This may just be conspiracy theory, and I'm willing to accept that, but...

[Bubzer]

Anyone else notice the sudden influx of trolls around January 12th, this year?

I've started taking note of the low-count accounts that were started on that date... and there's A LOT of them.
One might even go so far as to say it's almost as though some company was paid to have a bunch of phony accounts made.

To what end? Well, considering the majority I've encountered so far have been "Hillary supporters", it could just be an effort to make it look like there's more support for her than there really is. Could be something entirely different.

All I know for certain is there was a hell of a lot of accounts made on that date.

[Fawke Em]

1. They were just coming online to celebrate my birthday.

Seriously, can you post a list of them over at JPR? I'd like to take a look at them.

[LiberalArkie]

2. Results

On Thu Mar 3, 2016, 12:31 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

This may just be conspiracy theory, and I'm willing to accept that, but...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280133634

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

A self admitted post to brand new DUers as trolls.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Thu Mar 3, 2016, 12:37 PM, and the Jury voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: It is a given that it happens anytime something is going on. It is part of the job of advertising agencies to do this.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The poster was talking in general terms and not calling out anyone in particular. I don't see where that's hurtful. And, in my opinion, the observation is dead-on.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The majority of low post count users I've encountered are rabid Sanders supporters, so I disagree with the post. But, that is not a reason to hide the post.
Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Yes it is a CT and attack on Hillary supporters with a erroneous observation. I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Waste of time alert in a protected group.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[Shrike47]

4. It seems like I'm on juries daily. My current policy is not to hide in the Clinton-Sanders wars.

You know, we will have to get together after somebody is nominated.

[Contrary1]

8. "The majority of low post count users I've encountered are rabid Sanders supporters"

[LiberalArkie]

9. The other side has a very good police dept.

[jillan]

12. What is with all of these alerts? This was an observation in a protected group.

Thank you to juror #7.


And look at what Juror #4 wrote.

DU has become a place where you can't even express an opinion. Sheesh!

[SheenaR]

3. Lol

I cant believe this was alerted.

It's not coincidence. You aren't crazy. They are here to divert, divide and create chaos

[cantbeserious]

5. Divide And Conquer - Oldest Ploy In The Political Playbook

eom

[disillusioned73]

6. The fact that it was alerted..

says it all.. influx indeed - good catch.

[Bubzer]

7. Thanks

[starroute]

10. Have you noticed any other patterns?

After the 2004 election, when there was a huge influx of disruptors, I started keeping tabs on some of them. One common factor was that many of them had managed to run up 1000 posts within two weeks of joining -- often posting 24/7 to get there. (At that time, DU only showed post numbers up to 1000, so if you got that far you could pass as a senior member.) Another was that they typically posted one- or two-sentence comments in some of the more frivolous groups, and then started bringing out the heavy guns once they passed the 1000 benchmark.

And a third was that they seemed to operate in packs. One would post some unlikely and misleading theory about methods of carrying out election fraud and then a whole bunch more would join in to slap them on the back and tell them how right they were.

The overall impression I got was that these were not just individuals with a personal agenda or even right-win trolls. They were part of a highly-coordinated attack designed to spread disinformation and turn DUers against one another. I never did find out who they were -- but it strikes me that if there was a mass influx on one day this winter, the same kind of analysis could at least give some clues as to its intentions.

There are a lot of possibilities. Hillary supporters piling in from elsewhere? Sock puppets designed to make Bernie supports look bad and draw them into agreeing with over-the-top opinions? GOP partisans or GamerGate types looking to sow general mayhem in the liberal ranks? Corporate hirelings working to perfect their craft in advance of the general election? Or all of the above?

The one thing we can know for sure is that this isn't just conspiracy theory. The internet makes these kinds of games easy and almost irresistible, so it would be more surprising if they weren't occurring than if they were. But the real trick is learning how to see through them.

[Bubzer]

11. I did notice a trend among those accounts that the comments were rarely more than a paragraph.

They virtually never actually engaged anyone...it was almost always hit-and-run style. Make the comment, then disappear.

If there are some actually engaging in conversation, I haven't detected them yet. It would probably be engagement at a very low level... loud enough to be heard... not loud enough for people to take note.

I'd say it's a fair bet there's been a recent infiltration. If I had to guess, most likely be some form of ad agency acting at someone's behest. Course, that could just be my strong dislike for ad agencies talking. I doubt it though.

[starroute]

13. I'm curious in part because of this

The technology exists. The motivation exists. The only question is who's using it and where -- and whether it's confined to "message boards in foreign countries" or has escaped into the wild.


http://boingboing.net/2011/02/18/hbgarys-high-volume.html

Feb 18, 2011

The enormous corpus of email leaked from federal security contractor HB Gary following Anonymous's hacking of the company's servers continues to deliver compromising payloads.

This time, it's internal emails detailing the creation of "persona management" software to simplify the process of pretending to be several people at once online, in order simulate widespread support for a point of view -- astroturfing automation software. The software appears to have been developed in response to a federal government solicitation seeking automated tools for astroturfing message boards in foreign countries.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/16/945768/-The-HB-Gary-Email-That-Should-Concern-Us-All

PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars and coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA - whose enemies are labor unions, progressive organizations, journalists, and progressive bloggers, a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HBGary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated "persona management" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally cross-contaminating each other. Then, to top it off, the team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire Brooks Brothers riot online. . . .

And all of this is for the purposes of infiltration, data mining, and (here's the one that really worries me) ganging up on bloggers, commenters and otherwise "real" people to smear enemies and distort the truth.

[Bubzer]

14. Wow... The implications are staggering to say the least.

Now I need to go hunt down and learn about persona management software... and perhaps ways to counter it.
It's hard enough having an informed opinion without some automated Fake-a-Jake playing on a person's emotions. This style of manipulation needs to be proactively banned.

Unfortunately, I now understand why there's such a drive for things like sophisticated IVR and believable AI... in the wrong hands, this makes conspiracy theories like the illuminati and the Skull and Bones group seem like a pleasant summer eve dream.

Ugh...

[starroute]

15. You need to check out this stuff as well

From The Intercept: "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations." https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

If you really want your mind blown, follow the link in the second paragraph to "The Art of Deception."

Then ask yourself why Barrett Brown is in prison as the result of a string of events that began when he started looking into the people and organizations named in those HBGary emails. And you might also go back to the death of Brown's friend and associate in the HBGary investigations, Michael Hastings, in a still inexplicable car crash.

There are some very strange things going on around the edges of the surveillance state, and the possibility that they're messing with message boards like this one just because they can is one of the more benign implications.

[Bubzer]

16. Michael Hastings... I've heard that name before. I'm not gonna like this am i?

[Bad Bad JuJu]

17. I joined on Jan 7th and

I hope that doesn't make me a troll.

Anyway, the alternative to believing in at least some conspiracy theories is to believe that everyone is honest, transparent, and on the up-and-up, and that everything is done right out in the open for all to see -- and that would be just plain crazy! Especially when dealing with people with such an apparent track record of dishonesty and covert behaviour. In fewer words: I would not put it past them.

[Bubzer]

18. Naw...doesn't automaticaly make you a troll.

This was a pattern that made itself apparent after a number of months of posts.
Welcome aboard!

[PowerToThePeople]

19. I think it is normal during election cycles

They are here to be divisive and spread FUD.