Does anyone else notice an uptick of extreme troll accounts?
Does anyone else notice an uptick of extreme troll accounts?
I swear, every time most of the time I see someone being particularly rude, ignorant, and inappropriate on a post (usually political in origin, or they swing it to being political) I click on their profile and see it has been created that same day.
They are only there to sow discord. Only to piss people off. Idk if we can just report them (for what?) but I'd like to try exposing them before responding and interacting..
I am guilty of gobbling up the bait. I've started looking at profiles of people that piss me off exceptionally and noticed they're burner bot loser accounts.
I guess i just want to say I've noticed it!
The whole of Lemmy is, in general, severely under-moderated.
Part of it is personnel (being a moderator is a crappy job and we don’t have the people to do it) but it’s also ideological. A lot of people here believe that allowing disruptive speech is better than suppressing expression.
That’s a choice and we live with the consequences.
Yes, Im also glad im not the only one who noticed this. But it also seems to be they disapper after a few days too, maybe instance mods banned them or they just got bored.
Some threads have a handful of interactions that seem less than genuine, yes. Usually political and derailing and spoil the thread.
We’re about 6 months away from the US presidential election so it doesn’t surprise me.
Never feed the trolls, the only winning move is to downvote and move on
Nothing is as maddening as writing an elaborate troll post only to be completely ignored.
I do all my riling people up on Reddit though because that site is collapsing anyway and a shell of former self. Hard to bring yourself to respect it and not throw some spicy fake made up posts into the wild and see what happens
I think I'm seeing something different, although also synthetic in nature.
It seems like companies or brands are in here (and probably on any social media) actively controlling the message about their brand. People make a post or comment about a specific thing (or person) and you get pre-packages responses, similar in nature and argument.
It makes you feel like it's tin foil hat time, but I've seen different accounts proporting the same exact experiences about a product, which are super specific in nature.
I could see that being a part of a company trying to actively "control the message," but it makes you question the authenticity of a lot of posts or arguments. Is that person really standing up for this thing with a questionable history, or are they a paid shill?
What would be a safe space from this though? A forum small enough to stay under the radar? I enjoy larger platforms like this because of the diversity in content and viewpoints, but not if it's a haven for corporate messaging or agencies controlling a narrative.
Am I joining the tin foil hat club here, or has anyone else seen similar?
Yes. Especially in subs like “Canada” or any post involving Canada in any way
It does not matter what the topic of the thread or conversation is. It can be about how Canada loves puppies. And there will be random 1 or 2 liners from new accounts making political comments heavily pushing specific agendas. Even completely unrelated
Lots of random anti government misinformation and one liners pushing a specific party misinformation and narrative. Our how we’re some 3rd world collapsing country
It is not natural. Same thing occurs also on Reddit.
Part of the attraction of this place is that it is like things used to be for the most part. Freedom of expression has always been a double edged sword that all of us have to be responsible for. When you start asking others to police an environment, youre giving up that freedom not just for those you find distasteful but for yourself as well. If you simply excercise due diligence in your consumption, you can easily learn what is comfortably digestible and what will give you a heart attack
I guess I'm lucky. I must subscribe to more or less of an echo chamber. Fuck trolls.
No, not really.
There's a group of conflict bots that show up every day, around the same time.
Then throw in a mix of astroturfers from certain countries trying to steer conversations away from one direction and into another direction.
Finally mix in comments from one of the extreme edges of the political spectrum, that repost the same kind of posts that support their extreme views almost daily.
Lemmy admins have some work to do.
Yes, and not just in comments, but occasionally when you sort by new, the same one loser (they use either the same pfp or a name with a sequential year or something, I can't find them in my blocked list, those accounts must have been purged) will post extremely racist or transphobic shit, almost like they want to get banned on sight to reinforce their delusions of persecution). There have also been targeted attacks on the autism communities with someone just posting the r slur over and over again. Report and block is the only thing to do really.
Either way, this is typical of any even moderately progressive space, but the more radical you go, the more bigots and trolls will come to smear their shit all over the space, it's an inevitable result of the overinflated sense of entitlement that comes with privilege.
I fit your definition. Now lemme 'splain:
For thirty-five years I have heard nothing but radical right fascism spewing hate, lies, vitriol, slander, and violent rhetoric- over the airwaves, cable, and now social media- and without the slightest bit of challenge or pushback. The amount and volume increased when they figured out it pays big money. The people who listen have never known that it was for entertainment; they are being edged to violence just like Ruwandan radio did.
Liberals have been major pussies and doormats about this because they have no idea who they're dealing with. They cannot be reasoned with or appealed to through humanity. The radical fascists' free speech rights do not exist and are not to be defended; there is absolutely nothing to gain there and everything to lose. As I said, liberals have no idea who they're dealing with.
For all the unchecked violence and damaged caused by the radical fascist shitbags to our daily lives, our long term properity, and to safety and security in general, I absolutely attack them with all the violent and vitriolic slander I can muster to pay back for thirty-five plus years of the same. This is the route every one of you should take, because they all think you're a bunch of pussies and they take great joy in running you over. They must be made to fear even being seen in public, and beaten down like rabid dogs when they are. They are enemies of freedom, enemies of humanity, and enemies of all that is good in the world.
We can expect this with any system that grows in size, becomes popular right? I don’t know the science behind it, but communities over a certain size naturally create subcommunities or attract partisans, antagonists, anarchists with a tendency to troll for fun. It’s the way of things.
It's almost the European Parliament and US presidential elections. Just today our national crisis centre heightened the threat level after a presumed Russian threat mail was send to Wallonian schools yesterday.
Hexbear seems to have chilled out a bit, but I've seen people from non-leftist instances pretending to be leftist and arguing worse than the typical tankies.
They are probably created by Reddit to make everyone lose interest in Lemmy /s
That's why huge instances are bad, they can't moderate all those users (I am on a bigger instance myself tho don't judge me).
Why yes, we even had a balrog...
I have not seen this. Can you link to some examples?
No, I don't think I have.
What instances/comms are you noticing it on?
I believe THIS is exactly what is being talked about when they say "Russian troll farm"
We are effectively in an information war with Russia, and that's really driving up the trolling. Not that every troll is a Russian bot, but they are really driving the trend and giving inspiration to terrible people. A lot of it is also laundered garbage from anarcho-capitalist "think tanks".
Permanently Deleted
Blocking news and politics subreddits is a big help. The absolutely retarded statements made there will drive a guy nuts.
It's those god damn cracka ass crackas taking up the black mans freedom of speech
Nothing wrong with someone disagreeing with you at all. Plenty of dictators throughout history hard-lining group think.
Report troll accounts, for actual people you dont have torespond to every post so just ignore or at minimum be respectful, you can even attempt critical thought: you might just be wrong.