Something happened today at the Daily Mail? sHillbots.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

That only means the comments were not checked in advance. That does not mean the comments were not being looked at after they were posted.

a reply to: introvert

And anyone commenting has to press the 'View all' tab and the 'Newest' tab to see their comment appear. A lot of people do use the 'View all' tab. I know I do.

...not that I see any profound point in what you are saying anyway. I am familiar enough with the comment activity at the Daily Mail to know a lot of readers comment and respond to other comments...I've seen some people post, "Straight to the comments without reading the article," because the Daily Mail's comment section is so active and lively.

I actually don't see any profound point to anything you are saying. Your opinion of the Daily Mail doesn't make it any less popular or make it any less true that someone is inflating the popularity of pro-Hillary/anti-Trump comments.

It is what it is regardless of your opinion.

a reply to: stinkelbaum

Again your another one commenting who obviously doesn't read Daily Mail... They were slamming Trump.... DAILY.....

Also, paid trolls post where they are told to post,whether they read it or not....

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: jadedANDcynical

That only means the comments were not checked in advance. That does not mean the comments were not being looked at after they were posted.

How do you know the mods can even change the arrow count on their end? You're reaching further and further to explain it away.

Corporations have been involved in fake reviews and fake "up-votes" for years.
Uber, for example. Same messages are repeated over and over again with synonyms switched,
and number of up-votes that are disproportionate to context and format of discussion.
These are AI bots and people who are paid to run these campaigns. Be it by corporations, or otherwise.

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: jadedANDcynical

That only means the comments were not checked in advance. That does not mean the comments were not being looked at after they were posted.

How do you know the mods can even change the arrow count on their end? You're reaching further and further to explain it away.

I don't, just as you don't know it was pro-Hillary shills at CTR.

That's been my point. What is more logical?

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: jadedANDcynical

That only means the comments were not checked in advance. That does not mean the comments were not being looked at after they were posted.

How do you know the mods can even change the arrow count on their end? You're reaching further and further to explain it away.

I don't, just as you don't know it was pro-Hillary shills at CTR.

That's been my point. What is more logical?

As I said, in my OP, and even repeated to you several comments back, I merely "WONDERED" if CTR was behind it.

But, personally, I think it's more logical that pro-Hillary/anti-Trump shills have a bot or script that allows them to inflate the support and popularity of pro-Hillary/anti-Trump comments at the DM.

I have already agreed to disagree on this, so I think we are through repeating the same things endlessly.

Let's dissolve this notion that the Daily Mail comments section doesn't matter:

COMMENTS IN THE LAST HOUR: 5,143

That's over 85 comments a minute.

Article views, US only:

LAST HOUR 340,042 TODAY 7,365,909

That's over 94 views per second.

Daily Mail By The Numbers

But the comments section don't matter and it's not US based... or something.

I just tried to make a quick Proof Of Concept (POC) bot to upvote on DailyMail. I found that when you upvote a HTTP POST request goes to:

www.dailymail.co.uk...

The final number in the URL is the comment ID that you want to upvote. No Key=Value pairs are sent in the POST request, just a complex cookie in headers. A JSON string is returned with status (unless you hit more than 5 times a minute).

Trying to hit the above URL using C# System.Net WebClient in a loop will throw a HTTP error code 418 if more than 5 request are done in a short period of time, meaning they have some mechanism in place to prevent up vote bots.

Also, hitting it without the correct cookies, or no cookies at all, does nothing. Perhaps its IP based prevention, but I have yet to test this on multiple PCs with different IPs. I am doubtful someone has the resouces to spoof 1000's of IP addresses, or access to send POST requests from 1000's of IPs, or that large a number of proxies to use just for upvoting comments.

I've also noticed some type of tracking URL hit when upvoting going to: bcp.crwdcntrl.net which is owned by lotame.com

Conclusion: So far, it seems its not entirely easy to make an upvote bot for this website unless you have access to a large number of IP addresses to request from.

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: MotherMayEye

There just so happens to be a website dedicated to the green arrow issue.

www.fakegreenarrows.com...

Apparently, it happens on all kinds of topics and stories.

I wonder if the culprits could be DM staff.

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
Conclusion: So far, it seems its not entirely easy to make an upvote bot for this website unless you have access to a large number of IP addresses to request from.

Sounds like someone went to some effort to be able to upvote at the DailyMail.

By the way, as I said in my OP, there are a handful of posters primarily getting the massive upvotes.

If it's the DM mods, for some reason they consistently favor the comments made by a handful of people.

Or maybe there are just enough shills to have access to a number of IP addresses.

originally posted by: WhateverYouSay

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: MotherMayEye

There just so happens to be a website dedicated to the green arrow issue.

www.fakegreenarrows.com...

Apparently, it happens on all kinds of topics and stories.

I wonder if the culprits could be DM staff.

That's the most logical answer, considering the voting system has a history of these sorts of things happening long before Hillary and Trump became a hot topic.

originally posted by: WhateverYouSay

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: MotherMayEye

There just so happens to be a website dedicated to the green arrow issue.

www.fakegreenarrows.com...

Apparently, it happens on all kinds of topics and stories.

I wonder if the culprits could be DM staff.

Could be. I don't discount the possibility. But, whoever they are, they favor Hillary.

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

originally posted by: WeAre0ne
Conclusion: So far, it seems its not entirely easy to make an upvote bot for this website unless you have access to a large number of IP addresses to request from.

Or maybe there are just enough shills to have access to a number of IP addresses.

Wouldn't CTR qualify?

a reply to: MotherMayEye

Strange ...Why would a UK Tabloid be relevant shilling?

a reply to: IAMTAT

Apparently that's not logical because CTR hasn't announced they have people using bots to inflate Hillary's support at the Daily Mail.

*snort*

a reply to: MotherMayEye

YUP, that's been going on for a while.

a reply to: Indigo5

It's got a huge U.S. readership. There was more on that a few pages back.

What it comes down to is that you can go to the DailyMail and read the comments to U.S. political/election articles and see where each person is from. The large majority of those commenting on these type articles are from the U.S. The DM is popular in the U.S., too.

originally posted by: MotherMayEye
(Note: I am posting this so as not to derail an important Seth Rich thread.)


beckimouse — 24, 000 green arrows for 24 comments in 24 hours.
www.dailymail.co.uk...

****

beckimouse is in the Netherlands...can you link me to the Hillary article/Pro-Hillary article you say these posts are about?

Just forwarded your OP to Drudge.