# HBO documentary names Q of Qanon
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [March 16, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040 "2021-03-16T18:16:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/1 "2021-03-16T18:16:36Z")
They say it’s a guy named Ron Watkins. They interview him.
> **[HBO’s QAnon Doc: We Have Discovered Q’s Identity](https://www.thedailybeast.com/hbos-qanon-docuseries-q-into-the-storm-believes-it-has-discovered-qs-identity?ref=home)**
>
> The six-part docuseries, premiering March 21 on HBO, examines the Trump-centric conspiracy theory/movement—and makes a convincing case for exactly who is posing as Q.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/2 "2021-03-16T19:11:16Z")
I was under the impression that was not really a secret nowadays, kind of like Robin Gunningham’s alter ego.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/3 "2021-03-16T20:50:10Z")
Well, it’s on the [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon#Identity_of_Q)
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/4 "2021-03-16T20:55:23Z")
BTW, do we _need_ a six-part documentary on this? HBO just finished a four-part documentary on the Woody Allen molestation story and now this. My sense is they’re padding out their schedule with these documentaries to cover the fact that they have no drama series to air in COVID times. (I wonder why I still pay for HBO.)
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### Author:  [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/5 "2021-03-16T21:08:07Z")
I thought it was his dad Jim, not Ron, as I consider Ron less than a useful idiot. Ron is the “computer expert” with the (now suspended) Twitter handle CodeMonkeyZ (wow, he must be a dev god), who is apparently clueless about JSON files (okay, so maybe not so god-like after all).
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/6 "2021-03-17T00:22:34Z")
I’ve heard its both of them, Ron and Jim Watkins.
According to studies like this based on examination of the posts, they appear to be written by 2 different people.
> **[QAnon Is Two Different People, Shows Machine Learning Analysis from...](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qanon-is-two-different-people-shows-machine-learning-analysis-from-orphanalytics-301192981.html)**
>
> /PRNewswire/ -- QAnon has spread conspiracy theories to an unprecedentedly large audience. Its thousands of online messages have popularized narratives such as...
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/7 "2021-03-17T00:45:46Z")
So is he mentally ill, a grifter or just a troll doing it for the lulz? It the big reveal in part 6?
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/8 "2021-03-17T02:34:15Z")
I think it’s a good thing for the world to know kljust how batshit Qanon is, in the same way they needed to know what Scientology actually proclaimed. Revealing “the truth” in layers is a classic tool of indoctrination into a cult. Better to make it public.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/9 "2021-03-17T06:22:38Z")
Is there any new news here, that wasn’t already going around last August?
We had a thread from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8 last year asking:
> [@Q of QAnon has supposedly been found. Is he in legal trouble?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-of-qanon-has-supposedly-been-found-is-he-in-legal-trouble/919487):
>
> Q of QAnon infamy has been doxxed. From what I’ve read the evidence is very compelling. I will not repeat the name here or post a link on the off chance that the person is not in fact Q. My question is if the personed outed is in fact Q, are they in legal trouble? Either criminal or civil? You have to figure that if Alex Jones can get sued civilly that Q has to be in a similar boat, right? Is anybody aware of any criminals laws that may have been broken by Q?
(The suspected perp, Watkins pére, was named elsewhere in that thread.)
The thread quickly drifted away from the question “Is he in any legal trouble?” and more toward a discussion of what information Q might actually have access to anyway.
The consensus of the thread seemed to be: “No, probably not in any legal trouble” and “No access to much (and probably not any) sensitive information anyway”.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/10 "2021-03-17T07:06:20Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> So is he mentally ill, a grifter or just a troll doing it for the lulz? It the big reveal in part 6?
From what I know (mostly from the podcast I’ll link below), grifter would be the closest. He took over the Q account to keep people from leaving 8chan. One of Q’s “translators” (who was possibly the original identity of Q) was starting to pull followers away to his own personal board. With a bit of social engineering, he was able to convince people that he was the real Q and the translator had been compromised.
The former owner of 8chan believes that Watkin’s goal in buying up 8chan was to repeat what he had done with 2chan, a Japanese board that became the hub for the far right in Japan. 8chan had become the darling of the alt-right, to the point it was growing too fast for the old owner to keep up. So he wound up selling the site to this other guy.
He alleges that this is what the Watkinses do. They see something that is popular with the far right and buy it up, then try to make it as big as possible. He suspects they are themselves far right, and are doing this for political reasons.
Here’s the podcast where the old owner details everything. (I suspect he’s also a big source for the documentary):
> **[\#166 Country of Liars | Reply All](https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhe5nm)**
>
> This week, PJ looks into a theory circling the internet about who might be behind QAnon. The investigation takes him back to the beginning of the QAnon scam, and to the message board trolls who started it.
(Note that it has a transcript for those who would rather read than listen.)
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/11 "2021-03-17T07:10:02Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> I’ve heard its both of them, Ron and Jim Watkins.
>
> According to studies like this based on examination of the posts, they appear to be written by 2 different people.
That’s talking about different posts on different forums, so it’s probably about Watkins and the old Q who posted on the disciple’s board. Watkins was only ever Q on 8chan.
(Not sure which Watkins, unfortunately.)
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### Author:  [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hbo-documentary-names-q-of-qanon/938040/12 "2021-03-17T13:45:21Z")
Here’s a link to a really good story on Watkins and Q and their links to Russia.
> **[JIM WATKINS IS Q AND THE RUSSIANS ARE HELPING HIM](https://registrarproject17.medium.com/jim-watkins-is-q-the-russians-are-helping-him-and-other-adventures-b457848e210b)**
>
> The man behind Qanon is a vile hate-merchant coordinating with OANN, Flynn and Russian intelligence.
Up until sometime in 2019, a right wing grift group called Patriot Soapbox was involved, then they “broke up” with Watkins - then Watkins started 8kun and singlehandedly revived Q.
It really shouldn’t be a surprise that the registered owner of the 8kun and Qdrops websites is Q, but I guess some people are surprised.
ETA- the link I posted contains links to lot lots of other good material on the subject, I highly recommend following some of them.