6 Things You Learn Getting Paid to Troll People Online

[NuclearDem]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-things-you-learn-getting-paid-to-troll-people-online/

#5. Negative Feedback And Hate Reading Gets You Paid

I've never done a pay-per-click gig, but I have had a few gigs that paid me extra for reaching a certain page view threshold. Either way, at this point in my career I am now a known quantity. Editors know they can rely on me to produce a stream of punters giving them the sweet page views and click-throughs they need to pitch to potential advertisers. So basically every time you read my article, comment on it, and/or share it with your friends while telling them what a dick I am, you're helping me buy another pair of $400 jeans. Thanks for that!

Oh, what's that? You're unfollowing because of my article? Congratulations. No one gives a shit, because 20 other people just followed and you'll be back the second the website runs a picture of cleavage again. Unfollowing a page on Facebook is like voting Libertarian; it might make you feel better at night, but at the end of the day, you've accomplished precisely nothing.

Remember this the next time someone posts a link to a monumentally hyperbolic article.

For online writers, it's all about page views and clicks. The more outrageous or sensational an article is, the more likely it is to be widely shared, and the more cheddah it generates for the hosting site and the writer of that stupendously hyperbolic content. It's the Glenn Greenwald school of revenue generation.

[Rex]

1. There was a great distrubance in the force just now...did you feel it too?

I never thought I would see the day an article from Cracked.com would get a hide or locked in GD.

[NuclearDem]

2. It's a good read, too.

And it's useful information for consumers.

[Rex]

7. I was never a Cracked fan, perfered MAD.

However, I love Cracked.com online. Didn't at first, but now I do.

[NuclearDem]

30. Cracked has really matured.

Used to be almost entirely dick jokes, but now that's still dick jokes, but mixed in with a lot of good information.

[fasttense]

76. I've read everything this guy posted on Cracked

And I'm pretty sure it's all a lie. Now some of what he wrote is based on fact but most of it is pure BS. But he is kind of funny.

[Rex]

77. I think that was the point, he was BSing on a lot of it and it was very funny!

Thanks to haters, he buys $400 dollar pairs of pants!

[bunnies]

3. Whats the deal with this article?

Am I missing something?

[NuclearDem]

5. Hosts thought it was meta somehow, then the repost got juried.

[bunnies]

12. This is meta?

Makes no sense to me. And hidden? For what?

[demmiblue]

15. The first one was a call-out thread aimed at Will Pitt. n/t

[bunnies]

18. Aha. Now it makes sense. Thanks for filling me in.

[demmiblue]

21. Here is the thread in question:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026687597#post108

The original OP had even more call-out/snark posts in that one (so the intent was rather obvious).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026687597#post224

[bunnies]

36. Just went back and looked at the original post.

Yeah. Id say that was a pretty blatant call-out. Referencing the title of Wills article doesnt leave much room for question.

[one_voice]

31. No it wasn't...

it referenced a truth out article that was posted.

The article in question wasn't even posted by Pitt.

Maybe we should have a list of 'authors' that are off limits now.

There's a poster on here that appears on Fox News that's constantly given shit--but that's somehow ok.

It was a bullshit hide on thread and a bullshit lock on another.

[demmiblue]

38. Ok, it was a call-out thread aimed at Segami (but really, it was aimed a Pitt).

Actually, it was aimed at both, come to think of it.

I am glad that the hosts are tamping down on meta threads... it is only going to worse as the primaries move forward.

[one_voice]

41. No it wasn't...

Last edited Wed May 27, 2015, 02:33 PM - Edit history (1)

once again, it referenced an article/ article title. A title that was written for another site. NOT DU. Are we now not allowed to reference articles? It was not a call out, it was not meta.

This wasn't tamping down. That thread shouldn't have been locked. That was all about personalities.


eta: Maybe I shouldn't have said it was about personalities without having seen the conversation. For that I apologize.

[demmiblue]

43. Yes it was.

William Pitt is an active member here. Regardless of where the original article was posted, the comments and the highlighted excerpt imply that Will is a paid troll.

The hosts and a jury agree.

[sufrommich]

44. There's lots of accusations of "paid trolls" here daily.

The vast majority of which are allowed unfettered. Not only did Sid not call Pitt a troll,but the hide is proof positive that some are more equal than others here.Sid's hides are open for all to see now and they are warm milk compared to the insults that regularly stand here.

[pintobean]

47. They're all 4-3

Gotta wonder how many alerts it took.

[sufrommich]

48. The jury system is a joke. Skinner's biggest mistake was

assuming that adults will behave as adults.

[pintobean]

50. it's a tragedy

[nadinbrzezinski]

58. Ok this is rare

but I agree with you

And it is to the point I do not participate in juries or alert people. Though I expect to get alerted on regularly.

It is what it is.

One particular post yesterday the alert was also expected (and somewhat well deserved). I will admit to that.

[Number23]

85. + a stone cold million. I don't even know what's going on but your comment is 100% true.

[sufrommich]

87. SidDithers got a time out for getting 5 hidden posts, this OP was one of them.

If you want a clear picture of what alert stalking looks like,take a peek at his transparency page,his hides are laughable compared to what gets a pass here.

[Fumesucker]

89. Somehow I have a hard time believing Skinner of all people made that assumption

He ran this excuse for a zoo much more closely for years.

[Capt. Obvious]

92. This one was 5-2

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6606295

[demmiblue]

49. I guess we will have to agree to disagree,

though I do agree that there a a lot of nasty posts that remain unhidden.

However, when a poster posts constant snark and nastiness (however mild), I think a lot of people get sick of it.

[sufrommich]

52. Who cares who "gets sick" of who? That's not what juries are

supposed to be for.You're supposed to be judging a post,not a person. As I said,Skinner's biggest mistake was assuming grown adults wouldn't resort to jr. high type popularity contests.

[PeaceNikki]

54. Yup.

[demmiblue]

56. I'm not saying it is ok, but that I think it happens.

The more of a jerk you are, the more likely a hide.

What irks me are the people who vow not to hide anything or tell the alerter to hash it out in the thread (when it is an obvious community standards violation).

Personally, if I can't be impartial, I cancel my jury duty.

[Capt. Obvious]

93. Yeah, no one should try to put the judged posts into context

People shouldn't even be allowed to read the rest of the thread - just the post being judged.

[morningfog]

100. To be truly fair, the poster of the juries post should be anonymous.

The jury shouldn't know who posted it. Let it rise or fall on the egregiousness of the post.

[one_voice]

51. +1

[one_voice]

57. So what. If Pitt or someone else posts

his stuff here it's open to the same treatment as any other 'author's' work that gets posted here. Being a member doesn't make him special or exempt. 'Regular' OPs are just like all others, but when he/or someone brings stuff from other sites (or books) that was written for them, that's fair game. I don't get what's so hard to understand about that.

[Sissyk]

59. As I've heard just about every host say,

sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong.

I thought sure you would wait and read the conversation before saying it's about personalities when your next call comes in a few days.

[GusBob]

63. Not to be pedantic

but should it not be: most of the time we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong

otherwise the system is not working, might as well toss a coin

[one_voice]

65. I'm sorry if that came off nasty...

It wasn't meant to be that way. I've edited my comment with an apology.

I was basing what I said on the content of the locked thread; and how *I* saw it. My opinion really doesn't matter one way or the other right now, I'm not a host. I'm just a 'regular' DU'er, who thought that thread was locked and shouldn't have been.

Again, please accept my apologies (all hosts) for my comment. I know first hand how hard being a host can be without people throwing baseless accusations at you guys.

[Sissyk]

73. No, if I misunderstood, I apologize.

You've always been a fair host so that took me surprise. You know how much I try to be impartial (no matter whomever the alert is on or by) and I took the personalities bit wrong, maybe.

However, I don't support the lock.

[one_voice]

78. Thanks Sissy...

You too are fair, objective & consistent. We may not always agree on what to lock/leave; one thing is certain, I never question your motives/reasoning.

[Sissyk]

79. EHHHHH!

See, I even did it. I meant I DID not support the HIDE. I was WSC on the lock.

[pintobean]

67. Wait for the peer pressure?

The flip side of that coin would be for the hosts to take into consideration what members outside the bubble think.

[Sissyk]

80. I didn't know there was a bubble.

You can always sign up and give it a try.

[pintobean]

81. No, I can't.

I don't meet the requirements. I did get to see it before the overhaul, and I've seen enough spill out to say yes, there's definitely a bubble. That doesn't mean it affects every host, though. I have no reason to believe it affects you.

[PeaceNikki]

22. Wow, four people who would jump at the chance to hide a SidDithers post, huh?

Shocker.

[pintobean]

35. And the hosts who locked the first one?

[PeaceNikki]

40. Yeah, that, too.

[GusBob]

4. A Clinton presidency is a boon for the um, *attention seekers*

This is how Rush Limbaugh went nationwide. Getting on the anti-Clinton bus now gets you ahead of the game.

I wonder how the click baiters are gonna keep up

[NaturalHigh]

9. "This is how Rush Limbaugh went nationwide."

I remember that too. There was a guy who began listening to Limbaugh in our office back when Bill Clinton was running against Bush. None of us had ever heard of him. Not long after that he had a TV show and a book.

[GusBob]

13. And if Walker wins guess what?

This is called being in the catbird seat

[NaturalHigh]

16. "And if Walker wins"...

Not gonna happen. I would take any odds against Walker.

[NaturalHigh]

6. Is this one going to get locked too?

I still don't get that. It's an interesting article.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. If they are consistent

[Bobbie Jo]

10. Clickety click click

Kick

[sufrommich]

11. This is a satirical article about clickbait.Clickbait is a well

known phenomena on the web,so well known that it got it's own name. I'm just pointing this out for the satire challenged.

[MineralMan]

14. Getting my reply in before something happens.

It's interesting how often satire is mistaken for something else.

[sufrommich]

17. I have a suspician some knew it was satire and hid it anyway. nt

[MineralMan]

20. I wouldn't speculate, actually.

I was surprised it was hidden, myself. The original lock of another thread, though, didn't surprise me at all.

Sadly, someone is on a time out due to that hidden post. There may be something to that in play.

[sufrommich]

23. Alert stalking works and that's not speculation. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. I will not celebrate

I don't celebrate when anybody goes on forced vacation or gets banned... unlike some here, but alert stalking works. Hey. stalking works, even cyber stalking works.

Thanks for making the point of how stupid this shit is.

By the way I did not say you do... but some here do.

[MineralMan]

82. I'm sure you'd be surprised at how I vote on juries.

I suspect a lot of people would be.

[nadinbrzezinski]

83. I just don't play that shitty game

and will not either alert or do juries.

[MineralMan]

84. Your choice, of course.

[herding cats]

19. Did you know "clickbait" is in the Oxford Dictionary now?

Clickbait:

Definition of clickbait in English:
noun
informal
(On the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page: these recent reports of the show’s imminent demise are hyperbolic clickbait [as modifier]: a clickbait article

More example sentences

They're essentially just clickbait blog posts.
I'd tell any business to skip the clickbait lists and create something that is genuine and unique.
My reaction to his article was, "Clickbait".

Sensational headlines, hyperbolic articles and images of scantily clad people are all effective forms of clickbait.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Yup and by definition the police beat

is clickbait.

[herding cats]

32. I don't know what "the police beat" is.

Is it those daily reports where they mention who was arrested for whatever?

If so, they are clickbait by this definition, but they're also public shaming. Notifying a community that so-and-so was arrested for possession of marijuana < x-amount, or for PI or whatever, have always struck me as a way to feed the judgmental voyeurs in our society before a person even has their day in court. Reporting on dangerous criminals is one thing, but setting up people for public shame beyond the group of their peers has always struck me as a classless thing to do.

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. Yes, that is the police beat

it used to be separate, but these days it is the bread and butter of local news.

It is easy... at times tempting, But I prefer to do the hard work, like going over the 5 year infrastructure plan for the state. I think that matters more to my life and that of every state resident as well.

But we do run from time to time police beat stories. Part of it you need to keep the cops happy, when you actually write when they misbehave. Those stories do attract a lot of eyes on screen.

[herding cats]

60. There's a lot of voyeurs out there who eat that stuff up.

Publications have to make money to pay the bills just like everyone else. So long as they're not the bulk of the content they don't hurt the quality of a site overly much. It's those places that revel in nothing but that underhanded style of click/hits generation who deserve the title of "clickbait wastelands" in my eyes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

64. Agreed, why I go though news releases every morning :-)

I ran one of a rape in Mira Mesa, and damn click views went thought the roof. But I think people are hungry for other content too. We ran a story on poverty and we were gobsmacked at how much traffic that generated.

I will be the first to grant that a rape in Mira Mesa was kind of a story since they are rare. In other areas of town, they are not so rare.

[drm604]

27. And that definition may itself be clickbait.

It got you to link to it.

[herding cats]

33. True!

Before you know it Oxford Dictionary will have us going through an entire click based slideshow just to get to the definition we were trying to find!

[one_voice]

28. K&R

kicking and rec'ing because earlier

[ismnotwasm]

29. In before Da lock

Not so sure how many people get paid, (is it like collecting signatures for a petition, pay?) but an interesting article

[JEB]

34. Lost me with the gratuitous dig at Greenwald.

[pampango]

37. Exact duplicate of an OP that got locked about an hour ago.

6 Things You Learn Getting Paid To Troll People Online [View all]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-things-you-learn-getting-paid-to-troll-people-online/

#5. Negative Feedback And Hate Reading Gets You Paid

I've done a pay-per-click gig, but I have had a few gigs that paid me extra for reaching a certain page view threshold. Either way, at this point in my career I am now a known quantity. Editors know they can rely on me to produce a stream of punters giving them the sweet page views and click-throughs they need to pitch to potential advertisers. So basically every time you read my article, comment on it, and/or share it with your friends while telling them what a dick I am, you're helping me buy another pair of $400 jeans. Thanks for that!

Keep on hating, haters.

Oh, what's that? You're unfollowing because of my article? Congratulations. No one gives a shit, because 20 other people just followed and you'll be back the second the website runs a picture of cleavage again. Unfollowing a page on Facebook is like voting Libertarian; it might make you feel better at night, but at the end of the day, you've accomplished precisely nothing.

Remember this the next time someone posts a link to a monumentally hyperbolic article.

For online writers, it's all about page views and clicks. The more outrageous or sensational an article is, the more likely it is to be widely shared, and the more cheddah it generates for the hosting site and the writer of that stupendously hyperbolic content. It's the Glenn Greenwald school of revenue generation.

Sid

A Jury voted 4-3 to hide this post on Wed May 27, 2015, 12:34 PM. Reason: This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. When the original post in a discussion thread is hidden by Jury decision, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted. Hide post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026734834

[NuclearDem]

42. It's useful information that some thought was a meta call out, when it wasn't.

As for the hide, I doubt it was about the article so much as it was about being Sid's fifth hide in 90 days.

[pampango]

45. People actually follow how many 'hides' a poster has had in the past 90 days?

I don't find the OP that controversial but it is messed up when identical posts get treated differently depending on who the poster is.

[PeaceNikki]

53. I see it in alerts. Stuff like "Please make this poster x's 5th hide they will get a well-deserved

time-out".

[MineralMan]

62. Such comments ensure that I will vote not to hide the post.

I find that kind of thing to be abhorrent. If I'm on a jury like that with that kind of comment as the alert message, I alert on the email that gives me the results, so the admins can have a look.

That sort of behavior truly makes DU suck. It's offensive on so many levels.

[PeaceNikki]

66. Agreed.

[WillowTree]

46. I still say the guy who wrote that article is hopelessly in love with himself.

[McCamy Taylor]

70. I think he is in love with the notion of being a "paid writer".

[WillowTree]

74. That, too. But I need to know how to find him 'cause he broke my Smug-O-Meter.

[xocet]

55. Do those trolling posters get paid for cheap shots at Glenn Greenwald? n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

61. Like anything that uses a metric to generate revenue, this system is designed to fail

in its intent--to sell a product or promote a corporation or party. Since it is easier to generate hate or outrage than it is to actually sell something, paying a paid troll to piss people off is money down the toilet--not that I mind if the folks who resort to paid trolls lose their money.

How about we in the US go back to making money the old-old fashioned way---working for it---rather than attempting to turn paper profits and swindle the public?

[McCamy Taylor]

68. Wow. I just learned that all this free posting I have been doing for 15 years could have made me

money if I was willing to sell my soul and write about something someone else wanted me to write about rather than only those topics that interest me.

On the other hand, I have a sneaking feeling that the quality of what I have written online would be about a 10% of what it is if I had been writing about something I didn't really give a damn about. Because it is so much easier to work up a good righteous anger when writing about the Sick and Poor than it is writing about how important Genetically Modified Food is to our future.

[maindawg]

69. Fuck Cracked

These are the biggest bunch of asshole on the web. If you waste your time on them you deserve to get trolled. Self righteous assholes all.

[McCamy Taylor]

71. Why the anger? If you don't like it, don't read it.

[maindawg]

75. Here you have a guy

who is bragging about buying 400 dollars jeans by being a jerk. He makes a living, being a jerk. Thats what you get from Cracked. Its a site for jerks. Enjoy.

[NuclearDem]

72. You seem mad.

[Number23]

86. K&R for Senor Dithers

It's an interesting and relevant (if very assholish) article. No wonder some are so determined to shut it down.

[joshcryer]

88. POS click bait journalists.

[Fumesucker]

90. POS insurance companies that deny critically needed care

One is mildly annoying or perhaps pathetic, the other is terrifying, infuriating and far too often lethal.

[joshcryer]

91. ???

Seems rather random given the topic.

Our news media is dead.

[Fumesucker]

94. Nah, the topic is Pitt, this is just a gloss over the top of that festering mess

I don't even like Pitt that much but some people really have it in for him. Yet he was very popular here before Obama was elected.

I was pointing out when Pitt made the "POS used car salesman" post that's so infamous he was both terrified for the survival of a loved one and enraged at a ridiculously complex system of medical care delivery, one that requires not only you fight the disease but the system also at the same time.

[joshcryer]

95. Maybe. But even then it was click bait.

Uninformed about the options, facts, truth. Just say some bullshit and the people will flock.

[Fumesucker]

96. I read that thread, it was eye opening as to just how little Obamacare actually covers

If Pitt hadn't come here and screamed like he did I'm not sure his wife would have gotten the meds she needed, a lot of the advice I read on that thread was awfully obscure. No one but an expert with inside knowledge would know how to go about it and that leaves out almost all of us.

In fact I suspect Pitt may have saved more lives with that one OP on DU than any number of calm and "factual" articles in the press, he let the Obamacare supporters themselves tell us how desperately hard you have to fight the system to get what you should be owed in the first place.

[joshcryer]

97. I don't think that's true at all.

A phone call would have been made eventually, and some kind person in the government would have informed him.

You post hyperbole. Single payer uses formularies. The same complaint could've been levied over single payer.

It's the lowest info crap that gets the most attention.

[Fumesucker]

99. And you post comforting pablum if we really want to get into characterizing each other

Feel like you can just lash out at everyone now you are insulated by your "I don't know who you are" script?

People in America die of treatable conditions all the time, it's hardly unusual.

[joshcryer]

101. I was commenting about clickbait "news."

An article which incidentally got hidden because a previous article making an extremely minor call out was locked by a host. After going down the rabbit hole I thought "POS" applied the most to this clickbait "news" circus. Even the newswire is falling for this kind of crappy journalism. A reporter out in the field who spent their entire educational life learning about how to write good neutral articles and editors come along and edit those articles to put a different spin on things to make it more controversial than it is.

It's a disaster.

I lash out at nothing but the corporate media and its pawns.

[Fumesucker]

104. You said I post hyperbole

If you can't remember the insults you are posting perhaps you should drop the anonymous script until your memory improves.

As I said, dying of perfectly treatable conditions in America because you don't get the treatment for whatever reason (almost always having to do with money) is hardly unusual, you have no way of knowing if Pitts wife would have got the treatment or not without the thread that he started here.

I know that thread opened my eyes as to just how much of a byzantine crapshoot navigating our health care system can be.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/05/14/1-in-4-adults-had-insurance-but-still-couldnt-afford-medical-care/

More than 1 in 4 adults who bought insurance for themselves or their families last year had to skip needed medical care because they couldn't afford it, according to a study released Thursday by Families USA, a consumer health group.

Some signed up for coverage on the new health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act and received financial assistance to help pay their premiums and some of their out-of-pocket costs. Others bought their plans directly from insurance companies.

But even with the gains under the health-care law, 25.2 percent of adults who bought insurance on their own last year said they went without medical tests or treatments, prescription drugs or doctor visits because of cost. Because most adults who buy insurance on their own do not have dental care as part of their health coverage, the ability to see a dentist was not included in the main part of the report.

But when dental care is added to the mix, it becomes the most common type of care that adults skip because of its cost.

Edited to add a typical example I read immediately after I left this thread, a HS principal can't afford care she needed for her cancer diagnosis so the senior class at her school forgoes their class trip and donates the money they would have used to her care.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=6738552

Only in America and only with Obamacare.

[joshcryer]

105. "Pitt may have saved more lives"

How is that not hyperbole when a simple phone call to the numerous, hard working, HSS people, would've given him the formulary answer?

As far as the script, I can follow a conversation well enough, I was confused at first because I was not calling out Pitt, but you had to drudge it up. I was using his idiom to refer to clickbaiters. I should've just feigned ignorance of what you were getting at rather than being baited into talking about someone who has little relevance to my initial comment. If anything my comment was channeling Pitt's comment, using it more appropriately.*

And let me just restate, formularies are integral to single payer. If somehow magically we got single payer instead the same problem would've cropped up.

But yes we can be in agreement that it's a damn regulatory and implementation nightmare. Even if we got the public option it would've been. ACA is obviously a major hack.

[Fumesucker]

106. Up until I read that thread I wouldn't have known the questions to ask

If you don't know the right questions getting the right answers is much less likely.

If what you say is true then people would never die for lack of treatment in America, everyone would get the treatment they need and some helpful person would always be there to give them the obscure piece of information they require to get that care.

Then we are faced with the reality and that is one in four Americans forgoes medical care because of lacking either money or information.

And you did feign ignorance in your first reply to me.

[joshcryer]

107. I'd forgot what the POS statement was about.

I thought it was about the STOU address (the one with the soldier who some claimed was being "used as a prop&quot . I get those two confused since those were the two biggest "bash Obama" moments.

[CBGLuthier]

98. Good proof the DU jury system is biased broken bullshit.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026734834

[akbacchus_BC]

102. Touche and the person who started this thread,

claims he is being paid. One wonders what is going on?

[bobjacksonk2832]

103. Wow, some people are really desperate for money.

Though I guess in these hard times, people will do anything to make a buck. Still pretty lame though.