# Moderators-Has this board ever been hit by Russian-influenced posters or bots? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 11, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756 "2018-07-11T22:57:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 11, 2018, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/1 "2018-07-11T22:57:13Z")
To the best of your knowledge, has this board ever been the victim of Russian influence? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/2 "2018-07-11T23:09:53Z")
We’re all still in deep cover. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/3 "2018-07-11T23:11:35Z")
Bots don’t tend to complete their registrations. The spammers that get through are doing a lot of work by hand (they seem to be very fond of CTRL-C / CTRL-V). As for Russian-influenced posters, it wouldn’t surprise me, but we have never positively identified anyone as such. The Russians are known to use social media to spread distrust of the U.S. government, so making disparaging remarks about both Republicans and Democrats would be within their normal operating range. Democrats also use social media to disparage Republicans and Republicans do the same to Democrats. None of these types of posters would stick around for any length of time, so what we would be looking for are drive-by posters who post from anonymizing hosting sites. We get plenty of those. Socks and trolls are also often drive-by posters who post from anonymizing hosting sites. We currently don’t have any method for separating out Russians from anyone else posting from a hosting site. As long as they post within the rules, we don’t investigate any further. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/4 "2018-07-11T23:19:00Z")
How would we know? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/5 "2018-07-11T23:25:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How would we know? Such people\* are often very heavy handed and obvious. When somebody never shows up except to post copy-and-pasted screeds from some known propaganda outlet it becomes pretty obvious why they are there. - By no means just Russians. I suppose it’s because if you are hiring large numbers of people for a widepread propaganda campaign you can’t realistically hire only the people who are good at it. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/6 "2018-07-12T00:34:13Z")
Do a post search for "Russian handler.` You should find some examples. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/7 "2018-07-12T01:10:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How would we know? Ask them. If they say “nyet, comerade,” then we have our answer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/8 "2018-07-12T01:32:55Z")
There were a couple Bernie bros copying and pasting the newest Kremlin hit piece on Hillary for a while. However, I am almost certain they didn’t know where the fake news originated. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/9 "2018-07-12T02:39:46Z")
We’ve had spam bots from that corner of the world … probably still do but our moderators are ever vigilant, thanks be. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/10 "2018-07-12T05:21:54Z")
Nyet, comrade. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/11 "2018-07-12T05:27:32Z")
Also, good user name / thread title combo. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/12 "2018-07-12T07:57:49Z")
The mods here are certainly more effective than those elsewhere - Quora in particular comes to mind. Thanks, mods! ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/13 "2018-07-12T12:58:49Z")
> [@siam sam](#): > > nyet, comrade. Молчи, товарищ. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/14 "2018-07-12T13:47:50Z")
Maybe one of the registration questions should be “Who won the 1952 World Series?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/15 "2018-07-12T16:35:44Z")
Let me guess-- Under the Asimovian theory that the real Americans would all say “I dunno”, but that the Russians would think that it’s something that Americans would be expected to know and look it up? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/16 "2018-07-12T16:57:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Let me guess-- Under the Asimovian theory that the real Americans would all say “I dunno”, but that the Russians would think that it’s something that Americans would be expected to know and look it up? And to think, it’s only taken 13 years for me to regret my choice of username. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/17 "2018-07-12T17:34:58Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Maybe one of the registration questions should be “Who won the 1952 World Series?” The Patriots. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/18 "2018-07-12T17:47:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Let me guess-- Under the Asimovian theory that the real Americans would all say “I dunno”, but that the Russians would think that it’s something that Americans would be expected to know and look it up? I once read somewhere that during WW2 the Germans sent some spies to England, but that their idea of what an Englishman was supposed to look and act like was heavily influenced by PG Wodehouse literature, with the result that they greatly overdid it on the stereotypes and were easily exposed. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/19 "2018-07-12T21:11:15Z")
IIRC, we used to get hit by DOS attacks from hackers fairly frequently. At least that’s what TPTB\* wanted\* us to believe when the servers went down. :dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious::dubious: ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756/20 "2018-07-12T21:35:32Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Maybe one of the registration questions should be “Who won the 1952 World Series?” Oh, no! I’m a kraut! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-has-this-board-ever-been-hit-by-russian-influenced-posters-or-bots/817756.md?page=2)