If you think it's bad here, you haven't seen their Facebook! 4.6 million followers there, and they ruthlessly block anyone who shows doubt. They actually haven't done much weird ARG nonsense in a while, but I think that's because it's easier to farm engagement the old-fashioned way.

Everybody, remember to hound AltNPS for the receipts.

And of course, AltNPS ISN'T a coalition of park rangers. No current or former NPS employee has ever come out and claimed affiliation with this supposed group. They've refused to be vetted even by the (admittedly opaque) internal #altgov vetting process. Don't trust them. They aren't real.

Every time AltNPS posts, you need to ask yourself: what the hell does this have to do with the National Parks, and why would a coalition of park rangers be the authority on this topic?

I've been under the weather lately, so there's a lot of AltNPS nonsense to catch up on. Here's a short thread.🧵 This was reported by @jesseapaul.bsky.social at the Colorado Sun five hours before AltNPS reposted it without attribution.

Toward the end of my article, I ended up quoting @parkermolloy.com, who identified an enlightening (and depressing) aspect of online misinformation: the first version of a story to go viral is the one that wins. AltNPS and other misinfo sources rely on this, and base their livelihoods around it.

Let's look at some highlights from this article. Not satisfied with simple plagiarism, AltNPS also regularly spreads fake news, and will even invent their own if they think it'll drive engagement🧵:

I've seen this anecdotally as well, especially in the replies to AltNPS's posts about the attempt at the Correspondent's Dinner. Commenters are in absolute lockstep on this, and they will entertain no doubters. bsky.app/profile/altw...

It's long past time for me to get off Substack. I've moved over to WordPress, and for now, that's where you'll find me, starting with my new article! This time, we're looking at how the Alt National Park Service acts as a superspreader for fake news and misinformation.

AltNPS claims that they're worried about "bad actors," and it took me a minute to realize, oh, they mean OTHER bad actors. This very petty and embarrassing episode has now ended the way it was always going to: with a deleted thread.

Hell yeah Bryan get their ass

The "unauthorized app" plot thickens. Looks like one guy is claiming credit for the app, and also warning AltNPS not to libelslander him? AltNPS is relying on the claim that this app wasn't "approved by the coalition," which is just incredible.

I need an American hero with an iPhone to download this "unauthorized" AltNPS app and take as many screenshots as you can.

I am going to become the Joker

I've been moving apartments, and it's making me real, real tired, tired enough to STAIN the HONOR of the real Smokey the Bear. Some things can NEVER be forgiven. Smokey will have his revenge. (My bad, @altusfs.altgov.info)

AltNPS is still on the merch grind, and like always, it's only on Facebook. They're just openly doing product pitches to their FB audience, and then hiding behind the idea that the proceeds are going to nonprofits. But there are deeper issues beyond that 🧵:

I've actually been meaning to talk about this. At this point, AltNPS seems like they've *mostly* dropped the act. They've realized that it's easier to get attention through basic engagement farming tactics than it is to actively LARP as a spy ring.

It's safe to say that at this point, AltNPS is giving up on implication and is just openly encouraging their audience to speculate about the WH Correspondents' Dinner shooting being a conspiracy.

Mueller She Wrote had a busy night. 7:48 PM: Claims without evidence that the shooter was dead. 7:53 PM: Wait, maybe there weren't any gunshots? But maybe there were? 8:12 PM: Suspect in custody, but the gunman is still dead (NOTE: the gunman is not dead)

On an old QAA episode, @derekberes.bsky.social and @matthewremski.bsky.social mentioned a 2011 paper that argued there are three core beliefs that connect "new age" communities and conspiracy communities: 1. Everything is connected. 2. Everything happens for a reason. 3. Nothing is as it seems.

In the replies to AltNPS's posts, the OVERWHELMING majority of commenters immediately jumped to claiming the shooting was fake, or staged. AltNPS isn't helping matters by speculating, literally saying "something doesn't add up."

The Alt National Park Service is making progress: this time last year, they wouldn't have linked to any sources, and would've claimed that this news came from "unnamed officials." But they're still allergic to actually naming "the journalist who broke the story." It's @kenklippenstein.bsky.social

You'd think a coalition of government insiders fighting a shadow war against the Trump administration would be above this schoolyard bullshit, but I guess not.

I loved Mike's description of the conspiracy theory that Trump faked his assassination attempt: "it requires no evidence, only belief that it is true." I'm stepping out of my lane again, but the Venn diagram of "AltNPS diehards" and "Trump assassination truthers" is basically a circle.

It's interesting and frustrating that even when AltNPS bothers to link to an actual source, there are plenty of people who give credit to AltNPS, instead of to their source. It shows how embedded they are in their audience's media landscape. To many people, AltNPS is a primary source of news.

So, how was everyone's Bluesky outage? I did some cleaning, went for a nice walk, and watched people on Facebook leap directly to conspiracy theories about "someone" and "they." I don't love that such a large chunk of people are so willing to see conspiracy in every shadow.

I'm open to being proven wrong here, but I can't find these alleged images anywhere. It doesn't help that this post: 1. Doesn't provide an example of these pics 2. Doesn't say WHERE the pics are circulating 3. Doesn't provide evidence that they're a MAGA psyop

The invocation of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti through the "Pretti Good trouble" line doesn't sit well with me, especially when it's just tacked onto the end of a completely unrelated topic. Good and Pretti weren't killed by rogue Forest Service agents. They were killed by ICE.

Dude, the AUDACITY of AltNPS to complain about OTHER people "manufacturing a false reality and counting on people to spread it for them." That's their whole business model!

I focus on AltNPS here, but I'm fascinated with conspiracy thinking more broadly, and this is an incredible look at how we on the left are not immune to conspiracy theories. Gripping stuff, highly recommend.

AltNPS has been focused on the threat to the US Forest Service this week, and even launched a website in an effort to pressure brands to speak out. And that's great! There's just one problem. They plagiarized the whole thing.

A quick personal note: last month was the one year anniversary of my silly, obsessive little account. Thank you for being here, everyone. And thank you for pushing back against grifters like AltNPS.

It's good to see the Alt National Park Service taking the day's events so seriously.

AltNPS's Facebook post announcing their new "SaveUSFS" website got 200k likes, which is more than double their usual rate, even for their more successful posts. I'm expecting this to be their main thing for a while. It's the perfect combo of low effort and high engagement.

This feels like a good time to mention that it's been thirteen months since AltNPS claimed they were launching an "Alt DOGE" website. It never happened, and they never mentioned it again.

This pic is from an article by @kendilanian-nbc.bsky.social and @carolleonnig.bsky.social at MS NOW, which even notes that the picture was "obtained by MS NOW." AltNPS isn't directly claiming credit for the pic, but they're not giving MS NOW their due credit, either. www.ms.now/news/pam-bon...

Great point here. AltNPS postures as a serious organization, but it's hard to believe they take anything seriously, especially the parks. I'd love to hear what current/former parks staff think of AltNPS. The ones I've spoken to in the past were, to put it mildly, not fans of what AltNPS does.

It's been five days since this post, and AltNPS never came out and announced a final count. As far as I can tell, they just parachuted in, one-upped 50501, and peaced out. What happened to the "extra care" they were taking with counting the attendees?

Case in point. By their own admission, AltNPS is doing good business. Also note that they're using this to drive engagement as well: rather than just picking a nonprofit to donate to, they're asking their audience to sound off in the comments.

Update: I am ONCE AGAIN asking AltNPS to link to a news site. www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/p... AltNPS is not a news source. They do not report the news. They repackage the news and reap the engagement to drive traffic to their merch store.

I am once again asking AltNPS to link to a news site. www.cnbc.com/2026/04/02/t...

Jesus Christ, we get it, you've seen Andor. We've ALL SEEN ANDOR.

Solid chance that AltNPS is "taking extra time and care" because they're waiting to see real statisticians' numbers first. They got caught with their pants down once already. They also mention "people who estimate crowd sizes using aerial photos." WHICH people? Where? What is their methodology?

I'd love to see AltNPS's methodology here, and if the previous No Kings rallies are any indication, I'm guessing their final count will be a lot higher than anyone else's. Last year, AltNPS confidently overcounted by SEVERAL MILLION people.

AltNPS vexxes me because they keep pretending they are National Parks rangers when less than 10 of their posts a year is about the parks. @resistancerangers.altgov.info is actually walking the walk and sharing actionable things to protect their history and nature regularly.

And don't worry, the merch posts are still going strong. This one is from an hour ago, exclusively to AltNPS's much-larger Facebook audience.

Oh, boy.

Another No Kings rally, another opportunity for the Alt National Park Service to cash in. AltNPS is an engagement farming social media account that sells stickers and t-shirts. They do not have a "team tracking threats made by MAGA." Even if they did, what exactly would that team do?