- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Messages
- 75,133
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- Los Angeles
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- Undisclosed
What is it, eighty thousand members here? Yeah, might be worth the time of a handful of them, I'd say.
My thought is that you vastly overrate the reach of this site.
I'd be surprised if there was even a single Russian operative wasting their time trolling DP.
Godwin just gained a new catagory.
What is it, eighty thousand members here? Yeah, might be worth the time of a handful of them, I'd say.
You don't think it's a problem if a hostile foreign power makes a concerted effort to instigate dissent, mistrust and hatred among the people of the target country?
Any red blood, god fearing, true American patriot should be concerned. Aren't you a patriot?
I think one major indicator of any troll is that they create a thread with a very controversial topic, take a fringe position on the topic and then neglect to participate in the thread after the OP.
And what exactly is the desired effect that is achieved by trolling a messageboard with a few hundred active participants?
Maybe because they don't see how those alliances are actually helping Americans.
Or their "participation" is dubious and very "troll-like"?
I see suspiscious grammatical errors sometimes.
Ones with partisan handles who screw up the grammar like someone for whom English is a second language, not just the one of their birth they suck at using.
People tend to write like they talk. And nobodyhere talks like that.
Also, you can't get them off script. Throw a curve and they stumble.
Agreed. They are a short sighted and ignorant bunch. It's hard to explain the authority that america has thanks to it's diplomatic alliances and the very rich idea of soft power that we hold around the world.
From all accounts this is an unusually civil debate site.
So a group trying to increase division in this country might very well pay special attention to us over a site where they're screaming at each other constantly.
There are lots of people here I like that I totally disagree with politically. That is the opposite of what the troll farms are tasked with.
And one person can "supervise" many many sites with bots looking for certain words and phrases.
I would bet money we see a good number of Communications interns here, because of the climate. Communications is the degree arc where you study.the techniques employed by the troll farms.
And professionals in any thread where someone has invested a lot of money on PR on some subject.
The general overall civility here could result in a successful deconstruction of "messaging" that could result in complete failure of the campaign.
So I don't think we're as uninteresting to the troll farms as one might think at first.
The rational, patriotic, sympathetic people on the side of good have been protesting. Trump and his alt-right base just can't get past the fact that the protest marches in DC had higher attendance than Trump's inauguration
How many of those are active though? A few hundred? Maybe a thousand?
Even if it was all 80k, it still pales in comparison to Facebook, where they've shown they can actually influence an election.
Yeah, we gain so much by sending $3 billion per year to Israel, $1.5 billion to Egypt, $1.2 billion to Jordan, $1 billion to the West Bank/Gaza, $700 million to Ethiopia, etc. Imagine what a dump the United States would be without that foreign aid.
Detailed descriptions of what identifies a paid Russian troll would probably exceed the 5K word limit, so I'm also mostly going with the Justice Potter theme of "You know it when you see it."
The one thing that seems to stand out, however, is the distinct lack of local color in their posts.
By that I mean, since this is primarily a site aimed at North American politics, with an emphasis on U.S. politics more than anything else, it's interesting what happens when you press one of these people for some local color.
Example: Here in Whittier, these neighborhoods went from being borderline street gang "no go zones" in the 80's and early 90's back to being the quiet and somewhat boring baby factories that they were in the postwar years, because so many of the gangs moved to the Inland Empire and to Palmdale.
They were, quite simply, priced out of the market and the rest were reduced by attrition due to law enforcement stepping up and doing their job.
Remarks about local cultural and ethnic trends, local housing prices, local employment prospects, food, music, local crime, local "anything-at-all", are notably absent in posts that come from paid Russian trolls, because the only thing local that they could comment on would be 55 Savushkina Street, Saint Petersburg.
You'll also never hear from them about family, kids, job, pets or even what they ate that day.
I don't think any of them have an opinion on issues like pot legalization either, or if they did, would they be pro or con, and why.
It would be interesting to push them on an issue like that, because if they're in Russia, it would be difficult for them to be very aware of local trends, like say for instance, the new pot dispensaries opening up OR being forced to close in "their Amerikansky city".
NOTE: Some of the more sophisticated Russian trolls MIGHT have been to or have friends living IN one of the Russian diaspora cities here like West Hollywood, (Fairfax District) for instance.
One way to trip them up would be to ask about a local business, say perhaps a local eatery which has been closed in the last year. If they say they just came back from lunch there....BUSTED.
It's maybe a little bit difficult to fake being an American resident if you've never lived here.
You can maybe get away with it for a little while but sooner or later someone can trip you up.
Probably ten fold the gain we would get by transferring that money in to our military budget or a wall. There's a reason that every diplomat from every modern administration, republican and democrat, favors foreign aid.
So, we know that Russian has maintained a sustained campaign of sewing divisions between groups in the U.S. by posting on social media. I think it's quite evident we have at least a few here on DP.
Here are some of my ideas on IDing a Russian troll.
- Starts a thread with all sorts of name calling to provoke a response (e.g. Libtard), especially if it's one of their first posts in the forum.
- Occasionally has poor English skills
- Opinions often convey extreme racism, xenophobia, and homophobia
- Avatars and Usernames are often overtly patriotic
- Dismissal of sources without providing counter sources. Often resorts to ad hominem attacks.
What are your thoughts?
Because the politicians who appoint those diplomats are sold out to AIPAC?
https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/03/22/the-best-congress-aipac-can-buy/
Chicken or the egg.
This is an issue that can be brought up for anything that has an interest group. Guns, abortion, medicine, environment, big oil etc. Do those groups give money to people whom they think want to furthen their cause and agree with it? Or are they giving money to those that normally wouldn't agree with them in order to bribe them?
This is something that a very simplistic person would argue "well republicans only love the second amendment and hate gun control cause the NRA gives them checks!" When in reality I think it's fairly obvious that if the NRA didn't hand out a dime, most if not all republicans would hold the exact same position that they currently do.
The idea that we only give out foreign aid because there are some pro-Israel lobbying efforts is laughable. You can't be considered a serious voice in this conversation if you make claims like that, so I hope I'm misreading your point here, which I would welcome a clarifying statement if you are so gracious.
You really don't see a difference between a domestic interest group and a foreign lobby swaying our politics?
I see a difference, but I'm not sure what exactly you want anyone to do about it. With what I've read this AIPAC can't even make donations so the extent of their action is linking up politicians who are pro-israel with wealthy donors who are also pro-israel.
I think we should always question interest groups and their purpose, but just the fact that an interest group exists does nothing to say whether our foreign aid is a good thing or a bad thing. And it does nothing to show that we only give foreign aid because someone lobbied for that country. You've merely sidestepped the issue.
If you had read the point comrade you would understand why your overly patriotic avatar is relevant
But then Russians are known for their lack of humor
So, we know that Russian has maintained a sustained campaign of sewing divisions between groups in the U.S. by posting on social media. I think it's quite evident we have at least a few here on DP.
Here are some of my ideas on IDing a Russian troll.
- Starts a thread with all sorts of name calling to provoke a response (e.g. Libtard), especially if it's one of their first posts in the forum.
- Occasionally has poor English skills
- Opinions often convey extreme racism, xenophobia, and homophobia
- Avatars and Usernames are often overtly patriotic
- Dismissal of sources without providing counter sources. Often resorts to ad hominem attacks.
What are your thoughts?
Well, first off you should change your lean to "left" or "liberal" or something similar. Every one of your examples is bashing the right by using common meme's associated with the right due to liberal propaganda. It also, perhaps intentionally, ignores what the Russians have been doing in their attempted influence. Which is to make extreme arguments from both sides of the aisle. Not just from the supposed right side. So, going by this well known fact...perhaps you're a Russian operative looking to cause division?
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