran Contra cocaine nexus - then fired and humiliated by mass media led by the quite reputable reliable propaganda outlet the NYT, then years later working for a local free newspaper he exposed video game single shooter recruitment by the military and killed himself.

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Prof. Fred Nazar's avatar

If Substack falls, we are running out of uncensored media. Check their FULL plan:

https://scientificprogress.substack.com/p/the-plan-revealed

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Therefore, we might start networking elsewhere...

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Greg C's avatar

I am a bot!

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

Aren't we all? :)

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Pete Lincoln's avatar

I had an issue with editing. Reported it to Substack with my browser and ios details and after awhile the functionality came back

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

How did you report it?

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Jon Grah's avatar

It could just be a technical issue. If there is a caching issue or some other malfunction, then some functions may not work properly. The AJAX wasnt fully working.

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Blackwater River's avatar

Oh dear Ray. I like nearly everything you post. But don’t like everything I get sent. Nor do I read everything.

It reminds me of something I posted a while back. I asked ‘how will you prepare for the time when we no longer have substack or access to any alt media’ ?

It’s to prepare for a time when we are all on our own, having to use our own critical thinking skills.

Of course they’re going to be attacking substack servers. Just like they went after Rumble’s and Odyssey’s. I guess it means substack has reached critical mass. Like when you get to 1,500 followers on Twitter. The Intel pay attention.

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Ray Horvath, "The Source" :)'s avatar

I am always glad if people find my work helpful. However, due to my methodology, it is they, who help themselves. :)

Something like those attacks was certain to happen. People will be cut off, and even phone calls will be answered by deepfakes. The process is definitely accelerating.

I thought, the lowest limit here was at about 10k people, but I also remember that when the net was young, site owners were able to get paid for ads as long as they had at least 1k visitors a day.

Substack is full of gaslighters and propagandists, who usually have well over 10k subscribers. Consequently, the algorithm is likely to be based on who is linked to whom, as usual. "Liking" makes next to no difference, because many people don't even dare to do it, just like they don't dare to support a good Substack for the same reason.

The current "bug" is likely to be due to part of the site to be temporarily frozen in order to back it up (and the data to be sold to everyone who is willing to pay for it) or in protection from a current attack, is being mirrored or being restored from a previous attack.

Either way, I agree with you that these might be the last days to increase networking attempts with people here.

No site has to be frozen to be spied upon. Everything is recorded and first all materials must go through an AI inspection and live operatives access only what is considered a "big threat" to you-know-who. :)

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Joel W. Hay, PhD's avatar

Having been kicked off every internet site, social media platform and MSM comment site I believe it would be insane to think that substack is somehow pristine and protected against the DARPAbots. You cut too close to the truth to be uncensored in 2023. The gulags are coming for us all!

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