Undercover reporter reveals life in a Polish troll farm

Post by ShorsHammer » Tue, Nov 05, 2019, 4:14 AM UTC

namdnay wrote: post #35

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't say it surprises me. But I think by now every government is using such farms. I find it difficult to believe otherwise based on recent FCC issues ( https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jsvine/net-neutrality-f... ). Yes, sadly, I am invoking everyone is doin' it.

Based on these two examples, I wouldn’t say “everyone”. Every corrupt populist administration maybe?

Post by specialist » Tue, Nov 05, 2019, 5:11 AM UTC

nomel wrote: post #61

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has largely solved the spam problem for end users. What I can't figure out is why platforms like Facebook and Twitter couldn't mark these sort of posts as, essentially, spam, by the same sort of rules and heuristics as email spam. Why can't they look at the metadata of verified troll-farm-generated clickbait/junk/spam/fake news, and make their own filters, and demote that content? Simple. Because they're makin…

I think you’re trivializing the difficulty in categorizing the low quality, and extremely brief, comments of social media. Go look at a political subreddit, or some controversial tweet. There’s little conversation or context. Most users could be bots. Google often has the advantage of having hard (url) or soft (product/key word mention) links that point to something extremely rare and “unimportant”. Everyone is bitch…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Nov 05, 2019, 5:21 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #193

alkonaut wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a party did that in a country where voters respond appropriately to this kind of thing, that political party would be wiped out for a generation. If a party manages to dupe people into thinking their populist cause is important enough to see past the use of troll factories for message control, then that I think says a lot about the health of a democracy. I can imagine this happening in Poland, Hungary or perhaps e…

In case of Poland the party increased social spending several times, paying people with 2 kids half the median salary every month and lowering retirement age. They could go on TV saying "we are corrupt and we are stealing from you" and they would still win these elections just because they paid for the votes. That's how populism works. Frankly I'm amazed they managed to lose the Senate and only won the Sejm (lower ho…

Post by RobertRoberts » Tue, Nov 05, 2019, 5:26 AM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #123

RobertRoberts wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't tend to find comments on HN the same as other social media because discussion is often brought up because of comments. Drive-by comment bombing doesn't work here the same as other places.

I could characterize this entire argument of yours as "drive-by comment bombing", thus backing my (facetious, rhetorical) claim that you are a shill for the photovoltaic industry.

Post by Mirioron » Tue, Nov 05, 2019, 5:31 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #193

alkonaut wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a party did that in a country where voters respond appropriately to this kind of thing, that political party would be wiped out for a generation. If a party manages to dupe people into thinking their populist cause is important enough to see past the use of troll factories for message control, then that I think says a lot about the health of a democracy. I can imagine this happening in Poland, Hungary or perhaps e…

In case of Poland the party increased social spending several times, paying people with 2 kids half the median salary every month and lowering retirement age. They could go on TV saying "we are corrupt and we are stealing from you" and they would still win these elections just because they paid for the votes. That's how populism works. Frankly I'm amazed they managed to lose the Senate and only won the Sejm (lower ho…