Hooray!
Still a better poster than doorhinge.
Some people here can’t figure it out, so maybe Silver lining won’t be able to figure it out, either. It’s easy to mentally skip over.
I know some of my own tells, but I’m sure there are more that would catch me out. All of them are small things, but I bet there are more overarching patterns.
I cannot take credit for that one. I think it was more Vinyl Turnip’s observation than mine.
**Question for the long-timers here:
**
It seems like a lot of recently-joined members are doing a lot of the right-of-center political posts lately. Like, more than usual. Am I just doing that thing where you spot patterns in the data (I know it has a name)? Or has something changed in the new year?
(I’m an inconsistent reader/poster, so I may be seeing something that isn’t there.)
My inspiration for this question was this post: https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21469843&postcount=1
Am I crazy for finding this post weird?
I definitely notice the pattern. I think it’s because this board obviously leans left, and there is a real “troll the libs” sentiment out there since at least Trump’s presidency, and probably dating back a lot further.
There’s a thing in our brains where, if we see something wrong, we feel the need to correct it, so such posts get a lot of attention, which is what the troll craves. We’re also generally more mad at the right, and that comes off when we talk to them.
There are also just more right-leaning trolls in general, as leftism tends to push empathy (even if not everyone on the left follows it). The right-wing doesn’t, so trolls feel more comfortable over there. I don’t know how big the difference is, but it clearly exists. ’
That said, the post you picked up just seems like weird agenda pushing. It’s not until the weird reaction to people not liking it that it started to seem a bit troll-y, rather than spammy.
I hadn’t realized that Ancient Erudite had been banned. No announcement, I guess, because he was a sock?
I suck as a detective…what specifically gave it away? The only thing I noticed was the use of “Dem’s,” but that seems like a fairly common error.
If you don’t care for extrapolating Vinyl Turnip’s observation in post 9180 into a dispositive conclusion, you could try PMing a mod and asking who the old smart guy was socking. If even that seems like putting too much work on the mods, BoopKillBeep seems to have been willing to share a clue he found (I don’t know if it’s the “Dem’s” thing, though).
As **BigT **pointed out, this message board leans to the left (about 70-80% identify as liberals, from poll threads.) If a troll wanted to come here to stir up trouble, there wouldn’t be much point in doing so as a liberal. They’d have to be right-wing to agitate things up (unless they were posing as a super-liberal in order to straw-man the left; I think we’ve seen that before.)
That’s true. That asshole is the worst. Even when he’s just arguing about Orca whales.
EDIT: NM. totally misread the post by B J I cited, if any of you read that.
Eh, the cat’s out of the bad, so I’ll explain. The guy always wrote “Dem’s,” and it wasn’t a mistake, but using it as a contraction. It’s a weird affectation the guy has. We tried telling his first incarnation it was dumb, but he kept doing it.
I believe there was another tell, but I’m not sure I found it. And, even if I did, I’m not going to mention that one in public. Just in case SL is looking for tips on how to be a better sock.
Wasn’t he the one that used “USA citizens” all the time too?
I noticed that one, it stuck out like a sore thumb and I though that was him.
Meh, nothing new. the whole right wing is obsessed with her.
Makes no sense, as she is just a junior rep from NY. She doesn’t wield any powers or influence. The only “special” thing she’s got is her age, and that actually works against her, at least for now.
Most democrats wouldn’t even know who she is, were it not for the right constantly talking about her. If she has any influence, it is because the right has given it to her.
Plus, walking in just your socks destroys the socks. My socks cost me like $20/pair or more; I can’t replace them every 6 months.
Well, Hillary is no longer HILLARY, Obama is gone, the Right-Wing Hate Machine needs some new blood to hate on. Seems that AOC is the most likely target - young, female, has a “weird” last name, obviously not a real 'Murican and, God Forbid, is openly socialist!
She’s attractive. Republicans have run candidates for Vice President for that.
AO-who? Who is that? Don’t use a term that nobody, nowhere is going to recognize!