Troll Dissection 101 is an ongoing series where we’ll take you through troll droppings we find, and give you our take on what the DNC and Obama propagandists were trying to accomplish with them.
What follows is a comment caught today in spam filters, with our breakdown of the psychology employed in it. We’d love to say the DNC and Obama propagandists behind these things incorrectly think Americans are so stupid they’ll fall for this stuff, but in reality, a good many people DO fall for this stuff. The problem, we’ve found, is that Americans in general are just SO NICE. They are good, honest, decent people who approach the world thinking all those they encounter are good, honest, and decent people too. That’s why trolls are always “given the benefit of the doubt” and, largely, why people like BigotBasher, Wonk Hussein, Rumproast, Daily Kos, Snarkopolitan, DemocraticUnderground, and others on the Left are allowed to keep doing the things they do to attack people. Most people who are attacked don’t want to fight back, because fighting back is unpleasant, just as thinking about trolls deliberately trying to trick and demoralize people is unpleasant as well. It’s truly creepy knowing there is a legion of Obama supporters working always behind the scenes in Psy-Ops to bamboozle the blogosphere, but that’s precisely what’s going on.
TODAY’S TROLL DROPPING:
Listen, I was a DIE hard Hillary supporter too, and I was so mad at the tactics that I did a whole report on Obama supporters. But the fact of the mattter is still that we would be in worse shape with the republicans in office. I am NOT a huge Obama supporter, but I will get behind him and HOPE that he will overturn DOMA. I know he’s thrown gays under teh bus, but what exactly are you trying to do- elect the people who will give you NO chance of equality? Come on.
(1) Listen, I was a DIE hard Hillary supporter too, and I was so mad at the tactics that I did a whole report on Obama supporters.
First and foremost, the troll needs to establish a connection with the site this troll has been assigned to. So, since this site is HillBuzz, and we are Team Hillary guys, the troll has to pretend he is a Hillary person too. Think of this as the troll putting on a bad disguise it stole from a garbage can in the alley behind an abandoned costume shop. ”Tee-hee! Me find mask. Wear mask, fool peoples. Never know me troll now! Tee-hee-hee!”. John Travolta and Tom Cruise are more convincing as heterosexuals than these trolls are as Hillary supporters.
The “all-caps” on the word DIE is really weird. So many on the Left are emotionally and mentally unstable, that it’s classic for them to slip little, odd things into their droppings that only they think are funny. We’ve never seen anyone all-caps the letters D-I-E in “diehard” before, and have only seen the word spelled “Die Hard” when used in reference to the awesomeness of John McClain’s adventures at Nokatomi Plaza. So, this could be a sick troll jab at Hillary, or her supporters, wanting somebody to DIE. Hence, the caps…hence the spacing between the D-to-the-I-to-the-E-to-the-space-to-the-hard.
The next part is strange because this troll said it was so made at the tactics it did a whole report on Obama supporters. What’s weird is that it’s normal convention to link to documents referred to like this. If you wrote a report, where is it? Why didn’t you link to that report. We bet you stayed up all night working on it, even when you got so tired you started using the blunt end of the crayons, and tears were streaming down your face as you realized you were missing American Idol, but you just couldn’t pull away from the kitchen table to watch it until your important report was finished. All the other trolls were be-bopping away to glorified karaoke in another part of the cave, while you, burdened like Atlas and confined like Prometheus, HAD TO FINISH THE REPORT.
What the troll is doing here is establishing a connection to Hillary supporters and saying something that makes an uninformed reader believe it, too, does not like Obama. So, everything it says later is supposed to carry more weight so you will pay attention.
(2) But the fact of the mattter is still that we would be in worse shape with the republicans in office.
This is classic troll logic. Establish (1) above, then immediately add BUT to it. It’s like they design for Apple Bottom Jeans. Always putting a big but into something.
Liberals love stating things as fact that aren’t. It is not a matter of fact that we would be in worse shape with the republicans in office. This is CLASSIC troll dropping. Out of everyone who ran for president in 2008, we ended up with the worst possible person in office, surrounded by the worst possible advisors, with the worst possible Senate enabling these people. It is a matter of fact that we would be in much better shape today with Hillary Clinton as our president. That’s as true as anything. We believe we’d also be in much better shape with Sarah Palin in office, even as VP and not president yet. McCain, as president, would never have engaged in the lunacy of this administration regarding reckless spending and the Rationing Bill. That’s a matter of fact.
It’s fascinating the troll tacitly admits how bad a president Obama really is, though. If you have to talk about how much worse things would be with someone else, then you aren’t selling your brand well. You don’t hear Coca Cola advertising as, “Yah, this stuff tastes like battery acid, but Pepsi is much worse, so drink Coke, otay? Thanks. Bye!!!”. That’s brand management 101, people.
(3) I am NOT a huge Obama supporter, but I will get behind him and HOPE that he will overturn DOMA.
“I’m not a raging alcoholic, but I do like to have a few drinks before breakfast and think it’s okay to have spent my week’s pay by the time the liquor store closes every Friday”.
“I’m not gay, but I will buy any magazines with photos of Jake Gyllenhaal dressed up in his santa hat and a g-string from the movie Jarhead because I am fascinated with Desert Storm and support the military and also approve of Christmas and like the color red”.
“I’m not a troll, but I often use all-caps to make certain words stand out that I think are cute, like HOPE, which is a nod to the fact that I am an Obama troll, but by using so blatant an Obama troll go-to like HOPE, I’m being ironic and cheeky since people would assume a real troll wouldn’t be so blatant, so therefore I am not a real troll because I am so blatant, so thus I’m playing 11th dimensional chess with you right now because I went to Harvard and you didn’t”.
The DOMA reference is just really strange because we can’t remember the last time we talked about it on this site. Occasionally we talk about DADT, because we love the military and DADT is in the news again because of the SOTU address. But DOMA? That sure was random. Almost as if today’s troll directions from the DNC were to go out and talk about DOMA, and how Obama will overturn DOMA, even though in the end he really won’t.
(4) I know he’s thrown gays under teh bus, but what exactly are you trying to do- elect the people who will give you NO chance of equality? Come on.
January 29, 2010 at 3:16 pm
You’re right . . . when I saw that comment, I immediately thought it had to be a troll.
January 29, 2010 at 3:33 pm
I am hard copying your troll dissection series to be studied word by word with a good cup of strong Irish tea. Since I don’t think like these people,they really mystify me. I’m too process, results oriented so I’d rather occupy my time doing some activity that yields tangible results, so your ability for getting into their mindset
is really helpful. Still this shows what a mess our form of government has devolved to and another reason why I like people like Palin. She ran on specific actionable issues and when elected gov. delivered on the big ones (ACES and AGIA). Loved your LEGO band, but I just love LEGO. I have two books on LEGO pictures the Bible. Priceless!
January 29, 2010 at 3:36 pm
the techniques of the trolls reminds me of how the N.Koreans’ propagandas are sold…
1st–”relate” to your victim (power to the
people)
2nd–ease in with kindness ( oh yes I
understand)
3rd–come up with a “solution”
(even though you didn’t even have
a problem to be solved…cause to
them—”YOU” are the problem)
4th–continue the #2 and #3 til they force
you to sign on the dotted line….
BTW–I listened to the whole audio on breitbart and it was amazing that you survived/surviving….
obama is the hateful left’s only hope–they are not going to let him go easily….the fact that they did all this work to get him elected (forging votes is alot of work !!that’s why acorn made so much money)this is it–it is their time and with nothing done but the 1 horrendous stimulus bill past last year–they do seem alittle dispondent…but with the elections coming up this year—I can see more hate (olberman) coming…..how ironic that all the work the left has done—in the end —they have given the Republicans the biggest gift ever…..and the end to their power over anyone….
January 29, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I’m so ‘effin weary of the ‘Republican’s are evil’ mindset that is such a given with liberal bigots.
January 29, 2010 at 3:51 pm
So, once you spot a troll, what is the proper response? Do you refute them point by point or do you simply shout “Troll!” and move on?
January 29, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Ya know, I always wonder what to do with a troll, myself. If I ignore a troll, and yet allow it to post on my blog, I’m giving them a place to be trollish. If I fight a troll, it just fights back and it all escalates.
Perhaps the best thing to do is ban a troll so it never gets in in the first place?
Guys – what do you think is best?
January 29, 2010 at 4:31 pm
How would you pre-ban a troll?
January 29, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Well, Delete the first comment and then ban their IP address afterwards.
January 29, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Somebody should make a moving .GIF of the part in the first Harry Potter movie where Quirrell runs into the Great Hall screaming “TRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL!” Any volunteers?
January 29, 2010 at 4:58 pm
LOL! What a cool idea!!
January 29, 2010 at 5:47 pm
January 29, 2010 at 7:18 pm
That would make my day!
Then cut to the part where he faints as he says, “Just thought you oughta know.”
January 29, 2010 at 6:31 pm
There’s an ancient maxim from the days yore:
DON’T FEED THE TROLLS
There’s a corollary that goes with it:
If you play with the troll, you take him home and feed him
Just tell him he’s wrong and to stop trolling.
January 29, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I am peeing my pants.
Reading your Troll Dissections is like watching one of the best episodes of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
Fight troll with droll!
January 29, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I guess I’m just too gullible. Thank goodness you guys aren’t! But this is one of the many lines that just about made me spit my Diet Squirt all over my newly replace mackbook top case.
“I’m not gay, but I will buy any magazines with photos of Jake Gyllenhaal dressed up in his santa hat and a g-string from the movie Jarhead because I am fascinated with Desert Storm and support the military and also approve of Christmas and like the color red”.
PS – I typed LOVE 3 times in another post requesting Hillbuzz think about doing podcasts – but because I would love it – not because I like the color red.
January 29, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Podcasts!! What a marvelous idea! I wonder what it would take to make this happen. Other than the other 1,000 obligations you already have, of course.
January 29, 2010 at 4:56 pm
If you want us to do that, research how it’s done and do the legwork on figuring that out and we can see about making it happen. If we have the support to try new things, we will do it. It’s just hard for us to figure out the tech stuff.
January 29, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I don’t know anything about hosting podcasts, but recording should be really easy. All you need is the program Audacity and a microphone that hooks up to your computer. Audacity is super-easy to figure out and it’s free, too. You make your sound file, save it, convert it to another format on Zamzar (website, also free) if you have to, and upload someplace. Voila! Ze podcast, it is made!
January 29, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I am technologically inept.
I did a quick search, and apparently all one has to do is download the software. I’ve never even used my iTUNES program:)
Here is one link of many I found….If you choose to do it, I can help support this endeavor financially. But I will make this my job tonight, since I’m snowed in.
http://www.recordforall.com/audio-recording-videos.htm
January 29, 2010 at 8:58 pm
If I recall – the Hillbuzz official computer is a Mac. I was thinking you’d be able to record podcasts with Garage Band. I quickly found this link.
http://www.apple.com/support/garageband/podcasts/
I’ll look into it some more when I have some time this weekend.
January 29, 2010 at 8:59 pm
ditto what Crystal says about supporting this venture financially. Dan Savage does podcasts, and I will always maintain that you guys should set yourselves up as anti-Savages: writing syndicated advice columns, doing podcasts, conducting campaigns against political figures you hate like the one that brought down Santorum.
I don’t know what’s involved in having a career like Savage’s (I think he started off as a simple sex advice columnist and then grew it into a syndicated empire) but it strikes me as something you should explore especially now that one of you has been borked into submission by the lunatic left.Wouldn’t it be funny (and sweet revenge) if Kevin re-invented himself as a major pundit?
Incidentally, Savage sometimes auctions his services for charity: one of his recent columns was written by a straight Catholic male reader, who’d won the right to do so in a charity auction. You could try auctioning the right to write a guest piece for Hillbuzz for some worthy cause.
Just sayin’.
January 29, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Agreed Crystal – they can just add Podcasting to their 1000 other things!
But we’ll do some research and see if we can’t make it somewhat painless to get it done.
January 29, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Trolls are creepy. I got pretty good at spotting them but the only way I know to counter them is to call them out and expose them. It does no good to argue with them. That’s what they want you to do so they can spew their talking points. They also try to overwhelm a page (like on facebook) so that the only thing left on the page is a bunch of troll comments which makes people bored or discouraged so they stop coming to the site. I’m actually surprised that this site isn’t over-run with trolls comments.
January 29, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Kevin, you did an EXCELLENT job on Breitbart by the way. You’re very good at focusing your thoughts and summarizing your point…I hope you get more opportunities to be interviewed! If the rumors are right about Hillary you might become quite the celebrity =)
January 29, 2010 at 4:25 pm
The use of “teh” instead of “the” is an inside joke for leftist websites. It’s a way of belittling what the other person is saying. It’s often pretty funny, actually.
I’m not sure how to explain it, but they will often, for instance, mock anti gay sentiments by claiming that someone is talking about “teh gayz”, or anti fat statements by using the term “teh fatz”. It could just be a deliberate typo, but I saw something a bit dismissive in that.
January 29, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Read it the same way, Lisette. I’ve often seen “teh ghey” referring to someone who is gay or to something someone said that they are dismissing or trashing. I thought that the first time I read it as well. Tipped me off that this was not an above-board comment (back-handed compliment and all that).
January 29, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I’ve often seen it used with ‘teh one’ when referring to Barry.
January 29, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Here is the rub with that you have no place to go. Why yes…yes we do have a place to go. And from the mouth of an Obot proves why it is a sound tactic to vote against the party that won’t listen to and slander their constituents.
From the documentary about Ralph Nadar, An Unreasonable Man. A quote from Lawrence O’Donnell.
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh12262007.html
“On a discussion of Ralph’s third party runs for president, O’Donnell had these memorable words:
“If you want to pull the party–the major party that is closest to the way you’re thinking–to what you’re thinking, YOU MUST, YOU MUST show them that you’re capable of not voting for them. If you don’t show them you’re capable of not voting for them, they don’t have to listen to you. I promise you that. I worked within the Democratic Party. I didn’t listen, or have to listen, to anything on the left while I was working in the Democratic Party, because the left had nowhere to go.”
(Caps represent O’Donnell’s emphasis, where he raised his voice.)”
Here is the clip of that comment from the doc.
January 29, 2010 at 4:44 pm
“I’m not a raging alcoholic, but I do like to have a few drinks before breakfast and think it’s okay to have spent my week’s pay by the time the liquor store closes every Friday”.
“I’m not gay, but I will buy any magazines with photos of Jake Gyllenhaal dressed up in his santa hat and a g-string from the movie Jarhead because I am fascinated with Desert Storm and support the military and also approve of Christmas and like the color red”.
Ok… my stomach hurts from laughing at this tid bit of hillbuzz literary beauty
January 29, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Hillbuzz guys-didn’t want you to miss this. Sen. Scott Brown saying thank you to his supporters.
http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn
January 29, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Travolta? Cruise, of course? But Travolta too? Now that you mention it…..
(I read every article you guys write. It won’t be long before you’re are all-the-way mainstream. You have a voice that this country needs to hear.)
January 29, 2010 at 4:58 pm
You guys are hilarious – I was going to quote something you said before I said you were hilarious, but it was too hard to pick one.
I didn’t know that about Cleve Jones – well, about Chicago, anyway. I did know that he’s been good and mad at the Obama administration since he figured Prop 8 was going to fail, spent time working for Obama’s campaign instead, and then 8 passed and Obama turned out to be absolute crap on gay rights. (A little disappointed Cleve didn’t figure out before Obama was elected that he would be crap on gay rights, but oh well.) Harvey would be proud of him – first, Harvey was actually a Republican for the majority of his adult life and didn’t have any particular beef with them after he switched over, and two, Obama is Machine allllllllll the way.
January 29, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Hillbuzz guys-best way to fight trolls is with humor (you are the masters at that) maybe the Sweathogs could give you a hand.
You had to bring up John Travolta/my favorite character was Vinnie Barbarino.
January 29, 2010 at 5:18 pm
I will have to go back and find it. Some of the trolls are really obvious. I see them on Andrew Bolt’s blog all the time.
January 29, 2010 at 5:24 pm
“I’m not a raging alcoholic, but I do like to have a few drinks before breakfast and think it’s okay to have spent my week’s pay by the time the liquor store closes every Friday”.
“I’m not gay, but I will buy any magazines with photos of Jake Gyllenhaal dressed up in his santa hat and a g-string from the movie Jarhead because I am fascinated with Desert Storm and support the military and also approve of Christmas and like the color red”.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It’s worth having them post here just to see them get demolished.
January 29, 2010 at 7:36 pm
I know!!! hahahaha! Post away, trolls!
January 29, 2010 at 6:32 pm
Trolls are on a Psy-Ops mission to demoralize, what they view as their opponents. They want everyone to drink from the vat of purple Kool-Aid, by cajoling with what they believe are compliments,but they are wrapped in broken glass. Then when that doesn’t work, they get out their barbed whips of faulty logic, trying to drag you into thought compliance.
Trolls are easily spotted–they are no longer subtle. Their power of stealth and deception is gone. We have all seen the reality of the Man Behind The Curtain.
January 29, 2010 at 6:48 pm
O/T >> Did you guys see this?
“FNC’s Baier Reveals Hillary’s Behind-the-Scenes ‘Discontent’ as Secretary of State”
http://www.breitbart.tv/fncs-baier-reveals-hillarys-behind-the-scenes-discontent-as-secretary-of-state/
Interesting…..
BTW, I am no troll… Just a left-coast Palinista :)
January 29, 2010 at 6:50 pm
There are a lot of prepackaged ways to do podcasts. You can use blog talk radio (easy) to set up a live internet radio show. People can even call in. It also records it into forms that can be linked to for replay, etc.
January 29, 2010 at 7:24 pm
“Another big thing the Left does is repeatedly insisting that Republicans will give the LGBTQ community “no chance of equality”. Really? Because there’s a Democrat president, a Democrat Senate, a Democrat House, a Democrat SCOTUS, a Democrat Governor here in Illinois, a Democrat state legislature, and we STILL DON’T HAVE LGBTQ EQUALITY, IN A “BLUE STATE”.”
Now if only those on the low end of the socio-economic totem pole (that’s my PC catch phrase of the day!)would figure that out…
January 29, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Oh, my aching sides! Your deconstruction of the troll dropping was hilarious! hahahaha!!!
January 29, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Me like troll dissection. Me go now cause microwave bell ring and pizza hot pockets now ready to eat. Otay, Bye!
January 29, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I’m a conservative.. and this troll technique is used a lot in Conservative places. During the Bush years, it usually went like this:
“I’ve been a Republican all my life. Reagan is my hero… but Bush’s tax cuts were the last straw!! The Republican Party left me”
It’s like how stupid do you have to think people are that anyone would believe that.
I find it’s mostly those on the Far Left who try to use this tactic.. and I have to say , just like with your example.. it’s usually so absurd sounding that only a moron would find it convincing.
January 30, 2010 at 2:59 am
Erm…with due respect, Vince, I was a Republican for years and years, and I will always love Ronald Reagan, and I was disgusted with a couple of Dubyah’s decisions (TARP and Medicare drug benefit) and massive increase in the size of government on his watch*, and I do feel as though the Republican party took a left turn in about 1996 that I found very disconcerting.
By 1998 I was disappointed enough in the Republicans to move to the Libertarian Party. I only switched back to the GOP so I could vote for Ron Paul in 2008.
*Of course, Obummer has made GWB look like quite the piker when it comes to federal government bloatage.
And I’m not a troll.
Methinks you protest a teeny bit too much.
Hugs,
Kathleen
January 31, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Hi Kathleen:
I meant to be very specific about the absurdity of the statement that I used as an example.
I am a very digusted former Republican as well. For all the reasons you stated… TARP, etc.
Remember I’m talking about leftists posing as if they’re conservatives so that they attack conservatives.
January 31, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Yeah, but I think the key might have been the “Bush’s tax cuts were the last straw!!”
January 31, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Yeah.. Those were among the first things that he did. During the 1st Term when he mostly made correct decisions.
January 29, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Classic!!
Cathy B in AZ
January 29, 2010 at 8:06 pm
check out this link from Polly wants a cracker
http://snarkopolitan.blogspot.com/
January 29, 2010 at 8:21 pm
sorry I linked to the wrong post.
January 29, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Since you are on the topic of troll again, please allow me to say my “parting” words.(my old fashioned style, maybe this is another characteristic of a concerned troll?)
I am the subject of the other thread about dissecting a troll, me the suspected “concerned troll” that generated a whole thesis to dissect my posting.I later posted on that thread (near the end)to tell you who I am. I can tell you all the things about Obama that I am not for, and all the things Scott Brown said that I am for in his final debate. Even though you perceived me in that gorilla suit that spells troll all over, I am not one. You need to revise your thesis.
I can understand *HB’s reaction because of his past and current experience of being attacked from the left,as told in all these articles, not my assumption, but I am amazed at how the rest of you have jumped into this wagon, excited in the game of catching a “troll”. I want to thank the kindness of 3 persons who responded.
* There are posts addressing you as HB before and after me, so I will stay consistent.
A couple of you even found delight in spotting a trivial mistake in spelling as if this will make your standing higher than the 8th grader. That typo “there politics” was in the dissection, not in my original text. The teacher and the musician even chimed in with their expertise.
Well, Hillbuzz is intelligent, insightful, but the rest of you should have some objectivity or you will appear like what you describe Obama’s followers, kool-aid drinkers, albeit that the kool-aid is sweet here.
As I said before, you have a good thing going here. People are lovely in giving you the support in your distress. Your knowledge, experience,skill, and hard work inspire people.
I might have asked a dumb question at the wrong time, but I am not dumb. Your preoccupation with the troll topic has diverted your attention from more important issues.
What to do with a suspected troll? You could have waited to see more posts to confrim your suspicion. Since this is your own blog, you have the liberty to remove the poster. You could have gone back, in my case, to read other posts, which I did on Jan 26, 2010.
I mentioned the Tammy Bruce show to you who is a conservative lesbian radio talk show host in the west coast who is articulate and conservative. I was caught up with the fact that everybody was trying to give you some support or lead. “Troll intention”?
One more observation, you ribbed another writer who asked similar question, and this is one big happy family when everybody brings you praise.
Someone nice enough to respond said that HB and readers are not here to do any handholding. I can accept that because you have work to do as I see the work assignments to the various teams. that’s good. By the same token, why waste time with trolls, of the real kind. Block their postings if you do not like the “psychological” impact they have on your readers. On the other hand, your readers are mostly committed people with a cause, would they be swayed?
It’s hard to start over, good luck to all.
You would be doing me and the HB website a service to take down that wrongly dissected thread. I went to the bigbasher site when you described their attacks on you. They must be monitoring your site.
January 29, 2010 at 9:57 pm
it seems Penny that you write in a style that invites comments about being a troll.
Each of the points that were raised were in fact relevant in catching a troll.
Most of the time the trolls are obvious in their writing style and your style does in fact fit that type of scenario.
So how can we be certain that you are not a troll?
BTW, I think that the post of this dissection is a lot clearer as a troll. Concern trolls are much harder to catch.
January 29, 2010 at 10:47 pm
With all due respect, what would you do if in real life people are negating contracts for employment based on your internet blog? While at the same time another site starts a false attack that exposes the entire internet to your real life?
There is a confluence there which makes normal people take a second look at everyone. Wouldn’t you start to wonder about everyone?
If you aren’t a troll then stick around and prove yourself, like you somewhat suggest HillBuzz should have done for you. I was attacked by a poster (who later attacked HillBuzz when they were offline taking care of something important), for various things as the debate continued. But I stayed and fought for my ‘name’ and the point I was trying to make.
If you like HillBuzz then stay…and prove yourself with more posts. Just like you asked HillBuzz to do for you, you should do for yourself.
January 30, 2010 at 1:21 am
To Karma, Maggie, AliRose, Thank you. It is nice of you to comment.
I am perplexed that it is my writing style that invites comments. Compliment or detriment?
Anyway I feel I would end this disruption of your homogeneous fest.
I respect that this is a community that has a goal with proactive tasks at hand and wants to stay homogeneous, from your explanation. The activism and enthusiasm attracted me to this site in the beginning. I tend to be intellectually curious and ideology driven (conservative). I possibly will have a lot of thoughts as I read the comments.
But thanks but no thanks to your kind invitation for me to stick around to prove myself.
I understand your explanations and the nature of the situation HB is in. I will not want to cause any diversion by my writing. My style is my style. If you are curious, I have sponged in whatever I have picked up from reading writers like Hewitt, D’souza, Coulter, Malkan, George Will, Thomas Sowell, etc.
I do not have need to prove anything, and I have no desire to disrupt something that you all like. When you don’t hear from me anymore, please don’t think that you have succeeded in extinguishing a troll. If I were, what have I gained? Why must I explain? what do I care?
Think kindly of the reasons I gave, as I think kindly of you all.
January 29, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Penny,
You first have to understand that this theory of trolls and concern trolls did not start with you (and trolls did not start on this website
). It has been going on for a long time. You can go back and read some of the earlier posts about eeyores and concern trolls to get a better idea.
The reason it has become such an important topic of discussion is that it is a technique employed by liberals to “steal” elections by undermining the efforts of the opposition. Surely you can understand that politics has always operated this way. With the internet, however, newer and more clever ways are constantly evolving to interfere with other candidates’ campaigns and support bases. It’s a divide and conquer type thing. Awareness is our key to fighting it.
One of the first things I picked up reading HillBuzz is that we don’t divide here. Comments are moderated and that is for a reason. HillBuzz has strict rules about what is allowed to be said on their site, especially in regard to certain political figures. Out of our respect for that, it’s just implied that we do not divide here. That doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to disagree, but we disagree politely. And we don’t question the motives of the Boyz. (That’s how we’ve come to be such a big, happy blended family.)
For instance, I don’t support HRC, but I will never say anything bad about her here. I know the Boyz support her and I respect that. The reason I like this site so much is because I believe they are so honest in their convictions. I don’t need to know anything else.
Basically, if we have to question their motives, then we don’t trust them. If I didn’t trust them…well…I wouldn’t be here.
As a final note…I don’t trust anyone I see on the internet until I’ve seen them show a lot of consistency. There are probably plenty of people here who don’t completley trust me yet. That’s just the way it goes.
January 30, 2010 at 10:48 pm
I support what AliRose has said. I am the same. I am not a supporter of HRC but these boyz have been teaching us so much.
For me, as an Australian, I have been learning a lot about how to counteract trolls, and even how to not be so dispirited since I live in an area where my vote does not count.
January 31, 2010 at 2:45 pm
And we appreciate all of your efforts to make a difference, even though your “vote does not count.”
January 29, 2010 at 8:59 pm
I must say that now that you taught me how to tell who are trolls, I am getting quite proficient at spotting them. Thank you for the lesson. It really helps. One other thing that I have noticed is that someone will post a comment regarding a person like “you know he is going to probably to this or that” and the next person embellishes on it and by the time the fifth person has posted, it is a fact and not only is it factual but then they start to embellish on it some more. I guess that is another way of trolling, isn’t it? Have enough people repeat it and then the reader starts to wonder if they are wrong because all these people are saying that “this” is a fact.
I would appreciate your comments on the above.
January 29, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I’m like some of you who have commented–a sitting duck for trolls, because I usually assume people aren’t being jerks. I have learned that when I sense my skin crawling (or getting ready to crawl) that’s probably a troll alert. It’s so disgusting to have to try to think like these jerks in order to identify them, but it’s necessary. Normal and nice can still be our preference, but we are going to have fight fire with fire, because we are seeing what being nice got us.
Hillbuzz, you are rendering an amazing service to America. It’s been great this week to see the expansion of opportunities for you to tell the story.
January 30, 2010 at 1:53 pm
I think this lesson in Troll 101 was made even more memorable by the musical accompaniment. Please continue to choreograph each lesson with it’s own theme song & I will be an ever so studious pupil.
Jac
February 1, 2010 at 9:55 pm
RE: “TODAY’S TROLL DROPPING:
Listen, I was a DIE hard Hillary supporter too, and I was so mad at the tactics that I did a whole report on Obama supporters. But the fact of the mattter is still that we would be in worse shape with the republicans in office. I am NOT a huge Obama supporter, but I will get behind him and HOPE that he will overturn DOMA. I know he’s thrown gays under teh bus, but what exactly are you trying to do- elect the people who will give you NO chance of equality? Come on.”
GEE!
THAT’S A PLAY RIGHT OUT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S PLAY BOOK FOR THE LAST 4 DECADES!
DNC and Obama behind this all the way!
Especially when you can trace direct links such as mail and phone conversations for example.
February 1, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Some have found some.
February 4, 2010 at 1:33 am
can i learn to become a troll?
I use to be a democratic years ago (JFK)
But they have moved left so far, I am now in the right camp scratching my head wondering what happened?
how is that?