What is Trolling

[MikeFrank]

Da dar...

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1387065

[Alan Ladd]

Do you have your tin foil hat just in case they are trying to read your brainwaves too?

Serious question.

Not trolling at all...

 

---------- Post added 19-03-2015 at 17:38 ----------

 

 

Erm ... who is Shane? Do you think I am someone else? (other than Alan Lad and the Meckster?)

 

---------- Post added 19-03-2015 at 17:39 ----------

 

Ladd - sorry to have misspelled your name

 

d'oh my name ....

 

Its ok Ron, (as you already know).

[davyboy]

Perhaps this postal 10:36 today is an example: I need help for master degree

[RonJeremy]

Its ok Ron, (as you already know).

 

Course I know

 

Do you know what the Shane reference was? Got me all perplexed.

[rinzwind]

troll v., n.

 

1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban]

To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies" which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that they have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net

 

Troll' is a frequently used word on the internet, They have come a long way since the humble beginnings described above. It wasn't long before the rich and powerful realized they could use the jokers techniques for their own ends. When I call someone a troll I'm referring to a paid, counter-revolutionary disinformation agent or propagandist.

 

A troll is basically one who posts messages intended to contradict, insult and provoke with a view to closing down a discussion board and preventing it from being used to effectively organize. Anyone can be a troll but the worst kind are paid by governments and corporations to counter negative public opinion about them.

 

Trolls work in groups and often have an army of sock puppets (fake accounts). There are various techniques they employ to prevent meaningful discussion taking place. I have linked to them previously on this forum but I will share the links again here for simplicity. This is not an exhaustive list;

 

http://pastebin.com/irj4Fyd5

http://www.crazyboy.com/fravia/searchlores.org/schopeng.htm

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/disinformation-how-it-works

http://www.brasscheck.com/martin.html

 

More info can be found here;

 

http://www.crazyboy.com/fravia/searchlores.org/trolls.htm

 

There are rumours that there are even 'government' trolls who try to take down anti-government threads.

 

Do you have your tin foil hat just in case they are trying to read your brainwaves too?

Serious question. Not trolling at all.

 

You really need to stop watching conspiracy documentarys on obscure Sky channels.

 

Anna is absolutely correct and many of these rumours have been confirmed as true by the Edward Snowdon revelations. I suspect Ronjeremy and Penistone999 are both perfectly aware of that.

 

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

 

The idea that government paid trolls are a conspiracy theory is utter nonsense. Government trolls are very real indeed. The government refers to them as Information operations agents and the United Kingdom just converted the 77th brigade of the British army in to "1500 cyber warriors." Their stated aim is to "control the narrative" in the current information war. IO Operations are defined by the US Army and include the fields of psychological operations and military deception.

 

http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/03/01/paid-govt-and-corporate-internet-trolls-are-real/

 

http://metro.co.uk/2015/02/01/british-army-forms-new-brigade-to-combat-social-media-warfare-5044957/

 

Trolling is a very serious threat to free and open speech on the internet. The following article describes an American "Troll Boss" who is currently operating out of Ukraine.

 

http://kickass-cookies.co.uk/can-the-ukrainian-government-target-americans-in-the-us/

 

In sum, it describes how a Mr Joel Harding is tasked with disrupting anti Ukraine propaganda. The new Ministry of Information Policy in Ukraine forbids journalists to write anything that is critical of the government policy. Joel regards anything that disagrees with him as "enemy propaganda" or worse yet Russian "active measures." His job is to disrupt, deny, degrade, deceive, corrupt, usurp or destroy that information.

 

Since the Ukraine government is constantly telling fibs this means that Joel regards anybody who is actually telling the truth as a legitimate target, regardless of which country they are based in. Private citizen Joel Harding has created a private foreign IO army which today is over 40,000 strong with the current objective of destroying publications, journalists, and people that “he deems” as supporting Russian propaganda.

Edited March 22, 2015 by rinzwind

[Anna B]

Thankyou for that Rinzwind.

 

I've heard of government trolls being used to pass misinformation etc as well as disrupting uncomfortable, embarrassing anti-government threads, but you have linked clearly to the methodology used. Very interesting and most informative. And once you know, relatively easy to spot.

 

In the light of recent revelations about government, I'm surprised anybody still thinks they would not be capable of it, particularly in Britain where we are probably the most surveyed and monitored nations in the world.

[Cyclone]

Do you think they have an office filled with people somewhere who read forums and then disrupt internet chat that criticises the government?

[rinzwind]

Do you think they have an office filled with people somewhere who read forums and then disrupt internet chat that criticises the government?

 

Yes, many countries have teams and teams of them, working in offices all over the world. Exactly how many is unknown. Many of them are private contractors. According to information leaked by Edward Snowdon, GCHQ and the NSA have created custom software that allows them amongst other things, to control entire armies of sock puppets and post in many places at once. This information has been widely reported in the mainstream press.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks

 

http://www.wired.com/2009/01/usaf-blog-respo/

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4655196.stm

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1830500.stm

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/14/poll_trolls_script_sock_puppets_manipulate_muppets/

 

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6ef12558b44258382452fcf02942396a&tab=core&_cview=0

 

...and more

 

http://ronaldthomaswest.com/2014/04/18/military-sock-puppets-nsa-trolls-cia-shills/

Edited March 22, 2015 by rinzwind

[Anna B]

Do you think they have an office filled with people somewhere who read forums and then disrupt internet chat that criticises the government?

 

The world has moved on Cyclone, you have no idea... because most of it is undercover and they don't want you to know about it.

 

That's why Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are so important. A lot of it is not just about controlling terrorists and the military, but about controlling you.

[loraward]

I like this headline.

 

CTV Confirms Governments employing Internet Trolls, Shills & PR Agents to 'correct misinformation'

 

 

That would mean a troll is someone posting accurate information to correct inaccurate information, and that doesn't really fit the common definition of a troll.