State sponsored trolls

[bluefirecorp_]

State sponsored trolls are part of reality. I was just curious how bitcointalk should handle such incidents.

Identification of state sponsored trolls is quite a difficult thing by nature, but they exist. How do you sort them from real trolls is a more difficult question?

Anyone have any suggestions or comments?

[Dig Bicks]

It's nearly impossible to identify them.  I don't really think there is anything we can do.

[HiDevin]

It's nearly impossible to identify them.  I don't really think there is anything we can do.

I'm starting to question if you are a troll or not, or just aggressive to some people.

State sponsored trolls are part of reality. I was just curious how bitcointalk should handle such incidents.

Identification of state sponsored trolls is quite a difficult thing by nature, but they exist. How do you sort them from real trolls is a more difficult question?

Anyone have any suggestions or comments?

I don't think they should be removed to be honest, sure you can red trust them but I think like LoyceV said, " Bitcointalk isn't SJWtalk. "

[bluefirecorp_]

I don't think they should be removed to be honest, sure you can red trust them but I think like LoyceV said, " Bitcointalk isn't SJWtalk. "

Ha, if only the web of trust wasn't entirely useless. :p

Being politically incorrect and spreading misinformation/propaganda aren't exactly the same, but they do seem to feel similar.

[suchmoon]

State sponsored trolls are part of reality.

Opinion != reality.

If you have some personal issues with specific users, which is what this sounds like - ignore them.

[cabron]

Sponsored trolls may not be here, I think they had to access media after all they do have budget for that, take a look at Craig Wright and that Jaime Dimon who can publish on big news site and were interviewed by big networks. These guys had successfully drag the price down because of trolling but in the end they also give opportunities for those who hadn't bought cheaper BTC. Give thanks to them don't scare them away.

[LoyceV]

If any state wants to sponsor my posts, please contact me I accept Bitcoin

Seriously though: which state? Many states have different interests, and I don't think they'll gain much from trolling on this forum.

[Quickseller]

I suspect you are referring to what you are saying in this thread I already resonated to, so I will post my response to that thread.

This seems like a fairly credible accusation.

I demand a full FBI investigation into this matter.

Until BADecker can disprove this, the administration should label all of his posts "potential state sponsored propaganda" despite the lack of evidence to corroborate this accusation.  

Edit: I just voted that we should ban these people. But we should only do this as long as there is zero evidence to support these people are state sponsored trolls.  I also don’t think a ban will go far enough. We should post all their sensitive information, but also only as long as there is zero evidence to supine this in order to prevent anyone from presenting evidence.

[JetAid]

It would be great if we could have some government representatives posting on the forum. Maybe we should even have a board for them.

I get the impression that they aren't too knowledgeable about crypto though, so they would probably just be running bounties to try to reduce a few national debts.

[hilariousetc]

State sponsored trolls are part of reality. I was just curious how bitcointalk should handle such incidents.

I'm not denying the existence of them, but I think governments probably have bigger and better things to do than troll a bitcoin forum. Most of the "trolls" here do it just for kicks. They're sad and pathetic people and that's how they get off, but that's not something that concerns them.

Maybe we should clarify the definition of troll?

For example, people on Dunning–Kruger effect act in similar way with trolls, but they're not and they barely know anything.
Does people who against specific idea such as LN automatically become trolls if their knowledge/opinion on other subject is fine?

Where does BadDecker fit into this? Is he a troll or just an idiot? You can often never tell.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

There are hardly any trolls in this forum, compared to the other ones I’ve been.

If OP means someone who is paid by the government to create opinion, for example that bitcoin is a fraud and that only fiat currencies are trustable, that looks to me more like a community manager. But it is impossible to know if that person is being paid or not. Anyway, it isn’t a big deal.

[bluefirecorp_]

State sponsored trolls are part of reality.

Opinion != reality.

If you have some personal issues with specific users, which is what this sounds like - ignore them.

This isn't just opinion. State sponsored trolls have been proven to exist repetitively. To try to deny this reality is akin to denying climate change or evolution.

State sponsored trolls are part of reality. I was just curious how bitcointalk should handle such incidents.

I'm not denying the existence of them, but I think governments probably have bigger and better things to do than troll a bitcoin forum. Most of the "trolls" here do it just for kicks. They're sad and pathetic people and that's how they get off, but that's not something that concerns them.

Ha, you'd think they'd not bother targeting individual small forums and instead target larger social media sites, but that's not really the case. They're working everywhere.

How do you prove an individual isn't a state sponsored troll? It's quite difficult without some deep analyst of the user's post history, times, etc. If they're posting often enough and through multiple sock puppet accounts, correlating that is a difficult thing.

[suchmoon]

State sponsored trolls are part of reality.

Opinion != reality.

If you have some personal issues with specific users, which is what this sounds like - ignore them.

This isn't just opinion. State sponsored trolls have been proven to exist repetitively. To try to deny this reality is akin to denying climate change or evolution.

Are we still talking about this forum or some global issue with facetwit et al? I'm not aware of any state-sponsored trolls being proven to exist "repetitively" on this forum. At any rate, ignore works just fine.

[Welsh]

I'm not denying the existence of them, but I think governments probably have bigger and better things to do than troll a bitcoin forum. Most of the "trolls" here do it just for kicks. They're sad and pathetic people and that's how they get off, but that's not something that concerns them.

Yeah, you would think a FUD campaign would be far more effective than someone who's known to have a few outlandish claims.

This isn't just opinion. State sponsored trolls have been proven to exist repetitively. To try to deny this reality is akin to denying climate change or evolution.

Yeah, but have they been proven to exist here on Bitcointalk? The thing is with these sorts of things its too difficult to determine whether the user actually believes what they are saying or if its completely fabricated because of the so called sponsorship from the state

[bluefirecorp_]

This isn't just opinion. State sponsored trolls have been proven to exist repetitively. To try to deny this reality is akin to denying climate change or evolution.

Yeah, but have they been proven to exist here on Bitcointalk? The thing is with these sorts of things its too difficult to determine whether the user actually believes what they are saying or if its completely fabricated because of the so called sponsorship from the state

It's hard to prove the existence of those individual trolls, but yes. I do believe they exist here. If you look at the list of fake news sites, you'll see them published quite often by a small segment of users.

I'm pretty sure these users don't actually believe these sites but rather are paid to spread the links.

[HeRetiK]

Why just state sponsored trolls though? There's corporate sock puppets as well.

Still, assuming either are active on Bitcointalk -- How would you discern a paid troll that is part of grander scheme from someone that is trolling for fun or simply has a dissenting opinion?

I doubt reliably uncovering state sponsored trolls is possible. And short of being able to do that, banning people for merely voicing dissenting opinions only leads to a divided community which is precisely what governmental and corporate trolls would want.

[suchmoon]

I just realized that most of the responses in this thread are exactly what state-sponsored trolls would say. "Don't go looking for us, we don't exist, freedom of speech !!!#E#@$%!"

[HeRetiK]

I just realized that most of the responses in this thread are exactly what state-sponsored trolls would say. "Don't go looking for us, we don't exist, freedom of speech !!!#E#@$%!"

That's just paranoid, why would we they do that?

[YOSHIE]

State sponsored trolls are part of reality.

Opinion != reality.

If you have some personal issues with specific users, which is what this sounds like - ignore them.

I agree? Ignore?

This site is used as a base for provoking Negative sites, Trolls aspire to violence, it feeds the reactions of their victims, ignore it?

For example:
the simplest, sometimes things can get a little hot on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments section of your favorite political website, so be careful about Trolls.

[Flying Hellfish]

Where does BadDecker fit into this? Is he a troll or just an idiot? You can often never tell.

How about hes an idiot troll, I think both descriptions are especially appropriate in his case!