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Round-the-clock propaganda

Rolfe

Adult human female
Rolfe
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There's a bizarre phenomenon in online politics which is exemplified by the comments on the online Scotsman newspaper site. Every day, when the new articles appear around midnight, there's a rush to get the first comment in. Usually one particular article draws the commentators, and away they go. By morning, it's impossible for any normal person to read all the posts. Yesterday, the post limit of 1,000 was reached by about four in the afternoon, but usually it goes on until pushing midnight when it all starts again in the new thread.

The scary thing is, there's so much sock-puppetry that I'm sure there are actually fewer posters than it would seem. Though at the same time, some must be multi-user accounts. The round-the-clock activity is quite disturbing. The even scarier thing is that it seems highly likely that at least some of these people are paid "researchers" for political parties whose job it is to fill up the comments slots, often with appalling bile directed against their opponents. This has been going on for years, to my certain knowledge.

There's a heavy rumour that a long-time poster called FifiLaBonBon, a particularly nasty little troll, disappeared in the run-up to the election last month, because she was actually a candidate. And that she is in fact Kezia Dugdale, now list MSP for the Lothians region. There's also a persistent rumour that none other than Lord George Foulkes is also a regular presence among the bile-and-hate brigade.

My impression that the Labour supporters are dominated by particularly nasty trolls, who are under instructions to come in every so often and declare that they used to support independence but have been permanently dissuaded by the vicious nature of the posts from the nationalists, may be biassed. I'm less certain that the SNP side is orchestrated (I've never received anything from HQ about this other than a general suggestion that engaging in internet discussion might be a good idea if anyone felt like it, and that was some time ago), but I couldn't discount it.

My question is, what the hell is the point? Even if one is interested, and I am, it's impossible for a normal person with a life to keep up. It's also pointless, because the quality of the discussion is absolutely dire. But there are people who seem to dedicate every waking moment to this activity.

Is any of it likely to influence any voter's intentions - as some of the posters seem to think? I seriously doubt it. Is the purpose just to prevent these comments threads from being used for any productive purpose? But mostly - what a waste of a life!

The recent threads.

Today http://news.scotsman.com/news/Scotland39s-credit-rating-at-risk.6784616.jp
Yesterday http://news.scotsman.com/news/110bn-national-debt-for-separate.6784018.jp
Sunday http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/news/MSPs-to-work-longer-.6783632.jp
Saturday http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Stern-Nicola-Sturgeon-keeps-me.6783273.jp (a quiet day!)
Friday http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Independence-referendum-Scots-to-have.6782677.jp
Thursday http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Alex-Salmond-snubbed-over-new.6782038.jp
Wednesday http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Michael-Moore-should-engage-his.6781363.jp

Any comments on this phenomenon?

Rolfe.
 
Not sure why you think there has to be some form of conspiracy behind this "phenomenon" - just seems to be par the course, have a read of comments on say the Daily Mail on any story and you'll see that vitriol is the norm.
 
Seems like it could become the norm if it isn't made illegal at some point, but not sure how that would be done. Monbiot has written a couple of articles on it, the most recent being this.
 
Darat said:
Not sure why you think there has to be some form of conspiracy behind this "phenomenon" - just seems to be par the course, have a read of comments on say the Daily Mail on any story and you'll see that vitriol is the norm.
Click to expand...


Well, mainly that this has been discussed on a number of occasions, and the evidence tends to support the theory that at least some of the very active accounts belong to paid researchers. And the stuff about Kezia Dugdale, which of course may or may not be true.

stokes234 said:
Seems like it could become the norm if it isn't made illegal at some point, but not sure how that would be done. Monbiot has written a couple of articles on it, the most recent being this.
Click to expand...


Wow, that goes a lot further than I was suggesting. I don't see anything like that level of sophistication among the Scotsman commentators.

Is any of it actually worth it, I have to ask.

Rolfe.
 
It's the internet rolfe. Trolls exist in any place in space and time across the series of tubes.
 
Sure, but people dedicating what seems to be every waking moment and then some just posting on the comments pages of a single newspaper? Day after week after month after year?

If they're just obsessed trolls, yes, there are weird people everywhere. But if they are doing it for political effect, particularly if someone is paying them to do it - one has to ask, would there not be more productive ways to use the time?

My only sensible answer is that both sides do not want to surrender these comments pages to the opposition, to give them a free run and make it look as if they are the overwhelming majority opinion. So both sides engage, and it just spirals downhill from there.

Rolfe.
 
Darat said:
Not sure why you think there has to be some form of conspiracy behind this "phenomenon" - just seems to be par the course, have a read of comments on say the Daily Mail on any story and you'll see that vitriol is the norm.
Click to expand...

Happens once every two years in the US....
 
I have followed the comments sections of various internet news sources, and there are indeed many people who are very dedicated to driving forth one political point of view or another. They're a lot like forums, only less moderated and easier to make sock-puppets for.

It's quite possible a candidate could spend a lot of time involved in those, but they have the same rights as anyone else to do so. I think if a campaign paid people to put their message in these comments sections that it's a strategy that's not likely to produce much results for the effort.
 
think Scotsman's comment section is bad? see the youtube comment section, which would annihilate your faith in mankind.
 
Oh, I've seen the odd example. But is that the same half-dozen people posting obsessively in one or two threads round the clock?

I don't think it's candidates. Fifi disappeared when it was rumoured she was a candidate. And no wonder, given the degree of vitriol. (I've just had an application form for consideration as a candidate sent to me, and one of the questions is, "Do you realise that the media are particularly invasive of all manner of matters, personal, financial or otherwise?" I should think intemperate bile spewed round-the-clock on the internet wouldn't be something most candidates would want associated with them.)

I think at least some of these people are paid "researchers" - as Kezia Dugdale was before she became a candidate. But as Mycroft says, it's a strategy that's not likely to produce much results for the effort. Weird.

Rolfe.
 
Could it possibly be something from the other side of the debate intending to make the supporters and staff of various candidates (or in the case of Fifi, the candidate herself) look like absolute douchebags?

It does happen where you get a party attempting to discredit the opposition by pretending to be a member of the group they attempt to discredit and acting like an absolute arse.
 
Oh yes, there are several of these as well. At the moment "Tellen1" is the most obvious of these. (That one isn't nasty though, he just has a cute line in saying he supports the SNP, but.... and trots out a list of anti-SNP arguments.)

Rolfe.
 
What is "normal " in this context?

Most - probably over 99% of - people, will never read, far less post on, a political forum at all.

By most rational definitions of "normal" then, anyone who goes there at all is pretty obsessive.

Those who do, tend to take it all frighteningly seriously. I suppose in the case of Scotland, quite a few Labour politicians are finding they have a lot of spare time of late- and you can only browse so much internet porn before you need some light relief.

I might have phrased that differently, but when I think Scottish Labour, the word "wanker" does tend to surface.
 
It's normal.

Ever read the Onion AV Club comments?

You will know more about Mr. Belvedere's CancerAids than you ever wanted.
 
So basically you think that governments are responding in the comments section to drown out opposing views?

Entirely possible
http://blogs.computerworld.com/17852/army_of_fake_social_media_friends_to_promote_propaganda
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/031711-operation-metal-gear.html?page=1


INRM
"In closing I want to remind everybody that no matter how I die, it was murder; furthermore, should I be accused of some form of sexual impropriety, framed for some sort of criminal offense, or should I mysteriously disappear -- you know who to blame."
 
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Sounds to me like a pitched battle over real-estate that neither side probably values particularly but they daren't risk letting the other side(s) have it, just in case
 
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