Thom Hartman says message boards have paid trolls who are very active

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

and their job is to convince people Hillary is bad news.

He says on his board and radio show they are able to "out" them from time to time, but make NO mistake, they are out and about.

that is all...

[Wilms]

1. Love you, Thom.

But the only one who convinced me is Hillary.

[RiverLover]

17. He doesn't say the trolls are fighting ag Hillary. Notice the OP has no link?

He mentions DU's trumad though. (no Hillary mentioned) Trumad's OP about trolls is what prompted his short coverage on trolls~

What Should we do about Internet Trolls?

Unless there's something more recent?

The games that are played here are fascinating.

[Wilms]

19. Thanks for alerting me.

Not a very nice OP, in that case.

(Wilms makes note.)

[RiverLover]

22. Not nice, and strange too.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

28. Your fight is with Thom Hartmann who said it yesterday on his show. You can pretend I am the

issue here, that might make people look the other way, who knows.

[pintobean]

29. Maybe it has something to do with

recent DU history, and how it may not be a shock that you posted this OP.

Just a wild guess.

[RiverLover]

31. Who is the one trying to get people to look the other way?

From the Thom Hartmann show yesterday~

Sinking the Sanders Campaign Beneath a Wave of Silence

Can you find anything on his show on how poor Hillary has paid republican trolls trying to sink her?

Or is it people on the left with real populist views who don't want another "centrist" in the WH and the Hillary camp wants to try to triangulate our views & conflate them to be something other than factually-based Democratic Progressive concerns with her candidacy?

[pscot]

33. I don't see it

I don't know the poster's history, but I don't see anything objectionable in this OP. No doubt that trolls abound, both paid and ideological. Also just randomly stupid and ill natured.

[MineralMan]

2. Under the bus with Thom, then.

[Cha]

3. yeah, there's a lot of vicious smearing and lying going on. It's only made those doing it look bad.

[HooptieWagon]

4. Then their money is wasted.

All a person has to do is look at Hillerys record and read her words to know she's bad news. Yea, she's almost the same as Bernie.... Except she supports Wall St, more drilling, "trade" agreements, SS cuts, and War. Other than that they're the same

[MelungeonWoman]

5. They have no idea how blaringly obvious they are.

I'm not familiar with Thom Hartman. Is he a pragmatic progressive?

[bananas]

16. Thom Hartmann hosts Brunch with Bernie Sanders every Friday on his radio show

The Thom Hartmann Program has 2.75 million listeners a week and is one of the top progressive talk radio programs. In 2008 Hartmann started a daily TV show, The Big Picture. The RT network began carrying the show in 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom_Hartmann

http://www.thomhartmann.com/

Brunch with Bernie
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gNz_FycX97cSYDarmDgaWlyF-eqvCBk

He's also a DU member
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=197528

[MelungeonWoman]

21. Well, evidently I have no idea how obtuse I can be.

Because I was just completely bamboozled by this OP. Thank you for the added info.

[bananas]

39. I'm not confirming the OP, I don't listen to talk radio very much anymore.

Thom Hartmann's radio show is podcast with a one-week delay at http://www.whiterosesociety.org/Hartmann.html

edit to add: so next Saturday we can see if it was taken out of context etc.

[brush]

41. The OP is accurate

I heard Thom Hartman's broadcast on this — Sirius XM satellite radio, the progressie channel is number 127.

It's well worth subscribing to as I often get info from there that's certainly not in the MSM, or even here.

[global1]

6. Does That Mean There Are Paid Trolls On DU?.....

And are they only paid to convince people that Hillary is bad news or do they praise other candidates to bring them up in stature?

If they are here on DU - how can they be identified and outed? Are there signs we should be watching for that indicate that a poster here on DU is a paid troll? Hmmmm.........

[Johonny]

38. It always depends what you call a troll

There have been (are) people that have pressed Obama's White House press here. During the election people clearly working on campaigns come here and post info/attacks. There are also paid Republican that basically come here to smear and cause fights. Not all of this is trolling. There is real insider campaign/policy insight from time to time. There is also a lot of pointless ugly stuff which is easy to spot and ignore. There's a lot of convincing on the Internet so it is no surprise organizations pay people to push information on chat boards. Are these people all trolls... it usually depends on your opinion of their message.

[blue neen]

7. Sometimes activites like that have the opposite effect.

When people perceive that someone is being picked on too much, opinion will then sway in that person's way.

[MelungeonWoman]

23. Generally, activities like that won't sway me one way or the other.

Although it will influence which websites I frequent.

[djean111]

8. So, the only possible reason anyone would take issue with any of Hillary's previous

actions, utterances, or policies is because they are a paid troll.

Also, the only reason anyone would praise and support their own, non-Hillary candidate is - because they are a paid troll.
Wow. Although I gotta admit, that sure covers all the bases.

[snooper2]

9. And the only one that could afford that operation are the Clintons LOL

[KoKo]

10. I'd like to see a Link to verify Thom's actual full statement....

Do you have one?

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

15. He said it on his show yesterday, he has talked about it before, his posters have

exposed them and a couple times they have admitted it.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2011/02/info-pay-post-trolls'

this is an old link about it, but trust me, I am NOT coming here and making this up and SURELY everybody knows this with or without Thom saying it

[Wilms]

20. Uh-oh. "Trust me"

You claim Hartmann referred to trolls targeting Hillary. A video posted up thread has him decrying trolls, but not mentioning Hillary as a target.

And your old link requires registration. Will you share with the class specific links where Hartmann is saying what you claim he is saying?

[Recursion]

30. He never said DU

Reddit and Kos are more likely targets.

[packman]

12. Is he suggesting that any criticism of Hillary or Sanders

is wrong. If so, this sounds too much like purifying the masses. A bit too 1984 for me.

[peecoolyour]

13. I try to support my candidate the way he would expect me to.

He has never ran one attack ad in his political career.

And he constantly refuses to take the bait when the media tries to turn his interviews into a Clinton-bashing session. He is on the record saying he likes and respects Clinton. He respectfully disagrees with her on a lot of issues without being vitriolic.

It disappoints me when fellow supporters don't emulate him in this manner. One can highlight policy differences without coming across as hateful.

[HassleCat]

27. Yes

And if you suggest they cool their jets a little bit, they get all offended and accuse you of not being an enthusiastic supporter.

[Bluenorthwest]

44. I agree and Bernie's rejection of personal, negative politics will serve him well and is one of the

things I like best about him. I offer than in election cycle politics on the internet, some people will aggressively associate themselves with a candidate for reasons that could be hostile to the candidate or to the Party as a whole.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. He's got a point

But there are for all kinds of issues (and likely candidates).

This has been known since at least 2006 when the DARPA Net persona program came out briefly. Some are not even real.

[Tipperary]

18. This may very well be true, but I can't understand how any one person on a message board

Last edited Sat May 30, 2015, 01:57 PM - Edit history (1)

can convince some other person of ANYTHING. I sure do not have my views shaped by what others might type.

edit for typo

[Rex]

24. Thom Hartman it is time to take your place under the bus!

The Internet Experts say there is no such thing as a paid troll. They say it year after year after year. I don't know why they say it, since most people believe trolls get paid to post on the WWW. Most of us knew this way back on DU1 and it wasn't HRC it was the BFEE and their paid trolls disrupting as many democratic forums as they can. I still think some of them are hard at it.

Anyway...Mr. Hartman your spot under the bus is ready now!

[Fumesucker]

25. Just once I wish someone would post a link to get one of these online trolling jobs

As soon as the first fifty falls out of my ass I'll quit, promise.

[HassleCat]

26. And other topics

Yes, we would expect this in a presidential campaign year, but it happens all the time. For example, any time the subject of climate change arises, there is a huge barrage of canned responses and boilerplate. It fills the site with propaganda and disinformation, and it makes it difficult for anyone to get a word in edgewise. Because the response it always the same, and because it's so fast, I'm pretty sure it's done by people who are paid, and have software that alerts them to the presence of specific topics on various boards.

[seabeyond]

32. surely that is a ..... manufactured outrage. nt

[sendero]

34. That's funny.

... because I think they are paid to convince us she is good news. Her record is what convinces us she is bad news.

[Cleita]

35. I believe it. I have noticed in the more than a decade I have participated here, that

there are certain DUers, who have been here as long as I have, who pop up during Presidential elections, but go dormant in between. These particular trolls go after wedge issues like women's health, Social Security and so on and whatever is the particular attack on these issues du jour, they disrupt threads on the left wing policies about them, very cleverly too, I might add. Then there are the regular trolls who get banned after a few posts but then come back under different names until the Ads figure them out and ban them permanently. You can usually figure them out by formatting patterns on their posts, misspellings of certain words and punctuation errors that they repeat. They are like attacks of leaf cutter ants during elections.

As an aside though, be advised that Thom is pro-Bernie.

[Joe the Revelator]

36. You know whats tiring? People who can't argue for their candidate

accusing those who can of being shills. Its been happening on DU forever and its annoying as shit.

[Johonny]

37. Don't you think Hillary also has paid trolls

and their job is to convince people Hillary is good news. Thom has just discovered the Internet(s)

[libdem4life]

40. I think it's easier just to ignore them when they start talking like Republicans. We All Know what

that is. I doubt very much if many people would wade through a site like this just to post. But, hey, I'm a virtual newbie and this is my first Big Election here.

[dreamnightwind]

42. Pathetic OP, should be locked

No link or transcript. I watch Hartmann's Youtube of his radio show regularly, and I'm pretty sure you are misrepresenting his words. Put up or shut up.

On the issue, I do believe paid trolls are here, and pretty much everywhere on interenet discussion boards. They represent the interests of money, since people with money is who hires them. I would think, though I have no evidence and don't even want to go down this rabbit hole, that the trolls are as much in support of Hillary as opposed, the monied interests of the two parties and their corporate backers using proxy messengers.

[morningfog]

43. Anyone who is paid to post is a TROLL.

[applegrove]

45. I've been saying that for years.