There Is An Invasion Of The Paid Professional Internet Trolls On USMB

[MisterBeale]

IMO, those who report others are scum.

Those who intentionally violate the rules are also scum.

 

[L.K.Eder]

I am posting from thailand. I see awkward language skills exhibited every day by so called patriotic merkans on this board.

 

[depotoo]

And he my dear, is a classic example of the left. He is a paid shill.
And you will note in his election effort, he more than failed, with only 3% of the vote. More proof for you.
The kkk belongs to the Dems. Always has.

The ones that drive me the most crazy are the racists posing as right wingers and they are many.

those tricky bastards even VOTED for the donald. wtf is up with THAT..?

Ex-KKK Leader David Duke: 'Voting Against Donald Trump Is Treason to Your Heritage'

 

[rightwinger]

Awkward language skills indicates a foreign poster. Phrases like "you Americans" also indicate a foreign sources. Although it's not against the rules to post from a foreign country most of these posts are just crazy rants.

Poor writing skills, spelling and grammar errors indicate a graduate of the American educational system

Just look at Trump!

 

[CrusaderFrank]

It's comical.

It's obvious that Statistikhengst and his right hand man JakeStarkey are running the Internet Outreach Operation at Media Matters and that 98% of the Progressive posts originate there

 

[Republackan]

Good post, I noticed all those things on several forums and communities. I don't put it past the DNC, they will do anything to spread disharmony.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

There is no question about this. I have seen it before. I only offer this guide for other posters to help them identify Paid Trolls, and to make them aware of the situation so they may intelligently resist allowing The USMB from being dominated by them.

Blogging and Social Media are important in the political arena. Debate, Discussion, and Dialogue are vital to healthy understandings of political events and policies.

However, with the tools of Social Media come responsibility, and as always, there are people who would be irresponsible, and abusive of such tools. And then there are people who are paid to abuse Social Media, abuse members of Social Media groups, Message Boards and other venues.

Their sole purpose is to invade your message board, Spam it and saturate it with Negative Messaging, spread Fake News, disrupt and destroy healthy dialogue. They are only here to Inflame, Bait, Troll, Deceive and Dishearten supporters.

The Clinton Campaign spent more money than any campaign before it on an Army of Social Media Trolls, whose sole purpose was to infest and dominate social media sites and control and guide all discussion using trolling tactics. The Clinton Campaign and The DNC and their PACs spent BILLIONS of dollars to control messaging with sums of money never seen before in politics.

To know if you are dealing with a Professional Troll who is paid to make your life difficult here is a handy list of Symptoms you can observe on a Message Board or Social Media Site that has a Professional Paid Internet Troll Infestations.

Recurrent Themes and Messaging. The same topics are discussed ad nauseum even when legitimate posters have proven The Messaging of The Troll is incorrect, false, misleading and is just plain ole FAKE NEWS.

Multiple Postings of Similar Titles, Headings, Topics. Similar to what was written above, not only is the negative messaging repeated ad nauseum, but so are the subject titles.

Incessant Bumping of Old Threads The Paid Internet Troll who earns his pay by disrupting your forum and driving Conservative Posters away wants to always control the message and dominate the types of discussions in Social Media, and wants his Negative Messaging front and foremost so that any and all visitors who log on to your Message Board see The Paid Trolls Negative Messaging at the top of the line. He will try to get as many hits and views as possible, and try to keep the thread at the top. More hits and views equals more pay for him.

Lack of Discussion and Dialogue or True Debate The Paid Professional Troll is not at your Forum to debate or have discussions with you, or to win your over to his side. He could care less. He is here to flame you, to anger you, to incite you, bait you, and upset you. But most of all, he is here to be Irrationally Unreasonable. No matter how factual, truthful, or evidence based your argument is, his job is to keep you busy trying to prove a point that he will NEVER AGREE WITH. He is paid to be Irrationally Disagreeable. He will never acknowledge your points, or even discuss them. He will only ridicule them, ridicule you, and insert whatever negative message again in his replies to dominate the discussion with his Negative Message.

Coordination & Organization Since Professional Trolls earn a paycheck and are paid by someone supervising and monitoring their activities, they are given "Marching Orders". Each paid troll is given a set of negative messaging and talking points each day that they are required to promote. Often you can pick these allies out, because they engage in the same Negative Messages on the same day, whether this is within the body of a legitimate thread and discussion, or threads they start themselves. They have specific tasks to carry out, and they often work in tandem or as teams to do so. Their job is to discredit legitimate comments, facts, discussion and dialogue, and promote their own negative messaging in its place, and to assist each other using team work to make the Legitimate Poster feel as though he is outnumbered, as though his views are a unattached to reality or main stream thought, and the purpose is to isolate you, make you feel as though you hold an irrational minority viewpoint, that is not credible or worth discussing or defending. Only their negative message has any merit, and everything else is illegitimate. Think of their tactics like you would think of Bagdad Bob, during the Iraq war. The want to convince you that you are surrounded and outnumbered, and that you have no chance at all of even winning a single point. You are Invalid, they will tell you, and already defeated. It is inevitable.

Labeling This is one of a Paid Professional Trolls favorite tactics. Since they are not here to engage in honest debate, and their only purpose is to shut down debate, and divide and conquer so they can promote Negative Messaging, the Labels are thrown around quite cavalierly. If you disagree with their negative messaging you are automatically a Homophobe, Xenophobe, Latinophobe, Islamophobe, Fascist, Fascist Capitalist, You Hate Children, and Old People, The Poor, You want The Elderly To Die, You are a Nazi, and you are Dehumanized and reduced to a Thing and a Label. Interesting that this was a tactic of The Nazis used to dehumanize Jews before they employed Euthanasia to implement their "final solution." It's better to ignore this tactic, or simply cleverly turn it back on them, if you have the time and energy. Just be aware of the tactic when you see it.

Thematic Buzz Words & Phrases This is similar to recurrent themes and recurrent messaging, but usually occurs within a body of a post, or within the threading. Let's use President Trump as an example since he is their favorite target. Observe the following Themes applied to President Trump: Trump Hates Blacks. Trump Hates Latinos. Trump Hates Immigrants. Trump Loves Putin. Trump Hates Women. Trump wants to have sex with his daughter. Trump is a Liar. Trump wants to start WWIII. Trump Never Paid His Taxes. Trump Is Unqualified To Be President. Trump Colluded With Russia To Rig The Election. Trump only wants to help The Rich. Trump is going on vacation every week and it is costing taxpayers Millions. Trump is Dangerous. Trump is Insane. Trump should not have access to The Nuclear Codes. Trump Hates the Environment. Trump is a Denier. Trump will destroy The Economy. Trump wants to Starve Old People and Children.Trump should be Impeached. Trump will be Impeached. Trump will Resign. Trump is a Dictator. Trump is a Tyrant. Trump is a Failure. Trump is too Rich. Trump isn't as Rich as he says he is. Trump wants to destroy our allies. Trump is Heartless. Endless Drivel.... ad nauseum. These aren't arguments or subjects for discussion. It is Negative Messaging, disguised as attempted legitimate debate.

Absence of Results Oriented Discussion What is meant by this? Simply put, the Paid Internet Troll is not here to offer suggestions or solutions to challenges this country faces. They are not even here to promote solutions of the party and organization they are being paid by. They don't want to discuss solutions, or engage in problem solving, debate, dialogue or discussion. Their job is negative messaging. Engaging in Legitimate Debate is counter productive to their agenda, even if the solutions proposed are from the very party that is paying them to disrupt your Forum.

What To Do About It?

Paid Internet Trolls are rather clever. They will always push the envelope of The Rules, and they are TRAINED TO DO THIS. But you cannot completely conceal the fact you are a Paid Internet Troll, because of the behavior they have to engage in to do their jobs.

The only defense against a Professional Trolling Operation is good moderation and your own awareness. So report them. They won't necessarily engage in inappropriate posting, but they will bait you and troll you and try to incite you in to it. Report it as Spam or Duplication of Existing Threads.

Ask for duplicate threads to be removed, or merged. And if you suspect someone of being an intentionally unreasonable flaming troll, you might want to make the decision to ignore them, which would be the best defense against them, as the less hits and views they get, the less they get paid, and the less effective they become in doing their job.

The Election is Over, but these people are still being paid by people with deep pockets. There is no way to even measure the amount being spent on The Left's Army of Internet Trolls. I can only tell you that it exists, and that it has destroyed some Social Media sites, and it can destroy and disrupt this one, and squash all debate and discussion.

Just a little background below for your reading pleasure as if I have not bored you enough, and this article only touches the tip of The Iceberg.

If you wonder why President Trump uses Twitter like he does, it is because he recognizes that he has to speak to The American People directly to combat The Army of Professional Trolls being paid to discredit him daily.

This article only covers one of many....many Superpacs, and Organizations spending Millions for Professional Social Media Troll Armies.

I hope I have done a good job of making you aware of this issue.

Happy Posting Everyone, and Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.

Clinton SuperPac Admits to Paying Internet Trolls

Should make this a sticky

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I wrote my own post.

Thank you for providing us with an example of what I was talking about.

Did you reference even one line or paragraph of my original post?
Nope.

You didn't even try to debate it or engage in legitimate discussion about it, and instead you ridiculed, deflected, and then pivoted to insert your Negative Messaging.

I work in IT and have been engaged in blogging and political debate for over 20 years. Being a veteran blogger, I have seen some things, and made notes.

I shared my observations with the forum.

You can discuss them, participate in the discussion, or Troll.

But we already know what your decision was, now don't we?

There were also huge number of phony sites pushing drumpf, including on Facebook. And paid trolls. And people who are just plain dumb enough to fall for his constant lies.

He's not known as Trumpery for nothing. The very first appearance, when he and what's her name came down the escalator, including a paid audience. He still puts many paid cheerleader types in his kkk-type rallies.

And of course, he committed bigly crimes with Russia.

Why is the impeachment taking so long?

The Original Tree
Who wrote your post? You sourced only a very small part of it.

Is the beard on your avatar supposed to be moss, or just rough wood?

Mold.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Of course there are trolls, paid or not.

On both sides.

Left AND right.

But, trumpkins are just like trump - they will never ever take responsibility for their own words or actions. Doesn't matter what it is -- Its not their fault.

 

[rightwinger]

Being a paid message board poster is not as glamorous as it seems

Yea the pay is great, chicks dig professional message board posters and you never have to pay for a drink in the bar

But the hours are long, it takes years of training and you have to slog through thousands of inane posts

But I do it mostly for the dental plan

 

[MisterBeale]

It's comical.

It's obvious that Statistikhengst and his right hand man JakeStarkey are running the Internet Outreach Operation at Media Matters and that 98% of the Progressive posts originate there

OTH, this place would be dreadfully boring w/o them.

What would anyone respond to?

Who would challenge anyone's posts?

 

[MisterBeale]

you have to slog through thousands of inane posts

. . . . stop reading your own posts, that would cut down on that problem.

 

[rightwinger]

you have to slog through thousands of inane posts

. . . . stop reading your own posts, that would cut down on that problem.

It pays the bills

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I am posting from thailand. I see awkward language skills exhibited every day by so called patriotic merkans on this board.

Having a laptop on your lap is Thigh-land, not Thailand

 

[Siete]

There Is An Invasion Of The Paid Professional Internet Trolls On USMB


which begs the question .. how much money per post was it worth to begin a thread with the following;

"Obama worst President in history"

?????????????????


If it was a dime there's more than one millionaire in the ranks ...

 

[Little-Acorn]

From the linked article in the OP:

Bernie Sanders flies coach. He respects the money you give him enough to spend it wisely.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Bernie Sanders advocates socialism. He wants to take money from people who earn more, and give it to people who earn less. In other words, he is simply a thief who redistributes stolen property, nothing more.

That money is work, sweat, products, risk, and effort of those who earned it. It's reduced to paper (or coins) so that the person who earned it, can trade it for other people's work, sweat, products, risk, and effort more easily... but always equitably, so both people can get what they think is fair.

Bernie Sanders and his fellow travelers completely violate that. They believe that the person who worked, sweated, and risked, should get little or nothing for their effort. A society based on Bernie's "ideas" has never succeeded - most have collapsed in death and starvation, or been overrun by stronger societies.

I for one hope Bernie Sanders keeps flying coach. Because then he can never get to a microphone to make misleading speeches trying to bamboozle people into trying his cockamamie schemes.

 

[rightwinger]

You should have seen the USMB Professional Posters Christmas Party

Some of these guys are as big an asshole as they appear on line

But I only attend to pick up my Christmas bonus

 

[The Original Tree]

so who is paying you??

No one. I believe in Free Speech. The organizations and political parties who pay for Professional Trolling do not believe in Free Speech. I do not want to see this site, or any other site destroyed by these people.

One thing I am certain of, is that I struck a nerve with you, and whether you are paid or not to avoid actual discussions of the topic of this thread, is immaterial. You are knowingly or unwittingly an accomplice of theirs and doing their work for them.

If you had any sense, you'd at least try to earn a paycheck for your trolling.

Bullshit.

I may not hardly ever agree with Valerie's politics, but one thing I do know, she has been here for a very long time.

In fact, she's been here much longer than a noob like you that has been here for all of naught but four months? Unless you are a sock?

So let's get one thing straight. The thing that makes USMB great, is how loose and free it is compared to other forums. In fact, many of us can't stand how tightly it is administered now compared to the glory days back before 2010.

Don't be such a snowflake. If you don't like it here after four months, don't talk to us about some bullshit like;

"I do not want to see this site, or any other site destroyed by these people."

You haven't been here long enough to know thing one about this site. Stick around a little bit, you might learn something. Until then, don't criticize our home, we like it the way it is, and many of us would, in fact, prefer it go back to the way it had been.

Free Speech means being able to do and say what you want, meaning, NO MODERATION.

derp.

Legitimate Posters Troll Each Other sometimes.

I am willing to admit that.

But her immediate response imo was a prime example of "trolling" and no attempt was made at "discussion."
So I responded appropriately, stating that her response was an example, and that if she is a legitimate poster then she is unwittingly part of the issue.

And I was not criticizing "our home" I was cautioning against letting "our home" being infiltrated and invaded by people who are paid malfeasants.

Lastly, post count or length of membership at a site has no correlation to one's ability to observe things and comment on them.

 

[AntonToo]

To me looks like almost all the liberals on USMB have that paid trolls tactics and behavior: they all are doing exactly what you, Original Tree, has described above.

I have a suggestion. Shall we all post the names of the potential USMB paid trolls right here, in this thread?

Strat you should come clean - how much Russians are paying your poodle ass and tinydancer to spread their propaganda here?

 

[Siete]

From the linked article in the OP:

Bernie Sanders flies coach. He respects the money you give him enough to spend it wisely.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Bernie Sanders advocates socialism. He wants to take money from people who earn more, and give it to people who earn less. In other words, he is simply a thief who redistributes stolen property, nothing more.

That money is work, sweat, products, risk, and effort of those who earned it. It's reduced to paper (or coins) so that the person who earned it, can trade it for other people's work, sweat, products, risk, and effort more easily... but always equitably, so both people can get what they think is fair.

Bernie Sanders and his fellow travelers completely violate that. They believe that the person who worked, sweated, and risked, should get little or nothing for their effort. A society based on Bernie's "ideas" has never succeeded - most have collapsed in death and starvation, or been overrun by stronger societies.

I for one hope Bernie Sanders keeps flying coach. Because then he can never get to a microphone to make misleading speeches trying to bamboozle people into trying his cockamamie schemes.

Bernie let it be known up front he is a socialist, the million of votes he got came mainly from millennials and hard core Liberals.

Like it or not they are your future, and sooner than later will be running the country.

Trump, his Cartel, and staunch GOP Conservatives are making sure of that.