It might not be exactly qannon but it ticks a lot of the boxes. eg. "trust the plan", some sort of predicted event that never comes to pass but keeps on being pushed back, not to mention accusations of shills left and right.
I recognise those points you raised, and I can see how they sometimes look a bit culty.
QAnon is not an appropriate comparison. Generally speaking, Superstonk is very welcoming of counter-DD. It’s members have good intentions (like /r/ApePhilanthropy for example), and there are lots of smart people doing legitimate research into an intentionally obfuscated industry, with a history of secrecy and corruption. But I do see what you’re getting at.
Even without another squeeze the company has some genuinely exciting fundamentals, and it’s future prospects have never looked better. So many people think it’s just a great long-term investment, no matter what transpires along the way.
Part of the “cult” problem is exacerbated by the inherent nature of the MOASS thesis. At its core, it’s Game Theory in action. The MOASS only works if a critical mass of retail investors allow it to.
Individual voices spreading “FUD” only serve to sabotage the opportunity for everyone else. But at the same time, it’s in all the players’ best interests to base their strategy on reliable information.
There have certainlu been a few occasions when users have gotten overexcited, promised things they shouldn’t have, or made claims they can’t back up. But honestly, overall I’m absolutely amazed by the community at self-policing it’s members, and striving for accuracy.
A big part of this, I think, was the fact that Superstonk is now the 3rd home for GME. Investors have watched WallStreetBets turn in to a pathetic shell of its former self, overrun by bots and pump-and-dump schemes.
Most users who were still interested by February had migrated to /r/GME, where good DD was being posted again. Unfortunately the mods there lost control of the sub, and it quickly became overrun with blatant “FUD” posts — usually from users with brand new accounts, and 0 post karma. The patterns were extremely obvious, and for many people, helped to reinforce their beliefs about market manipulation.
Each time the core community migrated, the quality improved significantly. Superstonk has nearly 500K members — which is a lot, but, nowhere near WSB at its peak (10M members or so).
Superstonk is a generally positive community, filled with people who’ve “held from $400 down to $40, and back again”. That kind of attitude is all that’s necessary by this point. Most members, I’m sure, would agree: the research has been done, and it’s just a matter of time.
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For me, personally: I’ve found it to be a fascinating, eye-opening opportunity.
No matter how things pan out, it’s been a uniquely enjoyable learning experience, and something I’ve very much enjoyed following.
>I wouldn’t go as far as comparing to QAnon — generally speaking, Superstonk is very welcoming of counter-DD [...]
Can you really claim that they're welcoming of counter-DD when people are primed (via the mechanism you described in the later paragraphs) to think that any dissenting information is FUD?
>However, at the same time, it’s in all the players’ best interests to base their strategy on reliable information.
That's only the case if everyone's in it for the long haul (or at least, long enough for the MOASS). However, that's not the only way to make money. You can also make money by riding the wave. In that case reliable information about MOASS only matters insofar as its ability to pump the stock and can be substituted/supplemented with bad information.
