How do you identify a Russian troll (1 Viewer)

[PleasantValley]

Threaten him with his life, and if he screams in Russian you'll know it's a spy. That's how the CIA does it!

I read of that very tactic being used by the French resistance to filter out Nazi infiltrators.
If a downed flyer said they were Allied, they would be polite and attempt to help, then sucker punch them in the face.
When you are not expecting it, your true language comes out.
Pretty good tactic, i thought.

 

[PleasantValley]

BUSTED! Now I must call handlers for further instructions on how I am to proceed.
It is a shame. Deer Park reminded me so much of the shores of the Black Sea were I grew up.
But citizens here shoot more bullets than KGB and Army combined.

(PS...If anyone is a stamp collector, I cut out all the Ukrainian stamps that came with the package. There are 15 all one type and one of another type. Vladmir is a buddy of mine that gets me stuff.)

 

[Rob Larrikin]

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?

There are plenty of Anti-American trolls online. Many are actual Americans. There are also thousands of ISIS and al-Qaeda trolls. Many are from Europe and Eastern Europe. Some from China; some from North Korea.

Here’s what you look for:

1) Posts that any of the above mentioned anti-American groups would applaud.

2) Posts that always attack Trump and the GOP, while supporting Obama, Clinton and the Democrats.

3) Avatars that basically look American, whether it’s a picture of Trump looking like a clown, or a marine, or a singer looking angry, or a cute cat – as long as it fits in with your standard American college student’s idea of an avatar.

4) Lefties that have crowds of backers. Anti-American trolls don’t work alone. If your posts get their panties in a wad they’ll invite a dozen of their comrades. It’s all ad hominem and vitriol of course, and they will also storm the mods with complaints about you.

5) They’ll laugh hysterically when you suggest that America’s enemies would agree with all their posts.

There’s nothing you can do to stop this – just think of it as a swarm of mosquitoes. They’ll always be around. What you can do is recognize them. In my case I have a rule. Any post that would make enemies happy is suspect. If all a person’s posts fit this description, I mark them down as an enemy troll, and ignore their ‘Baseball Pete’ pseudonym.

 

[PleasantValley]

I see you took the dick out...lol

That line has so many ways to be a straight line for an off-color joke.
but I am too polite to finish any one of several that could be used.

Naw, I gotta say at least two.

From the LEFT....If you take the (Richard) out of the picture their whole movement collapses because he would be impeached.

From the RIGHT...We took the (Richard) out of the picture because you (pronoun) would get jealous it is bigger than yours. That would not be polite.

(bowing to the audience)

 

[PleasantValley]

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.

May I politely add one more indicator?

EXCESSIVE....I mean EXCESSIVE use of the laughing my ass off emoji.
:lamo :lamo :lamo :lamo :lamo

I mean like a minimum of once every post. Usually much more.

Or does that mean they are just being a (Richard) ?

 

[beancounter]

I still fail to understand why people wouldn't be concerned about a hostile foreign power trying to foment divisions among people and mistrust in the government.

Clearly any mention of Russia is a hot button issue that triggers knee jerk responses here, so let's change one variable.

How would you feel about the influence of trolls if they originated in North Korea or Iran?

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

May I politely add one more indicator?

EXCESSIVE....I mean EXCESSIVE use of the laughing my ass off emoji.
:lamo :lamo

I mean like a minimum of once every post. Usually much more.

Or does that mean they are just being a (Richard) ?

Seems like we're lacking some of the latest and greatest emojis but I like to use the :lamo one sometimes, if only because
I cannot avail myself of some of the ones I'm used to.

I'm not being a Richard, I swear it!! :lamo
Oh BTW, DP software just gave me a nag note saying I used too many images in my post, so I had to trim off three of them. What a hoot!

 

[Proteus]

beancounter finally speaks truth...

:2razz:

 

[phattonez]

Like I said, what do you want anyone to do about it? Tell them that they aren't allowed to hold a convention? You're just sidestepping the discussion more and more.

We ought to treat Israeli influence in our election the same way we view Russian influence.

Probably the exact same amount.

Keep telling yourself that.

 

[roughdraft274]

We ought to treat Israeli influence in our election the same way we view Russian influence.
.

What? As soon as Israel hacks our political parties and engages in cyber misinformation campaigns you'd have a point. Right now your being silly.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[phattonez]

What? As soon as Israel hacks our political parties and engages in cyber misinformation campaigns you'd have a point. Right now your being silly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard

 

[roughdraft274]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard

Your link has nothing to do with the discussion. None of that information was used to alter a political campaign. Lots of countries spy on each other. That isn't what we are discussing.

 

[Lenina]

The OP is a troll.

 

[Evilroddy]

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?

beancounter:

Your list seems more geared to spotting generic trolls rather than Russian ones, language deficiencies notwithstanding. A smart Russian troll would focus on sewing division and doubt in areas of politics that do not directly lead back to Russia and then when established on a site, might begin to undermine US foreign policy or bolster pro-Russian biases and sentiments indirectly. The American body politic is fractious enough that serious division could be sowed in areas like race relations, gun rights, reproductive rights, income inequality and other domestic American issues without involving Russian issues.

Conversely a legitimate, non-troll poster could, for whatever reasons, take pro-Russian positions or anti-American positions which stir up serious conflict on a forum or social media platform without having an agenda geared to promoting any state's interests. There are plenty of issues ongoing in American politics today which commentary upon might seem like anti-Americanism but pointing out such issues might just be thoughtful consideration and honest criticism of the American condition and not pernicious agit-prop from foreign agents working covertly.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

 

[phattonez]

Your link has nothing to do with the discussion. None of that information was used to alter a political campaign. Lots of countries spy on each other. That isn't what we are discussing.

Do we tend to give money to countries that spy on us?

 

[roughdraft274]

Do we tend to give money to countries that spy on us?

If its in our national interest, yes.

But once again, you are dishonestly comparing apples to oranges refrigerators.

 

[phattonez]

If its in our national interest, yes.

And what benefit do we get from supporting Israel?

But once again, you are dishonestly comparing apples to oranges refrigerators.

What have I said that's dishonest? We have a country that interferes in our elections, that spies on us, that attacks us (USS Liberty), and is the biggest non-occupied recipient of our foreign aid. Why are we talking about Russia? It seems like Israel is the enemy that is threatening our democracy.

 

[roughdraft274]

And what benefit do we get from supporting Israel?



What have I said that's dishonest? We have a country that interferes in our elections, that spies on us, that attacks us (USS Liberty), and is the biggest non-occupied recipient of our foreign aid. Why are we talking about Russia? It seems like Israel is the enemy that is threatening our democracy.

I'm all ears when it comes to adjusting our relationship with Israel and taking slightly less of a "what ever you want" attitude with them. But if you are seriously arguing that Israel is a bigger threat to our democracy then Russia then you simply don't warrant a response.

Is that really your argument? That Israel is higher on the threat list than Russia?

 

[phattonez]

I'm all ears when it comes to adjusting our relationship with Israel and taking slightly less of a "what ever you want" attitude with them. But if you are seriously arguing that Israel is a bigger threat to our democracy then Russia then you simply don't warrant a response.

Is that really your argument? That Israel is higher on the threat list than Russia?

We know that Israel interferes in our elections, in quite open and influential ways. Russia is nothing compared to Israel.