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The Secret Playbook of Internet Trolls
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
What’s confusing you
Is the nature of my game
- The Rolling Stones
The reason that Internet trolls are effective is that people still don’t understand their game.
There are 15 commonly-used trolling tactics to disrupt, misdirect and control internet discussions.
As one interesting example, trolls start flame wars because – according to two professors – swearing and name-calling shut down our ability to think and focus.
And trolls will often spew divisive attacks so that people argue against each other, instead of bad actions and policies of the powers-that-be. For example, trolls will:
Start a religious war whenever possible using stereotypes like “all Jews are selfish”, “all Christians are crazy” or “all Muslims are terrorists”.
Yesterday, the alternative news site Common Dreams caught a troll using scores of different user names to spew anti-Semitic bile. (Common Dreams discovered that the same troll was behind the multiple user names by tracking their IP addresses. And the troll confessed to Common Dreams.)
The troll is a “a Jewish Harvard graduate in his thirties who was irritated by the website’s discussion of issues involving Israel”.
He posted anti-Semitic diatribes – such as Hitler should have finished the job and killed all Jews – using one alias. Then – a couple of minutes later – he’d post an attack on the first poster using a different alias, claiming that criticism of Israel is the same thing as anti-Semitism. (Note: Holocaust survivors and Israeli ministers say it’s not.)
Why would a Jew post vile anti-Semitic comments? Because normal people are offended by – and don’t want to be associated with – pure, naked anti-Semitism, and so they will avoid such discussions. If the discussion was originally criticizing a specific aspect of Israeli policy, the discussion will break down, and the actual point regarding policy will be lost.
Similarly, anti-Semitic posts weaken websites by making them seem less reputable. Indeed, Common Dreams says that the troll’s anti-Semitic comments drove away many of that site’s largest donors … dealing a severe blow to its continued viability. That’s exactly what trolls spewing anti-Semitic bile are trying to do: shut down logical discussion and discredit and weaken sites which allow rational criticism of policy.
It is well-known that foreign governments and large companies troll online. See this, this this, and this. For example, the Israeli government is paying students to post pro-Israeli comments online.
And American students are also attempting to influence internet discussion.
While the Common Dreams troll claims that he’s not sponsored by the state of Israel, government agencies have manipulated Internet discussion for years. This includes the use of multiple “socket puppet” aliases. The potential for mischief is stunning.
Unless we learn their game …
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How else are we to keep the rayciss conspeerissy trolls in line, Planned Trollenthood?
Or is that what the Ebola is for?
Let's not forget this op ed is by GW, the master troll himself.
And using The Guardian as a beacon of the democratic process on the internet?! Wasn't the Guardian trolling with the Russian convoy story to spark WWIII.
Trolls have been around forever. Think Shakespearean court jesters. They provide liquidity against fascists.
George Washington, Flakmeister & myself are ardent troll-stompers, with extra special credit of course to WilliamBanzai7 for tolerating no bullshit & making it an art-form and let's not forget Cognitive Dissonance.
Flak has occational bouts of bloody trollery as well. He does enjoy stirring the pot.
GW a troll... lol that's a good one.
But trolls have bridges and, as such, are easily distinguishable from racists who just burn them.
These trolls are the new "Me Too"s. They're like the dim-bulbed tide of AOLers who flooded and ultimately drowned USENET except that this crowd knows exactly what it is that they do and are the more insidous and evil and deserving of Punishment for it. Oh!, for a Guiding Light of Retribution, but poor Fravia is dead and gone.
I come to this site for the comments which I find to be the best anywhere. Some sites try to hide their comment section by forcing you to expand them or disallow it completely. This site features them and I love it. Trolls or not I say don't change a thing.
So Geo Washington and Tony Wilson are the same troll who happens to wear a Kippah? Whodda thunk?
Could be govt paid as well. They are known to go to great lenghts to drive wedges among participants on some sites.
Tony, in real life, pushs a shopping cart and screams at the pigeons for distorting his interstellar radar.
''Tony...screams at the pigeons...''....great mental image..... or is he more like the guy off 4Lions ?
A troll on ZH gets their heads verbally bashed in. My experience here is that people express their opinions and either find common ground or get whacked. I've been accused of being a troll by some dipshit who probably was a troll. So what? The free exchange of opinions is one of the reasons I keep coming back. Finger on the pulse. There are alot of folks here who know a heap more about financial stuff than I do - it is beneficial to me. And yet, I like to put in my 2 cents worth in opinion on geopolitical stuff as I believe with age comes a certain perspective. Go ahead, trolls, make my day.
Apply critical thinking skills, including recognition and calling out logical fallacies. Don't be tempted by strawman arguments, designed to divert your attention. Down arrow them & don't let them sucker you in to wasting time on a fool or propagandist tool. Present your evidence and demand that others do the same.
Internet technology is new but effective argument has been known since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. Teach yourself how to recognize logical fallacies and it doesn't matter what trolls try to do.
Trolls only are effective when the Moderators are ineffective.
Chat site users can get annoyed and post replies to the Troll.
But that does not help.
An experienced Moderator, if on the job, id's the Troll and blocks him/her/them.
DK
Yeah, cause silencing dissent has done wonders in the past.
Nah - not silencing dissent; silencing the "I make $9500 dollars a week from home" folks.
That is NOT an example of a troll. That is a SPAMMER.
You can have trolls. These people are employed outside of the webmaster's administration and attempts to cause disruption to the conversation.
Then you can have a Shill. A Shill is generally employed by the webmaster's administration and is an unnamed moderator whom is posting to guide the flow of discussion to a predicted outcome.
Then you have the spammers whom are attempting to use the Comment Sections to advertise another service or website, unrelated to the topic.
There is a difference.
where do cut-n-paste maggots fit?
I have no problem with people who link to relevant articles. I've found some good alt. news sites from links.
The 'Jesus is coming' and the numerology cranks I can live without and the constant worn to death quotes are tiresome too.
The guys who post 5 page articles instead of a link should have their eyes pecked out by crows.
The egregiously stupid sub-80 IQ posts we'll save for another day.
Liberalism is a mental disorder! The libs are destroying this country! Conservatives are backwoods under-educated religious nuts! :And so on, and so on..
That's why we need sovereign 'AnonCitizenism'!
Hmmmm, so you don't think that "Progressives" are deserving of .....well I can't say it, I'll likely face arrest.
So, you like'a da juice, ah?
I feel a lot better knowing that all the jackasses commenting on ZH are really just normal people pretending to be cluless idiots.
I downloaded a copy of the Hasbara, a document published by the Israeli government about debating Israeli government policy and Promoting Israel on Campus. It is a PDF and worth reading especially if you talk about Israeli politics online or in any public manner. The publication illustrates the tactics that are used to change the agenda of debates and how to answer or not answer direct questions about Israeli government policy. I recommend this publication to any one who discusses anything about Israel in public. It is their playbook. https://wikispooks.com/w/images/e/e7/Hasbara_Handbook.pdf
Yes, very revealing...indeed.
What I find that totally annoys the hasbra is to advance this position:
"What the Zionist wants, the Zionist takes."
Questioning whether the the Zionist state is legitimate or not really raises their hackles. Ignore the Bible. It is self-serving and self-referential. The answer to the real question is found in the facts of history.
The facts are clear. The history of the matter shows that deception of the Arabs with respect to the intent of the Zionists was planned from the beginning. The personal notes of the major participants are unambigious in their description of the tactic to be used. They told the Arabs one thing, and then did another, in concert, all planned in advance.
http://www.balfourproject.org/balfour-and-palestine/
After you read this you'll understand why the only two things you need to know (as you'll find out) is that every word out of the mouth of a Zionist is a lie, and that what the Zionist wants, the Zionist takes.
I was unaware of just how duplict England was in the entire Balfour Decision.
Excellent post and thanks for the site mentioned. Milestones
The 2 most popular troll tactics for derailing intelligent discussion, and distracting from a valuable post are 1)anti Semitic comments and 2) false left/right, Dem/Repub, Gen X/Boomer type blame games.
You know the original article is dangerous when you see a flood of these type distractions.
HERE, yes, but for a majority of sites that's not the "trolling" that's the entire SITE (which of course is why they should be dismissed as easily as ads filtered by ad-block)
When I ask those who use the term "anti-Semitic" what the term Semite means, they don't have a clue. If they knew what it meant they would dump the term anti-Semite from their troll vocabulary.
A real anti-semite hates the whole lot of them sand people.
I think I'm getting there. I wish the whole lot would kill each other and leave us in relative peace to watch Europeans self destruct.
There's plenty of examples in the real world of people faking crimes for personal gain and so it happens on the internet too.
If you all keep this up, I am leaving and closing the door behind me. And I mean it this time. For real. Really.
And thennnn?
The truth shall set you free.
The internet is plagued with all sorts of nonsense posted. The majority of the nonsense posted is outright lies, with a small portion being confined to partial truths and half truths. There is very little posted to the internet which is completely truthful unfortunately.
Is a half truth any better than an outright lie? Probably not because both categories intend to hide or partially hide the truth.
Lying by ommission is a powerful tool that adds another hurdle in one's attempt to form the whole picture in their mind. Thankfully, being able to distinguish between truth and purposeful misdirection gets quite easy once you understand the material at hand. Usually its because you have already asked yourself that question before.
Please don't forget the "morans".
I think those are Irish trolls.
And I'm sure some of the O'Brians are shady too.
Never but never trust a Cambell...
Scots backstabbers since the Bruce.
Never but never trust a Cambell...
So - we shouldn't eat their soup then?
I suport Israel. Guess I'm a "troll"
Pretty much.
There's no good way to support genocidal theft of a whole other country, and since that country is Palestine, not Israel, what more can you say?
It is hard to take you seriously when you demonstrate that you don't know your geography and history. Palestine is not now, and never has been, a country. Palestine has always been recognized, even by the Romans, as a region.
The third paragraph of Article 11 of the Hamas Charter contains a sentence that begins this way: When the leaders of the Islamic armies conquered Syria and Iraq ... Those words speak the truth of history. Always, the stronger have taken what they want from the weaker - including land. The truth of history has always been that nobody owns what they cannot defend.
So, if you don't like that the nation of Israel was established in Palestinian territory, choose your weapons and drive the Zionists out - if you can. But don't be coy and speak as if the Zionists are the only nation that has ever established itself by taking land that belonged to someone else. That is the only way that any nation ever did get built - by taking and holding on to land that once belonged to someone else. Study history if you doubt me.
Hey dumbass. all Europe's countries were REGIONS & PROVINCES in the ROMAN EMPIRE.
In case you hadn't noticed that empire is gone & now those are nations.
Palestine has always been recognized as a region - from now backwards even to the Roman Empire. It was recognized as a region then. It is recognized as a region now. Palestine has never been a country, as countries are defined. See England, Spain, India, etc.
That was my point. Your response did not address my point.
The only thing making Palestine not a nation like Britain is the lack of homocidal monarchy.
Fine, but stop being so timid about it. Pick up a rifle and take out your checkbook.
Perhaps. But certainly a war mongering savage.
Not necessarily. You may just be galactically confused.
(not my downvote, btw)
I don't believe in imaginary red lines drawn on maps by random assholes.
I guess I'm a troll too.
Whether you believe a red line is imaginary is totally irrelevant to you getting shot by the fellow who drew the red line, imaginary or not.
Don't you have a wedding to get ready for or something... feeding the self proclaimed trolls is even less productive than feeding normal trolls.