Editing Factional Colony Ecology

Colony organisms, separate species that live together, abound in nature. An interesting one is the [[wikipedia:Xanthoria parietina|maritime sunburst lichen]] which is an algae and a fungus rolled into one. The former provides photosynthesis, the latter structure and some UV immunity. While this example of differentiated DNA organisms existing as a colony is clear, [[Multicellular Mankind|humanity isn't particularly different]] on its own: consisting of mitochondria, yes, but also gut bacteria and so on.

This sort of colony structure appears to be ecologically advantageous in nature, but also in sociology. Factions in politics and in social groups also have a similar property, tighter coordination is prevented by a need for plausible deniability and a risk of being labeled hypocrites causing a single faction to form a colony with loose interaction directing it towards a common goal.

Some obvious examples of this are:

* [[wikipedia:Sinn Féin|Sinn Féin]] and the [[wikipedia:Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|IRA]]
* [[wikipedia:Malcolm X|Malcolm X]] and [[wikipedia:Martin Luther King Jr.|MLK Jr.]]

The relationship between the members of the colony can be fairly tight (as in the IRA/SF relationship) or quite loose (as in the Malcolm X and MLK Jr. one) but we can see, looking back, that they were part of a single faction. In most cases, looking back allows us to see the obvious link between various groups, something that was expressly opposed at the time for political reasons. But the natural strength of this form

== Modern Day ==

In the modern day, the most common form of a factional colony is one with various radical online members and a few respectable front-men who either joke or make occasional forgivable mistakes. The typical form of this is that the front-men do not, as a rule, disavow the radicals, who devoutly avow the front-men. Enemies of the faction frequently equate the front-men with the radicals and this always falls flat because the front-men never express the radical opinions. The purpose of the radicals' support is to communicate back that they are aligned with the front-men since private communication of alignment would disrupt the value of the colony structure.

The only true mechanism of cracking open this organism is to reveal the association or to break up the relationship. Methods doomed to fail are the aforementioned equating, but also claims of hypocrisy or [[wikipedia:Whataboutism|whataboutery]]. This structure arises not out of a conscious desire by some mastermind but simply because it is adaptive in the factional combat ecology: factions that don't adopt this all die because they are overtly immoral (radical-dominated) or ineffective (front-men dominated).

=== Roles ===

Radicals have the function of galvanizing the faction. They [[use whatever technique is viable]]: fear if that's what works, anger if that's what works. They also ensure that the vast body of the faction stay in line: with purity rituals, or overt oaths of loyalty. Many of them will also provide labour for action for the faction's cause.

Front-men have a few functions:

* convert the neutral and opposition to the cause
* draw out the opposition to a place where they can be struck
* make [https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/14/beware-isolated-demands-for-rigor/ isolated demands for rigor]

== Online Arguments ==

To see a toy example of this in the wild, see online argument factions. They always have the respectable who draw out their opposition, and the radical who, when the opponent shows weakness, strike them down with gotchas and so on. The pattern repeats itself across social media with a typical such thing being:

Front Man: "Just curious, but are you X?"

Radical: "Ah ha, an A, that's exactly what we thought!"

The politeness of the front-man is merely an invitation to his opposition to engage while he knows full well that his teammates (though not him and provably so not him) will use the opportunity to attack<ref name=tempt/>.

or alternatively

Radical Team A expresses a terrible view

Radical Team B expresses another terrible view

Front Man A: I think we should all be civil here. Statements like that of Radical Team B are not particularly helpful.

Someone aligned with B may then attempt to catch FM A on his isolated demand or they may attempt to say a similar thing against R A but the separation of skillsets and lack of allegiance does the trick to protect FM A himself from any real risk.

== Social Media ==

Social media sites make this more or less feasible based on their reward structure. Sites like Twitter or Reddit keep user likes hidden but have a community concept of "being ratio'd". Sites like Reddit go farther by hiding votes that are unpopular: a useful function that can nonetheless be used offensively<ref name=downvoted/>.

Others have comment sections where all users are given equal visibility and attacks are performed by making numerically greater comments.

== Notes ==

<references>
<ref name=tempt>The situation can then be prolonged by him by conflating all groups "man, ''people'' don't really allow a discussion" and so on.</ref>
<ref name=downvoted>The Reddit/Slashdot/HN style is to hide and deprioritize comments below a certain score. Notably this means that someone with 1100 downvotes and 1000 upvotes is visually identical to someone with 100 downvotes and 0 upvotes on these platforms (Slashdot breaks it up by category) </ref>
</references>

[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Social Network Ecology]]