I don't think we have much to fear from people who can't spell rhetoric correctly.
Of course there are Republicans concern trolls on MyDD (and every other Democratic blog for that matter). They are easy to spot since they can't argue their way out of a paper bag. They just parrot dittohead talking points. This has been going on since I started blogging and it isn't an emergency.
I'm not worried about the occasional random troll, but this plot seems more organized and insidious than that. It really makes me wonder about some of the more vocal haters on either side of the Dem divide. Even if not true, it should make us think about the consequences of our continuing division. We are handing the neocons exactly what they want.
...it is a very plausable explanation for the trolls we see around here.
Rec'd for hopefully talking down our more authentic brothers and sisters from any ledges they might be on.
Who is "FF?"
Probably False Flag.
Could also be Fat Fanny, Frozen Frankfurter, or Flatulent Fuhrer.
Could be, though I also suspect it might be a 'pub with the handle FreedomsFire that I remember from another email my friend forwarded to me. I can't find that older message, otherwise I might dig up more detail about this.
One of the problems for honest Clinton supporters is that the comments a real Republican Troll would leave do not have to be far different than what Senator Clinton herself called for in the Friday conference call to her bloggers.
The only clear differentiation is that Senator Clinton is calling for all of her supporters to support the Democrat nominee. You cannot expect that to come from a Rep. Troll.
On the other hand, it is my belief that many Clinton Bloggers who are pledging support to John McCain are not Rep. Trolls either, but actually mean what they say. So there is imho no real way to clearly ID a Republican Troll in these cases.
As an Obama supporter, on the other (third?) hand, I have no great hesitation to call out a supposed Obama supporter behaving similarly as a Rep. Troll. There has never been a call from the candidate or the campaign encouraging the types of intentional devisive tactics as Sen. Clinton calls for. Quite the opposite.
Any Obama "supporter" using such language is more likely - again imho - to be an opposition Troll than a real supporter.
-chris
I think we HAVE been identifying them pretty easily. We all know that some supporters seem to have no interest in getting a Democrat elected.
Assuming that this plan was written by one of them that was better than the typical soldier, that "Democ-rat" bit demonstrates the extent of their abilities.
I stayed away from MyDD for several months during this primary season in a fit of pique because my email address changed and I couldn't seem to get a login that would work.
I finally straightened it out and came back. My first comment in an open thread was 'What has happened here? The place is crawling with trolls.' Now that I've been around again for a couple of months, I gotten used to it but it was a shocker.
My point, if I have one, is that your friend's plan works. I've become slightly de-sensitized to trollish behavior. There are only a few Clinton supporters on this site that appear to be genuine. The rest appear to be trolls but since I can't be sure, I have to treat them as if they are not. On other liberal blogs, people are not so kind. Posters who have been long ago outed as trolls on TPM and Kos have been posting with impunity here until recently, even getting admin support to remove TU status from people calling them out.
FYI; Blogs make money through advertisement. High traffic is a key to more profit. I think that's great. Who am I, who are you? Who knows? Anyone can blog. I do know this much, the more traffic the better for an internet business. Hooray to making money! :D
Rec'd for "retorict."
I don't think Obama supporters understand how it could be offensive to call us 'low information voters' for example. I think they accept it as fact or maybe think all of the Hillary supporters on this site are only voting for her because we're women.
Obama supporters need to re-think certain 'truisms' that have become accepted as 'fact' by some of them. That you can be a Hillary supporter and not be a racist, for example. That some of us are just as inspired by Hillary as they are by Obama.
I'll admit I have been there too - talking about the 'cult', etc. But I have really tried to stay away from that recently. For those Obama supporters who do go to the anti-Hillary side, it is just as effective for me, anyway, to hear an Obama supporter tell them that they are wrong.
You make a fair point. I mean that.
Some of your compatriots say the same sorts of things about African Americans, though.
There's blood on all of our hands.
I haven't seen anybody say anything offensive about African Americans here. If I saw it, thogh, I would certainly be the first to denounce it.
I think when you are faced with two great candidates, it is understandable to lean toward the one that you have some sort of cultural tie to. It would only be disturbing if people were clearly picking an unqualified candidate strictly for reasons of racial/gender identity. I honestly don't think you can argue that is happening in this case.
Why would I recommend this diary?
This is the most laughable plot I've ever seen--with the possible exception of the Miami cadre of suspected terrorists who were going to blow up the Sears Tower being led down the garden path by an over-zealous FBI informant who should have been arrested himself.
And, yeah, I can't see being worried about a numbnut ringleader who can't even spell rhetoric.
Only someone who doesn't have the capacity for critical thought would give this email or this "operation" any credence. C'mon. It's ridiculous! Get over your fear of "trolls" will ya? It's like kids afraid of monsters under their beds, seeing monsters in every shadow.
Good grief...
I've looked through dozens of your comments, and I've yet to find any post of yours that says anything good about any Democrat - you're anti-Obama, but you don't seem to be particularly pro-Hillary enough to actually defend her on anything -- only to repeatedly state that you won't vote unless it's her who gets the nomination.
Indeed your most passionate defense so far, seems to have been of any Democrat but of Pat Buchanan instead: http://www.mydd.com/comments/2008/5/15/2 35310/161/136#136
Trolls are trolls and I'm not sure someone lacking the natural troll urge could be an effective troll solely motivated by a political endgame. I've speculated about whether certain posters are "false flag" posters but the bottom line is either the person is making a valid point or they are not. I don't think alegre is a troll or a paid operative, but her personal motivation for making a ridiculous argument doesn't change the ridiculous nature of the argument.
whether it's working or not. I've become increasingly suspicious and intolerant lately. Maybe I'm just more impatient. I've begun to mentally label more and more people as trolls, when in fact they're probably just angry Democrats (and in many cases, Clinton supporters who are hurting). I'm especially suspicious when people say things like, "You liberals are blah blah blah" or "The far-Left is hijacking the party and someone needs to put you in your place." That strikes me as RW-trollish behavior, but I try to keep in mind that most Clinton supporters aren't like me -- a lot of them are centrists and moderates, so maybe they really do resent liberals and progressives.
The people who are bashing affirmative action, talking about the evil Left-wing of the party, or calling CNN the "Clinton News Network" (which I actually saw someone do awhile back) are probably trolls. Beyond that, I can't always be sure.
What is so radical about Obama's platform? Is it the energy policy that emphasizes local/renewable production? Is it a return to pay-as-you-go fiscal discipline that balances the budget? Is it the attempt (however flawed) to provide health care to more Americans? Is it his plan (favored by most Americans) for a phased withdrawal from Iraq? Is it the attempt to increase grass roots participation in our Democracy, is that a radical far left principle?
What exactly is this 'far left' and why exactly should I be afraid of it. Please explain.
Thanks.
The people calling him an ultra-liberal/far-Left candidate are idiots. My guess is, most of them are Republican trolls who've been watching Faux News. They're getting their talking points from O'Reilly.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with the "far Left".
One of the surest ways I've found to identify them is to reward their appeals to traditional Democratic values. For instance, if they turn apoplectic when you talk about how noble their support of things like universal health care, reproductive freedom, and gay rights then chances are you've got a GOP troll on your hands.
These trolls often pretend to be single issue supporters, but refuse to support the other candidate's nearly identical stance on those issues. They get especially offended when you suggest that the issues they claim to support are more important than personality or campaigning style.
