I created a secret code to get around Facebook content moderators
The first person who breaks the code and identifies my real message wins a prize!
Back story … Important Prologue Information
Today I am re-publishing a post I made yesterday at Facebook.
This was actually an experiment to see if the army of “content moderators” at this social media platform would distribute this particular post to my 1500 Facebook followers.
In my post, I decided to write about a health issue where I’ve formed an opinion. However, I’ll leave it to readers to decide if I might really be writing about other subjects I think are very important and that more people need to think about, especially regular Facebook users.
To sneak in my real message, I had to develop a secret code. (To make this a fun contest, I’m happy to give a prize to the first reader who cracks the code! Once you’ve figure out my hidden message, just post it in the reader comments. I’ll list your prize options in the Reader Comments, which is a good place to hide important messages from content moderators).
So far it looks like my post made it to some of my Facebook followers as a couple dozen hit me with a “like.” However, no one seems to have picked up on what my real goal was with this post.
My gripe with Facebook - at least over the last three years - is that the company has gone to extreme measures to block certain speech, speech the company (and the rest of our world’s rulers) simply can’t tolerate.
While I am currently not fully banned by Facebook, my account has been suspended multiple times for different periods of time.
For its part, Facebook says it is “protecting” its members from dangerous misinformation. For my part, I say the company is blocking free speech, which I think violates everything America is supposed to stand for.
Part 2 of this French Underground operation ….
Today’s project actually has ambitious goals. If a good number of people sent me a friend request on Facebook and then shared my Facebook post, the post might “go viral.” We’d then all get a good laugh at Facebook’s expense. (To send me a Facebook request, I’m the Bill Rice from Troy or Montgomery, Alabama).
If you do share this post (if I’m not banned again in the next five minutes), please share it with a message saying something like this:
“My friend says this is a very important message that he wants to share far and wide. He also mentioned the real message is hidden in a secret code. He said code-breakers might have fun trying to break the code. Once you break the code, re-read the post with ‘new eyes.’ ”
If my little “free speech” project does go viral, it might embarrass Facebook …. And their executives need to be embarrassed IMO.
I do wish more of my Facebook friends thought like I did about my real topic. Maybe some do, but they’re probably afraid of getting their accounts suspended. Because of this, they probably “self censor,” which means they don’t say anything that might get them in trouble with the rulers of Facebook.
Call me a naive idealist (or a dangerous extremist) if you want, but I think real free speech is America’s greatest founding principle and it should be defended.
If my account is suspended again or if Facebook’s algorithms continue to “shadow ban” my unauthorized (but true) C-word posts, this would simply provide more evidence that makes my point.
Here’s my Post. Good luck breaking the code!
For a while now, it’s really bugged me that nobody cares about this subject:
Almost every person I know thinks that low-fat diets are good for us.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, I think it’s carbohydrates that are actually bad for us. Sugar and bread and even certain fruits can cause weight gain and diabetes, which has killed or harmed many millions of our fellow citizens and family members.
Everything we’ve been told about what’s good for us or bad for us might, in fact, be wrong. This is a hard truth for most of us to swallow and we shouldn’t swallow it … if that truth is heavy in carbs.
But I know everyone doesn’t agree with me about this subject. And this actually doesn’t bug me that much, although I said it did in my first sentence. It’s very possible I might be wrong about all of this and I’m not necessarily an expert on this topic. I’m not a dietician after all.
On the other hand, I have been on many low-carb diets and I always rapidly lose a lot of weight when I do this. I also start feeling better. So I have formed what I would call personal observations, or reached certain conclusions based on my own experiences.
Of course, I always gain the weight back (and then some!), which people tell me is a good reason to NOT go on low-carb diets.
Ketosis is the reason I lose this weight, but my dang body doesn’t stay in ketosis once I start back-sliding and eating hash browns again.
Carrie, my wife, tells me I should try another diet where this wouldn’t happen. And I tell her I HAVE tried other diets. They also work ... if you stick with the program - but I can’t stick with those programs either … So I gain the weight back whatever diet I go on.
Everyone should consult their own doctor about their own diets and listen to and follow his/her advice.
Needless to say, whatever this advice might be, it will be up to you to follow-through and follow said advice.
Sometimes if you don’t agree with a doctor’s advice, it’s okay to get a second opinion. Even a third opinion … if you can afford it and your insurance will cover it.
Opinions are like navels - we all have one. Most go in, but some stick out. I'll say this: In my whole life, I’ve never made fun of one person with an outie belly button.
Regardless of what advice we receive, at the end of the day, it will be up to each of us to make our own health decisions. We’re all adults here and, by now, we are old enough to make our own decisions about our own health.
Sometimes we choose wisely and sometimes we don’t. That burden - that weight - falls on each and every one of us.
My own opinion is that if you want to lose 30 pounds before your upcoming high school reunion, you probably need to go on the Atkins Diet.
Even if you don’t and you look kind of plump or pudgy at that reunion, I’m still going to give you a big hug and thank you for being my friend!
P.S. Now, once you know my “coded message,” you can re-read this post. If I succeeded in my goal, almost every sentence should have a different meaning.
I now have 3,530 Substack "subscribers." As I pointed out in a recent story about my first six months as a Substacker, hardly any of my subscibers are from my own town. I bet I have maybe 12 Facebook followers (out of 1500-plus) who also subscribe to my Substack newsletter. I think if my links to my Substack posts weren't spiked by the algorithms or if I could post about everything I'm writing about (articles I would like more of my friends to see), I might now have 4,530 Substack subscribers. Some of those subscribers would be "paid." So Facebook, arguably, is conspiring to harm my means of making a living. I wonder in the future if someone doesn't file a lawsuit against this company on these grounds. Kind of like Alex Berenson did against Twitter.
Okay, we have a winner - Congratulations, Neil Pryke! I think it took Neil 10 seconds to crack the code.
The good news is you get world-wide acclaim from 3,530 Bill Rice, Jr. Substack subscribers. The bad news is I don’t have any super neat prizes like trips to Hawaii or even a gift card.However, I you are interested, I can offer any one of these prizes:
1) E-mail me a favorite photo with your own caption … and I can publish it in a future dispatch!
2) Write your own column/essay on any topic and I’ll publish it as a guest column. Who knows? Your column, unlike my own, might change the world. Please keep your column to under 1200 words. I know few of my own columns stick to this rule, but another one of my favorite maxims is: “Do as I say; not as I do.”
3) I actually have a 7-year-old son, Pickle Jack McCoy, who is well onto his way to becoming a legendary figure. I could get Pickle Jack to autograph a signed photo (suitable for framing) and mail this to you. Here’s the photo you’d get. (Pickle Jack now knows how to sign his name.)
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/the-legend-of-pickle-jack-mccoy
4) None of the above. It’s okay to decline your prize options. I know tax reasons might apply. Regardless, thanks for playing.
Thanks to everyone who might share this post via Facebook or Substack. Who knows? Maybe it will go viral and Neil really will become world famous. Also, other people can come up with their own coded Facebook posts.