Goverment Hires Internet Trolls to Disrupt Online Forums

I'm sorry but am I the only one who doesn't really see this as news? EVERY government does things like this in order to sway public perception and opinion - its no big surprise. As far as the psychological conspiracy theories go they are all rather ridiculous and incredulous in my opinion. Also, 'Natural News' is a terrible 'news' source and their 'sources' are even worse.

reply to post by Bragi


says the person..

that just posted 4 mins after the OP..

FlyersFan

Most of the time when people scream 'paid troll' .. it is not true.
Most of the time it's just a matter of someone else having a strong opposing opinion.

Unfortunately there are too many people too quick to shout 'troll' or 'paid disinfo agent'. Most of them are folk who can't handle anyone having a different opinion. Or who think that not joining in with the 'conspiracy de jour' is evidence. Such folk are also quick to label the rest of the population as 'sheep/sheeple'. Whilst being spectacularly ignorant of the fact that they are in fact the opposite side of the coin. These are the 'conspiracy sheeple!'.

ProfessorT
I'm sorry but am I the only one who doesn't really see this as news?

Not only not news but it keeps getting brought up here with depressing regularity.

DrReco

Nyiah
LOL, the source is Natural News, and they couldn't even spell "government" correctly in the headline

I have noticed several people speak of Natural News with some disdain in this thread. Why is this...curiously?

I have found many of their alternative health articles extremely informative, and would think many free thinkers frequenting sites like ATS might also be interested in alternative health and medicine?! Granted, the articles don't go into a lot of specifics, yet can be good starting points for more in depth research.

Is there funny business there of which I'm not aware or attuned? I know Mike Adams likes to go on political tangents, but I'm more into the nutrition articles. Please do share any concerns...

It's because Natural News is yellow journalism at its worst. It has it's agenda and it will skew facts and outright lie worse than the MSM to further that agenda. Unfortunately, because it's an "alternative" "news" source many people on this site take its word as gospel. I think my favorite article on there is when they claimed that getting angry was going to be a mental disorder.

So I asked this question to a specific member but it seems like they couldn't provide an answer. So I will now ask the thread as a whole. What would be the point of having paid shills on ATS?

reply to post by Komodo


I apologise, did not realise there was a set number of time to leave a thread before replying to it.
I won't click "new" when I'm browsing the forums ever again, I swear!

Gotta love how just cos I disagree with something I'm accused of working for the government...

symptomoftheuniverse

Metallicus

Text You've probably run into them before -- those seemingly random antagonizers who always end up diverting the conversation in an online chat room or article comment section away from the issue at hand, and towards a much different agenda. Hot-button issues like illegal immigration, the two-party political system, the "war on terror" and even alternative medicine are among the most common targets of such attackers, known as internet "trolls" or "shills," who in many cases are nothing more than paid lackeys hired by the federal government and other international organizations to sway and ultimately control public opinion.

Source

Most of us here at ATS won't be surprised that paid Goverment shills target online forums and chat rooms. This article discusses how the Government, CIA, NSA and other assorted alphabet agencies actively recruit college students to disrupt and derail online discussion on conspiracy sites. I think we all have seen certain posters that consistently try to destroy open, intelligent debate on a variety of controversial topics. There are a few on ATS that I personally suspect of being on the Goverment payroll. Do you think that this is going on or are we just being paranoid?

Conspiracy websites are typically the most heavily targeted by government officials.

Hmmm.

no they dont! Do you have some issues regarding space travel? Typical ,keep your prejudices to yourself.


Only kidding, however someone on one of my threads turned my laptop webcam on and described me to MYSELF. SCARY

EDIT I ALSO LIKE CAPS

edit on 18-9-2013 by symptomoftheuniverse because: added oppinion

edit on 18-9-2013 by symptomoftheuniverse because: spelling

EXPOSED!! (I like caps, too.)

Check this person's history of "diversion threads".... you'll find a trove of mindless, misspelled schlock from somebody who clearly is not too well-versed in English... how is someone so confident hosting so many threads when they can hardly communicate?

Also, in most threads I saw from him/her, the subject is a barren, unexciting picture of rocks on Mars, with nothing worth commenting on, let alone starting a discussion about. And of course, the shill is here, spouting nonsense.

This has become a bit of a fun game...

Look for yourself: symptomoftheuniverse

I think it is slightly more insidious than a bunch of contractors paid $20 an hour to specifically derail a particular thread or viewpoint. Something like that is trackable...

The better way to do it is make a company directive to "publicly disseminte company/organisation/government policy" by getting full time workers to each post to a single thread a day, related to their job specific ares, on a "site of interest (such as ATS) as part of their daily duties.

This way you get a broad involvement from a range of different viewpoints... never have to hire anyone specifically for the task, it's branded to the "shills" that are actually posting to the threads as a positive KPI as part of their job performance (meaning they likely don't even view themselves as shills) and you can even just mention the names of sites to target casually in office meetings so there is no paper trail...

easy...

... and plausibly deniable.

reply to post by Metallicus


I have been called a shill by "truthers". So prove it. Do you really believe that everyone who disagrees with the conspiracy theories are paid by the government?

Maybe this thread is a false flag, ever think of that? Maybe you are the disinfo agent paid by the government to keep us distracted from a really important thread that will uncover something?

I see it now, false flag. Get Alex Jones on the phone now, tell him about the false flag operation over at ATS on this thread, using government disinfo agents to attempt to blacklist the ones who know the truth by calling them shills.

Good attempt, now prove it.

reply to post by Xcalibur254



First of all ignore the fellow members, they are aiming at the readers.
I had a run in with a bunch of college trolls on a small forum, yes they do exist.

Maybe it was a trial run, lol

Sway opinions, cloud the truth, cause confusion, make other posters look foolish , propaganda, bury the facts and truth in mountains pointless post.

Diehards, I find it hard to believe with all the mountains of information posted on various topics on Obama, there are still people who find him desirable and will go to great lengths to have his back, follow the money.

People with an agenda look for a large forum, the more people they can reach.

And they wear disguises. Claiming to be one thing they actually believe another, I figured a lot of this out in chat-rooms, where one group would infiltrate another chat group to create division and STS.

You see two can play that game, I spent a lot of time interacting with them.

While searching the internet I found a nest of them on their own private forum plotting their next invasion of Christian forums.
They invade them, it is warfare.

Xcalibur254
So I asked this question to a specific member but it seems like they couldn't provide an answer. So I will now ask the thread as a whole. What would be the point of having paid shills on ATS?

Intimidate and humiliate other posters
Bury valid points and information
Make it seem like the majority of posters do not agree with a point
Take the alternative view point but act inappropriately so it will tarnish the reputation of the group


Yes, they do exist. On another site, not ATS, there were posters outed as government employees. Some others I'm almost positive were paid by a very wealthy private individual.

Especially in the 9/11 forums, the trolling they have done in the past over there, has gotten some really good posters/people banned. Because they get so angry at the utter stupidity, and they just keep pressing there buttons. It's sad.
But some of them they sign up to ATS and you look at there post history and it is only in the 9/11 forums, and all they do is troll people seeking the truth and trying to discuss this. The mods have done a better job in the last while to stop it. Still some people the way they post, it sure seems they are being paid, it's so obvious.

But I will say this based on some of the polls ATS has had over the years and the results of those polls, it must be only a small percentage of the membership, as the results of these polls are very telling as to were the ATS membership stands as a whole, and it's not with these paid trolls.

reply to post by Daughter2


But why would the government need to spend money and manpower on that? When was the last time anything discussed on ATS made it into the mainstream? The things discussed on here aren't a threat to anyone. Even if someone did discover the truth about a conspiracy they would be drowned out by all the other competing theories. Not to mention that the majority of the population wouldn't take it seriously anyway because it comes from a conspiracy site.

Daughter2

Xcalibur254
So I asked this question to a specific member but it seems like they couldn't provide an answer. So I will now ask the thread as a whole. What would be the point of having paid shills on ATS?

Intimidate and humiliate other posters
Bury valid points and information
Make it seem like the majority of posters do not agree with a point
Take the alternative view point but act inappropriately so it will tarnish the reputation of the group


Yes, they do exist. On another site, not ATS, there were posters outed as government employees. Some others I'm almost positive were paid by a very wealthy private individual.

Paid trolls? ATS isn't Billy Goat Gruff. Yes, there are trolls who gang up en masse to annoy others on every forum on the planet. But paid by the government to do it? The only money they are being paid is SSI or welfare or unemployment insurance or their parents.

Just because someone is a government employee does not necessarily mean the government pays them to troll, it just means they are jerks.

I have been accused of being a paid shill. Do you really think I am? That's the problem, people are jumping on the "shill" bandwagon because it's now in vogue to assume if someone doesn't agree then they must be a government agent.

How far has minds gone now to believing conspiracy theories to the point of accusing others of shillery? Intelligence and logic have gone so far away, now people don't even want to see truth, they just recycle old false information that has been proven untrue, but the mind of the conspiracy theorist must hold to anything to keep the wrong thing alive.

There are things in this world we must question, no doubt about that, but to believe something because you are a fan of famous conspiracy theorists is dangerous, that means you would believe any crap that comes out of their mouth, even when they say "Here is the evidence" and then show you a video or an article that has no basis in reality or truth.

I do not think that in this life we will ever know if Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone or with others. We will never know in this life what form of life Bigfoot is. We will never know in this life what planet the aliens and grays are coming from. These are things that keep us looking and keep us entertained.

Take it from this accused "shill", just because someone disagrees and presents other evidence, does not mean they are from the government. But the real trolls aren't paid by the government either, they are just jerks. That's all. And the trolls sit back and laugh at you for believing they are paid by the government. That's what they wanted you to think, because their sole purpose in life is to be annoying to others. They really aren't clever enough to do anything productive in their lives.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this and in fact many a troll have been banned from ATS while other high profile ones remain and have been here for years.

You can tell many of them a part simply because there arguments can only be accepted as valid by a corrupt government or a really really stupid person.

wow. OK so I skipped from page 2 to page 10 to find that some of you are accusing each other of being shills.
what the heck?
I've also read on here on previous threads that some of you suspect that ATS itself is government owned/run.
can you say paranoid anyone?
The paid shills show themselves in full blown full colors especially at american election times. I now avoid the political stuff because I am just too thin skinned. lol. I think I posted once in a political forum only to be accused of being a troll. Personally, that ruined me forever on that.
I would assume that if any government at any time wanted to track us down through here that they could, I'm sure they have their ways.
We are not as anonymous as we think?

reply to post by WarminIndy


I haven't put you on my personal list of trolls. But because someone accused you and your not doesn't make others the same. Some people just have a hard time defending their point that all they can do is accuse the other of being a troll. I was called one before too.

reply to post by horseplay


Yea paranoia runs deep and the longer you post the more paranoid you will become, hopefully.



Hey

I was called a troll,

TDawgRex

greencmp
reply to post by Metallicus

 

I wouldn't be surprised at all and I am sure they do but, I don't think they would be/are very effective.

I would agree with you for the most part. More often than not, they are ineffective. But those whose managers are patient, are quite often effective.

The military has a term called "Measures of Effectiveness" (MOE). Commanders always want to know what the MOE is of whatever campaign they are on. Civil Affairs and PSYOP are way outside of that realm. They don't see immediate results from their actions as whatever they do takes time and can be easily upset by the actions of one individual.

Anyone with experience in marketing and advertising can tell you that it takes time to achieve a MOE.

But like the Army. most people want to see a immediate result. That alone sets them up for failure.

That's a very good point TDawg. That, and whoever hires those posters will have better MOE on boards that are more topic specific with roughly as many members as we have. This site has so many different topics to discuss that no one who wants to manipulate public perception about one topic will want to bother with this site. If they do, they don't know their job very well.

If they do a little research on this site first, they will also find that your typical college student wanting to pick up some extra cash will be way out of their league here. There are way too many intellectuals here who are very learned in certain topics who will shut them up and shut them down in no time. Back when I was more active here I used to eat people like that for breakfast, and I wasn't the only one. It was a fun way to pass the time.

( For the record though, anyone I know IRL that I "talked" to here, was never included in the mudslinging. The influencing was for a good cause. Always. I sincerely hope they can tell the difference)

They're out there, but there's not as many here as people may think and they're low level. They would almost have to be. Like FlyersFan said, it would be more of a training ground than a place to actually exercise the practice of manipulating people, because the one's you really want to influence, can't be. Not here. If the members are not smarter than paid manipulators then they're more stubborn. And if all they want to do is derail conversations, hell, my can daughter can do that better than the people hired to do it.

They cut their teeth here by playing with the big dogs, and then go to GLP to lick their wounds and teach the puppies how to "stay". I wouldn't worry about them too much.