Trolls For Hire

[lame54]

http://www.politicsandtechnology.com/2007/07/make-no-mistake.html



Make no mistake: GOP is paying trolls to "blog attack"
This is unbelievable. We always knew that there were right-wing political hacks trolling the blogosphere, but this is a new low.

There's a company called Advantage Consultants that's offering up "professional blog warriors" to "flood the zone" with comments. In short, astro-turf trolls for the blogosphere.

Click to zoom on their ad at right, but here's the text:

Are you ready for a blog attack?
Get ahead of your opponent with Professional Blog Warriors.

Be prepared to "flood the zone" with comments from professionals who are ready to put your talking points on the blogosphere 24/7.

Whether it's defense or offense, Advantage Consultants has a dedicated team of experienced blog warriors ready to advance your candidate or campaign.

Why wait for the attack? Launch your attack with a battery of blog and forum comments aimed at all media and blog sites in your district.

Contact us today and let us show you the Advantage in professional blog warfare.

Wow. Unbelievable. "Flood the zone?" Yeah, it's all about quantity - forget quality.

Now don't get me wrong -- there's nothing wrong with being a paid blogger. There's plenty of organizations that have staff or consultants on retainer to write on their blogs - which inevitably means commenting on blogs.

But here's the key: Be open and honest about it. Unlike these guys, who promise "complete confidentiality", don't fake it, don't lie, and always disclose.

Incidentally, who are these people? Who is Advantage Consultants?
http://advantageconsultants.org/index.html
Their president is Doug Guetzloe, a right-wing radio host and anti-tax activist in Florida.

[eleny]

1. .

:kick:

[xultar]

2. Fuck'em if they are that stupid and think that patroling the blogs will help, more

power to their dumb ignorant shit stained asses.

They can only fuck with you if you let them. So, I fucking don't let them fuck with me. Think about it, basically they don't even have to pay anyone, they just put up a fucking poster and you'll do the rest by calling everyone who doesn't agree with you a troll.

And for those of you who get all hot and bothered over the unrec feature...you're buying into the bullshit.

[Lifelong Protester]

5. coffee-spew on keyboard...

I'm not messing with you, but the "dumb ignorant shit stained asses" line is a new one for me and made me hoot here in the north woods.

[xultar]

15. I try to keep it fresh but it is hard with so much RW ignorance, so little time...

[havocmom]

18. yer doin fine, xultar. You still my hero of the blogosphere.

Thinkin we might go covert and sign up with their silly program. Might be fun to mess with 'em from the inside.

It might give you some new material. ;)

hm, doin her part to keep things hoppin on the Internets

[Enthusiast]

41. Understood.

You have to use your imagination to cope with the ever increasing level of RW ignorance. It reaches a new and surprising level every day. :fistbump:

[AlbertCat]

47. And for those of you who get all hot and bothered over the unrec feature...you're buying into the bu

Puleez

I don't get hot and bothered by the "unrecommend" feature, but it makes no sense. "Unrecommend" isn't even a word. If you don't want to recommend something, then don't hit the "Recommend" button. Simple.

Now a :thumbsup: or :thumbsdown: button is OK but let's not make up absurdities like "unrecommend".

It's like that commercial I saw on the boob tube talking about eating a "healthful" diet. What the fuck is "healthful"? "Health" is a noun. To make it an adjective you must add a suffix. In this case the proper suffix is "y" giving us "healthy" A HEALTHY diet. A HEALTHY lifestyle. There is no such word and no need for such a word as "Healthful". I UNRECOMMEND it!

[Lifelong Protester]

3. At first I thought your post was a parody...

until I scrolled down. Holy batsh**,Robin. "Blog warriors"???? The not so psuedo-military angle is creepy.

[Pharaoh]

9. That is why the unrecommend

feature is troubling,

important info can easily be knocked down with it by trolls.

[Lifelong Protester]

14. well ok, then. I'll give it a rec!

[lame54]

21. thanks

[rudy23]

30. I said this from the getgo, and was met with a chorus of "PAID bloggers?"

"Why would insurance companies waste their money on what some person thinks on DU?"

You can tell who the trolls are here by their hyper overreaction to things like this, and their overreaction to anyone who complains about the unrec feature.

[kenfrequed]

35. Yeah

This is why I expressed concern about this feature when it first started and for this very reason. I was roundly boo'd and mocked for my suggestion that PR outfits might have their own cyber war-rooms that might monitor and try to affect broad masses of message boards and blogs.

[SidDithers]

42. And sometimes the use of unrec is absolutely justified...nt

Sid

[Rick Myers]

4. What really pisses me off...

Is these freaks using military imagry, etc... We all know that the Right supports the military, as long as THEY don't have to serve in it!!!

[The Doctor.]

11. It's a great way for them to live vicariously.

[neuvocat]

45. The 101st keyboard Commandos.

I forget who did the comic strip for that.

[gatorboy]

6. Or as I like to call conservatives: The Twitter Taliban!

[City Lights]

7. Ha! Good one! nt

[lame54]

8. I was thinking Assenaries

[earthboundmisfit]

10. Blogwater

Blackwater for blogs

[Vickers]

12. *snort!*

:rofl:

[datasuspect]

rw troll traffic is still traffic from the perspective of rankings.

in terms of advertising or adsense, maximizing the amount of eyes looking at any website can help the bottom line. it doesn't matter if they are rw eyes.

imagine if DU magically lost all its trolls. the membership roster would decrease by 3/4.

you can't make money off of a website UNLESS you have traffic. there is no good or bad traffic in terms of revenue.

[loudsue]

13. And sites like DU are crawling with them.

They learn to stay w/in DU rules, and then gang up to try to shout down all the liberals and liberal talking points. The primaries were the worst. :argh:

Many of them have been here for years.

[Poll_Blind]

19. Indeed. And there are at least two other professional "post" sites...

...that I came across, must've been about two years ago now. I can't remember the names but simple Google searching should turn them up. It's pretty bad. It's much cheaper to pay people to disrupt the "netroots" folks to prevent them from organizing than to wait until they're organized and trying to stop them at that point.

With the new Unrec feature, this behavior is easier (and now anonymous) than ever.

PB

[Papa Boule]

37. "They learn to stay w/in DU rules"

I'm sure they post tons of liberal dog whistle comments of their own, just to establish cred, and that they donate to whatever sites they're working. It gives them a few few free passes when they break cover.

[fascisthunter]

40. yup

[Hutzpa]

16. Excellent catch

no surprise from me because I've seen it done here on DU.

Here is how you counter that, you take their money and then
channel the conversation against their talking point......:evilgrin:


:kick:

[havocmom]

17. This thread is golden. Great, informative OP

and funnier than hell replies complete with new names for the 101st Keyboarders, as we used to call them.

[Poll_Blind]

20. K&R- this is just one of these outfits that have been around for at least a...

...few years now. I hadn't heard of these particular folks before but I'm sure the industry of paid-to-post is doing quite well.

PB

[Echo In Light]

22. Note how they rely on militaristic allegory - reveals the mindset.

[walldude]

23. What kind of asshole would start a company designed exclusively for

the purpose of "putting your talking points on the blogsphere 24/7".

Yes that's right folks, c'mon down to Advantage Consultants where you can get your lies spread cheaply and easily. Wanna claim Obama's gonna kill Grandma? We'll get it out there. Wanna claim that Sarah Palin is a genius? No problem! Birth Certificate forgeries? We got em'. C'mon down, and hurry before the Republican constituency gets a clue. Free creationism balloons for the kids! Our low prices are INSANE!!!

[lame54]

34. INSANE!!!

[unpossibles]

24. it seems they have a free-market solution to everything!

</sarcasm?>

[Wednesdays]

25. K&R

:kick:

[Stephanie]

26. It's not DU we have to worry for, it's the Freepers

They are so freaking gullible, an operation like this is precisely the kind of thing that gets them believing in death panels and euthanasia. This isn't aimed at us, it's aimed at them. Be sure Freedom Watch also has people out there planting memes on the RW blogs to scare them shitless about HC reform.

[Stephanie]

27. Here's his advice on trolling talk radio:

http://advantageconsultants.org/01_news.html

Influencing talk radio is relatively easy to do. One caller can get a topic going. You can use talk radio to effectively deflate the opposition or throw more fuel on an ongoing fire. Many talk radio hosts will use the day’s news as the fodder for their talk shows. Talk show’s hosts are always looking for issues to encourage more listeners and direct participation. Use that angle. If your candidate or cause has a major announcement – use talk radio to expand on the issue. Conversely, if your opponent or opposing issue has made a blunder – use talk radio to augment the relevance of the blunder.

Coordinate your talk radio effort. Have a written plan in effect and hire a talk radio consultant to develop one. Distribute your talk radio plan directly to your volunteers and those that want to participate. Only 1/10th of 1% of those that listen to talk radio actually call in. Every talk show has its “regulars.” Develop your talk radio volunteer army by coordinating the effort. Plan the day, the time and the message for the callers to call in – two or three “longtime listeners – first time callers” really makes a huge impact and the talk show host is more inclined to take them when they identify themselves as such.

Develop a list of talk shows, hosts, talk radio times, station call letters and call – in numbers to distribute to your talk radio team. Make certain your talk radio team has the talking points for the day/week. Have your team member’s work from a written script; no one listening will know the difference.

Use the Internet – the “new grassroots” to help coordinate your strategy and talk radio team. You can quickly get the talking points distributed and you can also put a hyperlink to the talk show to listen to “streaming audio” live on your PC. With the advent of streaming audio, the reception issues with many AM stations are resolved. By minimizing your streaming audio screen you can literally send and receive additional talking points and issue updates as emails of IMs keeping your talk radio team fully informed and briefed. Done well, this can be an awesome political weapon.

Use new people and new voices once a talk radio volunteer has made it live on a specific radio talk show. Have those individuals concentrate on the next talk radio target.

Talk radio hosts use board operators as “screeners.” Most talk show hosts will try to establish the issues being discussed that day. Whether the show is an hour or three hours, most hosts will let you know what the topic or topics of the day will be. If it’s on point – great. If not you may want to change the topic and move the discussion to your issue. The board operators usually ask your name and your topic – most do – some don't. For those that do – give them your first name or your middle name – no one knows anyway and tell them you want to talk about the topic de jour. When you get on the air you can try to segue into your topic or simply re-direct the discussion. Most talk shows have a thirty second delay and you may be cut off – most talk show hosts won't but some will if you're not talking about their issue. Play it by ear, see what works.

[ecstatic]

28. I started a troll account on FR this past week

:) Couldn't resist after the huge PWNING with the fake birth certificate. Some members are already calling for me to be "zotted", but I'm playing it cool. Sticking in a few RW zingers here and there. :smoke:

[jimlup]

29. This isn't really surprising! Thanks!

Yeah, these folks are drooling stupid and hopelessly reactionary. I'm so fucking sick of having to live on the
same planet as these retards.

[rhett o rick]

31. If the GOP is paying trolls, isn't that helping the economy? nm

[bvar22]

32. Don't worry. I'm from the Internet!

[Rex]

33. All Repukes will boil in the lake of fire one day.

:evilgrin:

[Papa Boule]

36. If volume of comments is an indicator I'd guess HuffPo is a prime target for this kind of stuff. n/t

[TankLV]

38. Well - that certainly can explain the surge in trolls on DU in recent weeks...

especially the last weekend...

[Enthusiast]

43. I thought the same. nt

[fascisthunter]

39. they have been doing this for years!!!!

[neuvocat]

44. This only hurts their cause.

"But here's the key: Be open and honest about it. Unlike these guys, who promise "complete confidentiality", don't fake it, don't lie, and always disclose."

The problem is the perception. No matter how much people believe this stuff when they write it their audience will disregard it when the offer to do so for pay is so obvious.

[rurallib]

46. "Professinals" Oy Vey!

professionals in Mommy's basement! Scawy professionals!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: