I am sure you know that various organizations have paid people to respond on FaceBook and other

[LiberalArkie]

places. I am sure that there are many users here on DU are in the paid service to various groups. You can spot them by always trying to start an argument. If if was in person, they could make a nice calm statement meant to get someone riled up. They would remain calm while the other person(s) start raising their voices and make a fool out of themselves to other people. This tactic has been used forever. That is why Dr King was always nice and cool and collected and always told everyone to remain calm and peaceful. Occupy Wall Street used those same tactics. Those tactics also work on discussion systems. When someone starts something, just ignore them. They are not worth the effort to reply. Because when you reply to their comment, they will they up the ante and real quickly you become and over excitable person and you get alerted on, not them.

Don't reply. You can not change their mind at all. If you just let their statement just sit there, you won. The best defense is to not play their game.


I hope this makes sense, if not, please rewrite it for me.

Thank you

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Absolutely right. n/t

[LiberalArkie]

2. Thank you Peggy. I was noticing too many people were falling for the bullies trick.

They start something and the victim is the one that gets suspended or kicked out of school.

[malokvale77]

18. I noticed earlier...

that someone tried to draw you in.

You did not take the bait.

You are one of the reasons I come to DU.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. Thank you so much for telling me this, my dear malokvale77!

I have taught myself to walk away, firmly and let them have the last word.

It was really sweet of you to tell me.

[malokvale77]

22. No problem

I love the way you handle yourself here on DU. I can only assume you do the same in real life.

I followed your threads about Chris. Class act.

and more

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. Thank you so much.

I miss him so much. Especially with how brutal this primary season is right now. He was very political and he really understood what was going on. I wish I could ask him to explain everything.

I try to be consistent out beyond DU.

[malokvale77]

24. You are a dear...

to me and so many here on DU.

I have no doubt Chris would tell you that you got things right.

dear lady.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

25. I hope so much that you're right...

Thank you again for your support. It means a lot.

[malokvale77]

27. Please know...

that you have the support of so many here.

You personify the very best of DU.

One more before I log off.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. ...

Good night...

[artislife]

33. Letting them have the last word

is hard for someone like me, but this place has really allowed my to flex that muscle a lot.

[MissDeeds]

3. Not only do they want to push talking points

they hope to get posters to post something that will result in a hide and eventual time out. Sometimes it's hard not to take the bait.

[LiberalArkie]

4. Yes, I know. I was alerted on once for saying "It was nice that the phoned first" Speaking at BLM

calling the HRC campaign before showing up. They are bullies and we are smart enough to not fall for it. There is not reason for the bullies to win because we know their game.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. I've been on DU 12 yrs until this summer I was hid Twice, in Four months I've been Blocked from 3

Groups, hid from 3 I've been lucky enough to have people post the times I was alerted on to no avail, I always took it as obstinate but maybe there is a darker purpose, they do have a certain script quality to their argument .

[corkhead]

6. By chance are you talking about a Red Baiter presumably from Maine?

It's just comedic performance art.

[tularetom]

8. You mean Mr "Bernie can't win because he's a (gasp!) socialist"?

He's put up the same post three or four times just today, generated a bunch of responses, and never once defended his OP.

Yeah that was a george w bush "fool me once" situation.

[artislife]

34. We should post

"Not gonna play that game." or False meme or something short and sweet that lets you and everyone else know that this isn't worth the time defending against because it is like a dog marking territory and trotting off.

~~

I once did that to a poster who I felt was trying to goad me and I said "Not gonna play that game" and they said "Okay". And left it.

I was stunned. It works.

[merrily]

37. I find myself posting just "LOL!" often.

[mopinko]

7. iow

dont feed the trolls.

[LiberalArkie]

9. To me the best response to a bully is silence or the best food for a troll is crickets

[mopinko]

10. yup. ignore is your friend.

i am personally not real inclined to walk past a good fight. but i have learned that many here are not fighting a "good fight", they are fighting for the sake of a fight. if everyone ignored them, they would move along.

yes, what to feed trolls? crickets, fersher.

[Pharaoh]

11. ^^ this ^^

[snot]

12. A couple of docs all DU'er's should be familiar with

. . . if you don't want to end up wasting your time online:

The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.) [and sock puppets], including "Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation": http://pastebin.com/irj4Fyd5 .

Conspiracy Theories by Cass R. Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule. Sunstein was appointed by Pres. O. to review NSA abuses. In this paper, he recommends that the government should engage in "cognitive infiltration of extremist groups": http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084585 .

[retrowire]

16. Excellent read, and thank you.

I've known about this stuff for a while, but never seen a comprehensive piece like this about it before.

Good reads, thank you.

[malokvale77]

19. Good stuff. nt

[snagglepuss]

30. Will peruse later Thanks for the links. nt

[hootinholler]

13. Well my take is probably not many

Mainly because it's mostly amateur hour in GDP.

Either that or those organizations are gonna be pissed at spending money for that.

[Enthusiast]

14. Yes.

The internet is full of paid sockpuppets.

[Catherina]

15. +1000! n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

17. I'd recommend mocking them mercilessly.

Don't get mad - just laugh at 'em. It totally disarms them.

[malokvale77]

21. The thing is...

I've been mocking them forever. They somehow don't get it.

It's OK though, I'm still laughing.

[Alittleliberal]

26. It certainly seems that way sometimes

The lack of self awareness, nuance and inability to see the irony in their own posts is truly frightening at times. That being said I think if any paid posters do exist at DU the only thing they could accomplish is riling up posters and getting people banned. That sucks but it's unlikely they will influence anyone's opinion here. DU is full of policy-wonks, fierce debaters and truth seekers. Many posters on this site offer brilliant inspirational commentary on pretty much every issue you could think of. It's the reason I started reading this site almost 8 years ago now. It's the reason I started posting and the reason I'm still here. However on things like Facebook and Twitter this people can have huge destructive impacts on elections. These people do sway opinion on social media. A lot.

[SusanaMontana41]

29. Silence can speak very loudly. eom

[LiberalArkie]

32. Make you want to say hmmm

[artislife]

35. Now that is very interesting.

Who is for H1B visas?

[merrily]

38. Are they really measuring different posters, or just the % of posts?

[TBF]

36. Either ignore them or come up with an argument

that they aren't going to like. This was my response to the protaganist you are referring to (or at least one of them): http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251624116