I was there for 4 Seattle subreddits, lol. Those guys were Doug, CharlesGrodinFan, Rainier?, etc. Doug found me over here awhile ago.
They were trolls, I’m pretty sure Rainier was a legit Russian troll. He would change personalities during the weekends and forget entire discussions, so I think his account was a russian account. He kind of admitted it early on once, before they all got better at it. Too bad, he was super smart and funny. The rest are Maga trolls.
As for the bicyclists, I think they might be doing this type of shit (same as in this thread). I’m not 100% that they’re legit bicyclists.
“Once we isolate key people, we look for people we know are in their upstream – people that they read posts from, but who themselves are less influential. We then either start flame wars with bots to derail the conversations that are influencing influential people, or else send off specific tasks for sockpuppets (changing this wording of an idea here; cause an ideological split there; etc).”
The goal is to keep opinions we don’t want fragmented and from coalescing in to a single voice for long enough that the memes we do want can,…
They were trolls, I’m pretty sure Rainier was a legit Russian troll.
Wow, that just activated a bunch of unpleasant memories.
Yeah, I concur, that guy was a legitimate Russian troll, and yeah Doug I remeber being the most ludicrous infuriating asshat.
As for the bicyclists, I think they might be doing this type of shit (same as in this thread). I’m not 100% that they’re legit bicyclists.
Every actual avid bicyclist I ever knew irl is basically the exact opposite of a person who would… you know, spend all their time on an internet forum?
Granted, this was about a decade ago now, but… I remember actually having to explain the concept of an internet forum to a few of them… ‘wait, its like a blog, but … its like… everyone’s blog?’.
As for the troll tactic, yep that defines it perfectly.
Manipulate social dynamics by identifying and trolling influential thought leaders, as opposed to just bullying randos. Make group cohesion impossible with constant petty drama bullshit to defame people.
… pretty sure the internet was basically a mistske at this point rofl.
I was there for 4 Seattle subreddits, lol. Those guys were Doug, CharlesGrodinFan, Rainier?, etc. Doug found me over here awhile ago.
They were trolls, I’m pretty sure Rainier was a legit Russian troll. He would change personalities during the weekends and forget entire discussions, so I think his account was a russian account. He kind of admitted it early on once, before they all got better at it. Too bad, he was super smart and funny. The rest are Maga trolls.
As for the bicyclists, I think they might be doing this type of shit (same as in this thread). I’m not 100% that they’re legit bicyclists.
https://archive.is/PoUMo
…there were FOUR?! jfc…
Wow, that just activated a bunch of unpleasant memories.
Yeah, I concur, that guy was a legitimate Russian troll, and yeah Doug I remeber being the most ludicrous infuriating asshat.
Every actual avid bicyclist I ever knew irl is basically the exact opposite of a person who would… you know, spend all their time on an internet forum?
Granted, this was about a decade ago now, but… I remember actually having to explain the concept of an internet forum to a few of them… ‘wait, its like a blog, but … its like… everyone’s blog?’.
As for the troll tactic, yep that defines it perfectly.
Manipulate social dynamics by identifying and trolling influential thought leaders, as opposed to just bullying randos. Make group cohesion impossible with constant petty drama bullshit to defame people.
… pretty sure the internet was basically a mistske at this point rofl.