Start here. These eight articles form the foundation of the Disinfolklore framework. Each one introduces a concept that the rest of the site builds on. Read them in order, or jump to whichever question pulls you in.
1. What Is Disinfolklore?
The elevator pitch. Why this word, why now, and why it matters more than “disinformation.” Disinfolklore is the narrative form through which weaponised archetypes are transmitted into our minds — and fact-checking alone cannot defeat it.
Deep dive: Why Disinfolklore? | Origins of the Concept
2. Disinfolklore vs Disinformation
Why the existing vocabulary fails. Disinformation describes intentionally misleading claims, while its diabolical twin, misinformation, are merely misleading. Disinfolklore, by contrast, describes the narrative form that carries manipulative memes into our Inner Minds (our Mana/Inner Realm). Archetypally structured, Disinfolklore encodes emotional resonance, archetypes into different story forms. Disinfolklore is not quite immune to fact-based correction, but it is very resistant to tools usually taught as part of traditional disinformation and misinformation-focussed methodologies.
Deep dive: Why Disinfolklore? | Why Not Just ‘Disinformation’ or ‘Misinformation’?
3. Three Billy-Goats’ Gruff: Origin of All Trolling
The Norwegian folk tale that encodes the entire mechanism. A bridge, a troll beneath it, three travellers who must cross. The same structure appears in the ancient Iranian Chinvat bridge myth and was lived in real time at the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge in eastern Ukraine (2015—2022). The foundational redefinition: trolling is any emotion-moving activity.
Deep dive: Three Billy-Goats’ Gruff | Trolling and Trolls
4. What Is Mana?
The energy that lives inside every meme. Mana traces back to Proto-Indo-European Meh₁n-ṓt (Moon) — the way light shines through the moon is the central metaphor that generated thousands of words across all living Indo-European languages, from Sanskrit manas to Latin mens to English manipulate (to shake someone’s Mana). The diagnostic mantra: “Look for the Mana in the Meme.”
Deep dive: Mana | Power of Mana
5. What Is a Disinfolklore Galaxy?
A closed-loop information environment — translucent, sticky, inescapable, like Spider-Man’s web. Every authoritarian regime builds one. Russia’s Galaxy, the MAGA Galaxy, Brexit, CCP — each has a distinct character but shares the same architecture: brain-hacking techniques that colonise our neural networks.
Deep dive: Disinfolklore Galaxies | Disinfolklore Universe
6. Complete Guide to Information Warfare
The Twelve Tools in full: five Detection tools (recognise the archetype, scan with Troll Radars, find the Mana, map the Inner/Outer Realm, trace Trigger-Experience-Reaction), one Bridge tool (the Code of Positive Trolls), and six Adjudication tools — Generosity, Right, Energy, Patience, Mindfulness, Wisdom — derived from The Six Perfections.
Deep dive: The Twelve Tools | Counter-Disinfolklore
7. My Seven Years Monitoring the Contact Line
The ground-truth memoir. 2015—2022 as an OSCE diplomat in eastern Ukraine, negotiating daily with armed Russian bridge trolls, writing reports for 57 nations, embedded in the communities Russia claimed were “held hostage by Nazis.” The lived experience that produced the analytical method.
Deep dive: About the Author | Origins of the Concept
8. Volya: Four Years — A War of Archetypes
The capstone. Delivered on the 4th anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, this speech traces the arc from instinct to naming to power — how Disinfolklore was discovered, theorised, and deployed as a complete system over four years of war. From the bridge at Stanytsia Luhanska to the vault at stephendouglas.org.
Deep dive: Rearchetyping | Counter-Disinfolklore | Full Speech (120 min)
Reading Order
For newcomers, the recommended path:
- What Is Disinfolklore? — understand the problem
- Three Billy-Goats’ Gruff — see the archetype
- What Is Mana? — feel the energy
- What Is a Disinfolklore Galaxy? — map the system
- Complete Guide — learn the tools
- Disinfolklore vs Disinformation — sharpen the distinction
- Seven Years — ground it in lived experience
- Volya: Four Years — see the complete arc
Or start with the Learning Paths for guided routes tailored to your experience level.
Where Next?
- The Twelve Tools — the complete framework
- Mechanisms — the vocabulary
- Archetypes — the tools applied
- Learning Paths — guided reading routes