# How would we know if a person on this board is a paid troll? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 11, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280 "2016-10-11T20:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/21 "2016-10-12T16:34:06Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > There was [THIS](https://stream.org/astroturf-outrage-machine-of-paid-trolls-floods-social-media-to-counteract-negative-news-about-hillary-clinton/) article that said the Clinton campaign paid people to post information about HRC on various boards like Facebook. I’m sure other candidates do it also. > > I’d like to ask, has any such troll ever been spotted on this board and just how would we recognize such a person fro say a regular supporter of that candidate? We can tell. They’d start a thread linking to a obvious paid hit piece, full of lies, half-truths and mis-characterizations. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/22 "2016-10-12T17:58:54Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > A paid shill would tend to only have posts on one topic. And would be a newly registered member. > > Same as a spammer. Not necessarily. My gf works for an ad agency. They maintain memberships on many boards, and use the accounts to periodically do market research for clients. It’s cheaper than assembling a paid focus group. The questions they ask/topics they broach tend to be subtle in nature. In between uses of the message board account, interns play around making general posts. For example, they want to learn more about public perception of Sux Vacuums. They might post a question, “I’m ready to give up. Dog hair everywhere. Can anyone suggest a good vacuum cleaner?” The answers usually vary according to what board they post to. They also steer the conversation along the way, “Sux? I heard they are pricey!!” They then have a meeting to discuss what the answers mean, and how they can tailor future ad campaigns to utilize this info. I’m not certain how politic shills vary from more mainline advertising, but it seems like they’d take a similar approach. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/23 "2016-10-12T18:47:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Rewinding back to the OP: > > I’d say that the SDMB is a pretty small pond. Not one with great public influence or a large audience. As such we’d be way down the target list of places for an organized effort to shill/troll. There’s no point in shill/trolling someplace where the readership is small and mostly fixed. > > The goal of social media is to shout from the rooftops. For small players to speak with the same volume as the NYTimes. Speaking here, whether in ways that meet our community standards or not, is definitely mumbling in the bathroom with the water running, not shouting from the rooftops. > > Somebody getting 30,000 likes or retweets is effective. Somebody here getting 500 pageviews not so much. > Bottom line: > IMO we can be pretty confident paid shill/trolls aren’t a problem we have. Yes, we do get the occasional drive-by newbie with an axe to grind. And in the political season we get more carrying political axes. But IMO we’re not subject to paid attacks. Good point. Plus I’d guess only half the people on this board are American anyways. Sometimes its nice to be small. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/24 "2016-10-12T18:49:29Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I gotta say, **Urbanredneck** , you really got an interesting track record [with threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=802627) [like these](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=795814). > > It’s almost like one person, or a few people, can’t influence consensus enough to turn a forum to a new direction. > > It’s almost like individuals can counter attempts at spam and propaganda regardless of whether they come from paid shills. > > In fact, it typically goes too far the other direction: The forum ends up with a vector-sum consensus, the end result of all participants participating in threads and exchanging ideas, and newcomers get short shrift until they’ve been around a while. That’s where accusations of “hivemind” come from, and they’re not entirely false; OTOH, healthy fora don’t go completely closed, either. You must have a LOT of time on your hands to put together such a long post. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/25 "2016-10-12T21:29:26Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > You must have a LOT of time on your hands to put together such a long post. How long does it take you to type 116 words?! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/26 "2016-10-12T21:45:03Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > You must have a LOT of time on your hands to put together such a long post. Two Google searches and a few paragraphs of light analysis? I’d put in more effort to participate in a Cafe Society thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/27 "2016-10-14T01:05:14Z")
I’ve probably written more about Batman’s dad than Derleth has about Urbanredneck. ETA: out of curiosity I checked, and I’ve got at least nine posts that mention Thomas Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/28 "2016-10-14T12:23:04Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Two Google searches and a few paragraphs of light analysis? I’d put in more effort to participate in a Cafe Society thread. Well, why don’t you and your fancy book-learnin’ get on over there and get to it? I bet your type likes them movies where they got words on the screen and everybody talks funny. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/29 "2016-10-14T13:31:51Z")
I’m sure a great deal of time and money is spent dispatching political and commercial operatives to small-time message boards, comments sections of articles from low-circulation news media, Amazon product forums etc. Never mind that these hidden Forces typically have enormous budgets for paid advertising; it’s essential that they ferret out every negative comment from anywhere on the Internet in threads with as few a half-dozen posters, and counteract it with spamming and falsehoods. Thus, armies of paid “astroturfers” are undermining our social discourse. It’s a many-tentacled machine. Ignore any “facts” or “evidence” that these operatives post. It’s enough to just point and say “Shill!”. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation approved this message. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/30 "2016-10-14T14:05:57Z")
I just want to officially say I can not be bought. Rent is negotiable. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280/31 "2016-10-14T14:07:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I just want to officially say I can not be bought. Rent is negotiable. What about a long-term lease? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-we-know-if-a-person-on-this-board-is-a-paid-troll/768280.md?page=1)