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Trolls from the Internet Research Agency (the troll farm) have handles tumblr, facebook, reddit, as stated by those who previously worked at the Agency. I do no

Trolls from the Internet Research Agency (the troll farm) have handles tumblr, facebook, reddit, as stated by those who previously worked at the Agency. I do not think it is unreasonable to assume, given HN's popularity and how intensive Russian efforts have been in regards to social media, that some accounts are maintained to manipulate opinions, just like any other social media site.

chokolad 9y ago
Care to point to such "bad faith" arguments by IRA trolls in comments here ? Or are you using it as an excuse to not have a debate?
- ComradeTaco 9y ago
  All my evidence is anecdotal, and I have no means of confirming it on my own. When I first looked over this post, there were 3-4 comments, all seemingly pro-russia. I see some points being made that are remarkably similar to official Russian positions on issues. Its really similar to when I see a post about China. A whole bunch of users surface abruptly with lots of comments favorable to China. Both of these countries have large, well documented operations to comment extensively on Western media sources. And I'm sure that many HN users like Russia and like China. But it's hard to shake the feeling that there is some astroturfing going on.
  - StanislavPetrov 9y ago
    >all seemingly pro-russia. Its extremely unfortunate that skepticism of government and/or media declarations are being characterized as "Pro-Russian". Exercising basic critical thinking skills and demanding evidence for accusations is something that we should all practice, in every case, but especially when serious accusations are leveled. I welcome you to re-read my post. I'm not pushing a "Pro-Russia" position. I'm pushing a "pro-intelligent person" position. I linked directly to the evidence they offered to support their assertions. I looked at the evidence they offered, did you? No evidence they presented suggested or concluded that Russians were responsible. Rather than responding intelligently by pointing to evidence that you think rebuts my assessment, you resort to questioning my motives.

chokolad 9y ago

Care to point to such "bad faith" arguments by IRA trolls in comments here ? Or are you using it as an excuse to not have a debate?

ComradeTaco 9y ago
All my evidence is anecdotal, and I have no means of confirming it on my own. When I first looked over this post, there were 3-4 comments, all seemingly pro-russia. I see some points being made that are remarkably similar to official Russian positions on issues. Its really similar to when I see a post about China. A whole bunch of users surface abruptly with lots of comments favorable to China. Both of these countries have large, well documented operations to comment extensively on Western media sources. And I'm sure that many HN users like Russia and like China. But it's hard to shake the feeling that there is some astroturfing going on.
- StanislavPetrov 9y ago
  >all seemingly pro-russia. Its extremely unfortunate that skepticism of government and/or media declarations are being characterized as "Pro-Russian". Exercising basic critical thinking skills and demanding evidence for accusations is something that we should all practice, in every case, but especially when serious accusations are leveled. I welcome you to re-read my post. I'm not pushing a "Pro-Russia" position. I'm pushing a "pro-intelligent person" position. I linked directly to the evidence they offered to support their assertions. I looked at the evidence they offered, did you? No evidence they presented suggested or concluded that Russians were responsible. Rather than responding intelligently by pointing to evidence that you think rebuts my assessment, you resort to questioning my motives.