AMA: I was a paid Internet troll.

reply to post by halfsorry


there are worse ways to make a living. at least you weren't a politician or a LEO. you're ahead of the game, really. there are what, millions (?) of trolls who spew venom everyday online and they do it just from the bitter in their hearts.

i'm curious as to why you've chosen to come out and tell folks how you made a paycheck. do you feel bad that you did this? do you just want people to know there are such paid positions?

also curious, do you want to atone for what you have done, swaying people and manipulating them?

we're all salespeople of one sort or another, selling our opinions, swaying each other, even when its a small group of friends picking out what movie to go to. some are better at it than others. the more transparent (or sleazy) ones are more open to contempt and scorn. kind of funny - the better a con man one is, the more well liked you're apt to be.

one last question - how come you're no longer a paid internet troll?

Originally posted by schuyler
Pics or it didn't happen.

If yer not doing it any more, there's no good reason why you can't provide specifics. You could be trolling right now.

Just as you are trolling right now

Twenty Flags for a first post isnt bad..
You perked up some intrest on this one
Cant wait for number 20

reply to post by halfsorry


First, I don't belong to a Party and think they both suck.

Since this is a negative attack against one Party, how do we know you are not a Troll for the other Party? Is your post not exactly what a dishonest Obama supporter would post?

He has made no secret about his call for his supporters to do exactly what you are doing right now?

If you are being truthful the correct thing to have done would be to quit and never mention it again. Now all you are doing is schilling for a different Party.

I also think most Trolls are unpaid and many of them would lie about being paid. The chances the real deal would do what you are doing here is infinitesimal. Now nobody will be able to trust you ever again and for good reason.

In the spirit of ATS, who do you really work for? You're just pretending because you think it will help Obama right?

Originally posted by halfsorry

You may consider Rush Limbaugh and Fox News as the typical style of the assigned talking points and scripts.

That answers any questions. You will fool some, but not most. You have a defined target. Don't worry those who want you to be real will ignore anyone paying attention who is not in a Parties hip pocket.

Clearly on many sites starting your activities this way would work and it will work with young people who want to believe you. Have fun with your game.

What this country needs is new people who do not belong to a Party and who can think for themselves. Why do you think that Independents now are the largest voting block? We now understand both Parties are corrupt beyond repair and both need to be disassembled and thrown out.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I think the chances of that are under 1%.

Welcome to ATS youll fit right in with all the rest of those huffington post c ommandos,right wing shills and left wing implants.
Can you atleast give us the slant they gave you on things like 9/11, the power of the presidency, yadda yadda
Or did you just copy and paste some email you got every morning into your groups?

Aside form topic , ya know i think a concerted effport by a group of civilians
to do something similar ,may blossom into a counter strategy for social change...i mean really organise it...the CIA did it in egypt etc...why not?
It would be fun!
Might as well use the same caliber ammo right back at em.

Originally posted by Hippo45
I have a few questions to the OP:

How much exactly would you get paid to be a troll?

How does one get a job as a troll? I have never seen a job posting online or in a newspaper to be paid for trolling.

Can you give us a link to a thread that you were being paid to troll?

What do your employer's gain by you trolling discussion boards on the internet? I can understand giving fake reviews for products on Amazon, but if it is political motives I fail to see how a company can gain from that. Also, there are already tons of people doing it for free on the internet that I assume would be discussing the exact same things you were posting about. So I fail to see why they would bother to pay for someone to do it if it is already being done for free.

I was paid just slightly more than I would if I was slinging coffee at Starbucks 40 hours a week.

I have no idea how you, or anyone, might locate such a position. As I stated, it was offered to me at the end of an unpaid internship.

Providing a link might eventually expose my real name to my prior employers, and cause me some legal problems.

I can only assume the gain is the dissemination of core points of idiomatic doctrine into the vast mix of online dialogue. I cannot comment on the probability that, lacking the efforts of myself and my coworkers, that the "tons of people" already discussing the issues would be enough to those underwriting the effort. Nor that the specific tenets would be properly express to their satisfaction.

Originally posted by LargeFries
reply to post by halfsorry

 

there are worse ways to make a living. at least you weren't a politician or a LEO. you're ahead of the game, really. there are what, millions (?) of trolls who spew venom everyday online and they do it just from the bitter in their hearts.

i'm curious as to why you've chosen to come out and tell folks how you made a paycheck. do you feel bad that you did this? do you just want people to know there are such paid positions?

also curious, do you want to atone for what you have done, swaying people and manipulating them?

we're all salespeople of one sort or another, selling our opinions, swaying each other, even when its a small group of friends picking out what movie to go to. some are better at it than others. the more transparent (or sleazy) ones are more open to contempt and scorn. kind of funny - the better a con man one is, the more well liked you're apt to be.

one last question - how come you're no longer a paid internet troll?

Yes, I feel bad. But not yet bad enough to name the employers, which are all now non-existent companies.

I don't want to atone, as I was careful never to actually "manipulate" people through direct exchanges. My method was to simply post information, and avoid confrontation as much as possible.

I'm no longer a "troll" because the most-recent employer went "out of business" and no replacement firm was presented to me.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by halfsorry

 

First, I don't belong to a Party and think they both suck.

Since this is a negative attack against one Party, how do we know you are not a Troll for the other Party? Is your post not exactly what a dishonest Obama supporter would post?

He has made no secret about his call for his supporters to do exactly what you are doing right now?

If you are being truthful the correct thing to have done would be to quit and never mention it again. Now all you are doing is schilling for a different Party.

I also think most Trolls are unpaid and many of them would lie about being paid. The chances the real deal would do what you are doing here is infinitesimal. Now nobody will be able to trust you ever again and for good reason.

In the spirit of ATS, who do you really work for? You're just pretending because you think it will help Obama right?

At this point, there is little that will help Obama. I actually voted for him, fooled by the promise of change.

Since the end of my paid trolling, it feels as though my political antibodies have developed sophisticated defense systems as I avoid politics, political discussions, and political news. Seriously.

I'm curious as to why you have a joined date of 2006, yet this is the first time you have really began posting?

Is this account something that was registered by yourself (or others) and then allowed to "ferment" or age properly before being used to push your sponsor's agenda - i.e., "troll"?

I've noticed in the past some strange posting habits of a small handful of members here, who would create a rash of postings based on some talking points found in certain media circles.

Examples:

So where is the Birth Certificate?- Jerome Corsi
(by member "oxykerfluffle")
So Where's the Birth Certificate?-Jerome Corsi
(by member "UcDat")
Same verbage, same video linked in OP.

A Question for Democrats (by member "oxykerfluffle")
Question for the Democrats (by member "thorazineshuffle")

Read the two opening posts above, they are virtually identical in structure and verbage, even ending in the same mantra "NOBAMA" - as if both posters were working from the same script without being aware of their duplicated efforts.

And one more, that again, both OP's use identical verbage, yet it's written in a manner that implies an original effort as opposed to a cut and paste job.

Obama hiding a criminal past (by member "oxykerfluffle")
Obama hiding a criminal past (by member "ccponzi")

I don't mean to make accusations, but this is hard not to notice when "trolls" appear and make nearly identical "original" posts that push some political agenda. Clearly, this is proof of paid trolls operating here?

Originally posted by halfsorry
Yes, I feel bad. But not yet bad enough to name the employers, which are all now non-existent companies.

I don't want to atone, as I was careful never to actually "manipulate" people through direct exchanges. My method was to simply post information, and avoid confrontation as much as possible.

I'm no longer a "troll" because the most-recent employer went "out of business" and no replacement firm was presented to me.

Surely if they are now non-existent companies then it would do no harm to name them? After all, they are non-existent now right?

Considering the lack of specifics and the nature of this discussion, I find this one of the most ironic threads I've read here.

Your doing a good job trolling about being a troll.

Clever...

Of course there are paid trolls. Welcome to the internet! If you haven't tuned your brain to identify these people yet, you are living in AOL 1.0. I really hope these revelations aren't shocking to people.

I just made $20 typing that from the toilet. I'm almost done.

[Movie trailer voice] From Columbia searchlight pictures. This summer, prepare to chat...with Satan. In a world of deception, one man stands alone with the truth, against an army of paid shills. His persistence will push his posts per hour to the max. Welcome to....THE INTERNET! A matrix designed for control. A matrix designed, for your mind.[/Movie trailer voice]

This film is not yet rated.

Ok, sad attempt. Figured I'd fire off one shot before I pass out. 'Night ATS

I'm sure with the explosion of internet blog sites and forums that there are a lot of paid trolls out there and not just for politics but in this case it was probably paid for by a PAC and funneled into a dummy company so the paid troll wasn't even sure who was paying him....a democratic PAC or a republican one.

Originally posted by Aeons
You know what it is interesting about a troll?

Sometimes they bring out something interesting to discuss. The ideas stand alone even if the poster does not.

Sometimes, the legitimacy of a poster is far less important than the topic.

Indeed. Whether this thread is truth or trolling, this happens. Freelance writers are hired for all sorts of things.

I believe my first thread on ATS was about a freelance writing project I had just started working on. I ended up writing search-engine optimized articles for a conspiracy website called Truth-it for about 9 months. I never found out the name of my employer. I don't know where the money was coming from, but over that 9 months they spent about $300,000 on articles (from a few dozen writers).

Shortly after the site went live, they needed SEO articles aimed at selling ad space on the site. I kind of dropped out of it at that point and went back to writing WoW guides (better pay rate). Last time I went to check out the site it was gone. I still wonder who had that much money to waste on a conspiracy site, and why.

Anyway, there are lots of freelance writers about. Most often the writer's agenda is marketing/sales of a product, but some clients may have an interest in 'marketing' certain ideas as well, across various online mediums. Nothing is sacred.

reply to post by halfsorry


Hi, HalfSorry.

I was wondering how you would class threads like these...

www.abovetopsecret.com...#

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I am very interested in what you think. Thanks in advance for checking them out.

Originally posted by Frater210
reply to post by halfsorry

 

Hi, HalfSorry.

I was wondering how you would class threads like these...

www.abovetopsecret.com...#

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I am very interested in what you think. Thanks in advance for checking them out.

I have no idea what to think. Those are subject areas in which I have no interest or expertise.

reply to post by halfsorry


I was thinking that it might have less to do with content and more to do with volume, pattern and timing.

But what do I know. Must be paranoia workin' on me.

Originally posted by eMachine
I still wonder who had that much money to waste on a conspiracy site, and why.

Nothing is sacred.

Originally posted by N34Li3Z

Originally posted by eMachine
I still wonder who had that much money to waste on a conspiracy site, and why.

Nothing is sacred.