Honest Question: Was Democratic Underground was trolled by the Russians during 2016 primaries?

[RandySF]

I vividly remember seeing users pop up over the course of the 2016 primaries only to disappear when Hillary was nominated. Did DU administrators ever find evidence of trolling?

[Glamrock]

1. In a word

Fuckyes!

[Docreed2003]

43. And a beautiful word at that my friend!

[SCantiGOP]

111. Of course it was

I never called anyone a troll but it was obvious some posters were trying to sow distrust and dissension, or at least to post ridiculous bullshit that could then be picked up and pointed to as examples of how unhinged the people on this site were.
I don't know if they were Russian or just our homegrown variety of right wing disrupts, but they were definitely here.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Thanks for asking my same question. We had to

Have had disrupters. Recall any time anyone posted anything positive there were swarmers squelching immediately.

[RandySF]

6. The episode I will never forget

Someone posted a story about H!-B visa followed by the most vile, racist comments about Indian immigrants and I could not believe that I was reading them on DU.

[Igel]

32. Sure.

We have disrupters every election.

But "there exist disrupters" and "there exist disrupters that are Russian" are not the same assertion. One has more words, if nothing else.

[malaise]

82. We did have disruptors n/t

[StevieM]

3. And on a related note, I still have to wonder if Putin hacked DU on election night.

[KT2000]

4. always thought it was part

of the activities of their "farm." I wonder if Skinner will ever say what he knows about that event. Hope he does. Also hope they found someone to sue.

[mchill]

8. I just asked that question on a different posted - why did that happen?

[tnlurker]

14. It was done

To prevent real time fact checking of the election theft.

[Liberal In Texas]

45. My gut feeling is YES, the Russian hackers took DU down.

Just look at the graphics so crudely done. Why they would want to take DU down, who knows?

I apologize for the bad memory elicited below. But this was one of the things I saw that day:

?2

[LuckyLib]

52. The Trump screen was what I saw in a flash before it faded.

It was jarring, and I immediately figured it was from out of the country. It was just strange.

[mchill]

73. What is the "Trump screen?"

[LuckyLib]

118. Upthread, #45 shows two screens.

[katmondoo]

86. I saw that too

It was only a second then DU went blank

[yardwork]

106. I'm glad you got that screen shot.

Lots of interesting clues there. Who is that in the lower left?

[PatSeg]

107. Oh yes

Those graphics did look foreign. Some of them were very odd, like someone trying to look American. They all were extremely peculiar.

[Hekate]

64. It always seemed so to me -- just a little thing to show what they could do to little people...

Something small and mean

But also, as notd above, we were planning on fact-checking in real time.

[meadowlander]

114. Yes, I thought so too.

Is there some way to trace the origin? Because it seems like another leg of the case against Russia - not just hacking the voting machines and spamming people and tricking people into going to rallies but shutting down US websites of political opponents has to be a crime as well.

[mshasta]

5. Yes they did

[Beaverhausen]

7. Theyre still here

[ornotna]

18. Yep

They never left.

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[lunasun]

103. ++++++YES

[ismnotwasm]

9. I believe so

I can hold a conversation or a debate, and I understand than on-line personas are different that how people present in RL, but there were a few, so unreasonable, so intent on shit-stirring that let’s say it wouldn’t surprise me.

[Yonnie3]

30. There have always been those stirrers on digital modes.

Usenet in the early 90's when people were able to spoof identities got crazy with these people. Their goal was to stir up things and that was their only agenda. I always thought it was an ego thing, "look what I made them do". These were the true trolls who with a post or two could ignite a flame war that went on and on. They then sat back and admired their work.

What the true Russian Operatives would have done would be to integrate into DU and go with the flow for a while. They would then start posting thought provoking questions that would be sure to result in disagreements. They would share their concerns, stirring more stuff. The very passionate ones who got time outs were likely just that, passionate, not operatives.

The ones that got posting privileges revoked before they have ten posts, are not Russian Operatives, but some wannabe amateur trolls.

[ismnotwasm]

91. True

And to be fair, I don’t exactly how it works, I’m not going to listen to memes from Facebook for instance, or prolific people on Twitter without verifying facts. Same thing with DU. What I still like about DU, is I will read something stated as a fact, and go look it up. Almost any topic has nuances*I’ve learned a lot that way. So what would an “operative” look like? I always though that Manny-whatshisname was a huge troll, but I suspected a different kind of troll than Russian. A few others—most Of whom have been banned.

(*Except for shit like fuckin Nazis. They are clear as glass, and I’ve read enough books on fuckin Nazis)

[Yonnie3]

96. Thought a bit more about this.

Social media was easy for the operatives to post memes to further their mission. DU much tougher, but some were linked here, although I'm not sure if directly by Russian shill. I see phoney (fake news) tweets linked here now and even though they are noted by many they are still discussed as real. We must be very careful to take it all with a grain of salt.

To answer your "what would an operative look like?" A skillful one would not be spotted. I'm always more cautious of a post with poor grammar, especially with dropped articles., bit there appears to be lots of DUers with poor grammar who aren't Russian shills.

I guess my main take from thinking about this is to not get excited about a single post, meme, tweet, or link. Look for confirmation. The Russians promoted their fake news and stirred the issues, but Americans ran with it.

[ismnotwasm]

108. Yeah pretty much

I think the memes and faulty statistics were more of a favored—people picking up very poor information and not fact checking

[Hoyt]

10. There were darn sure some subversives here, and they were planted years ago.

[OilemFirchen]

11. How long did it take before RT was finally rejected as a source for LBN?

How many obvious Russian trolls were allowed to remain?

Where are they now?

[Igel]

36. It's not a bad question.

Uncomfortable.

It was long after 2014 and 2015.

In fact, it was widely quoted as long as it was suitably anti all the right things. It was booted when it became anti the wrong things. Like HRC.

Many questioned it before that, long before that, but it still remained as a valid source for all our impugning it.

[OilemFirchen]

69. I'm pretty sure it was still allowed until early last year.

It was certainly en vogue during the primaries.

[Hekate]

71. RT got widely quoted here because our "progressive friends" were employed by them...

Remember? And if Thom Hartmann was working there, how could they be bad?

Ugh.

[Demsrule86]

90. I am not a huge Hartmann fan. I heard his callers attack Hillary and he rarely argued with them. I

do not consider anyone who works at RT as our progressive friends...and the Young Turks aren't either...nor are Greens.

[Hekate]

117. I never followed Hartmann but knew folks who did. However when I found where he got his paycheck...

...I figured that at a minimum it showed a severe lack of good judgment. Had a few arguments here during the Obama administration about the meaning or lack thereof of taking a paycheck from Russian Times.

Mitt Romney was right and I was wrong when he opined that our biggest threat today is Russia. I made fun of him for slipping and calling it the USSR, but he turned out to be correct.

[muriel_volestrangler]

75. A host said in March 2014 it was an unsuitable source

Though as they said then, they need people to alert on such OPs, since hosts do not read every single LBN OP as a matter of course: https://upload.democraticunderground.com/1014742654#post27

As they said then, it's possible that the policy was later changed, but I would think it wasn't.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. I'm sure we were

Likewise there were quite a few pro-Russian posters who suddenly appeared when they annexed Crimea.

[GusBob]

13. DU has always had trolls

I don't believe there was specific Russian trolls, like those with the awkward stilted English, poor grammar, and typos that not even freepers pull, that you saw on Facebook

I think more you had American stooges influenced by RT and other Russian propaganda, your basic JPR dipshits

[SWBTATTReg]

21. And a lot of us on DU will raise any alarms about any 'wierd DU' trolls, that's one thing ...

I noticed, that usually we're pretty well on the ball and hopping to any nefarious activities...

[OilemFirchen]

34. Gone but not forgotten:

go west young man
another_liberal

[NCTraveler]

60. Last Op of go west.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017237652

[OilemFirchen]

65. Oh my! It's a veritable whoski whoski!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=226465

Duckhunter935

Profile information
Real name: PURGED, but not silenced. Skinner is an ASSHOLE!!
Hometown: Thanks, my friends, miss you all
Home country: THE ADMINS ARE FUCKING COWARDS!!!
Current location: FUCK ALL of the admins been asking nice for months, JUST DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!

About Duckhunter935
So on 7 Dec, I posted the following, ((("34. Yep, something really unhealthy with that hate sadly&quot )) and now I am being held in Permanent FFR status. This takes away every right on the board. I will keep this here until my status gets changed. I do not mind being on a time out even if I disagree with the jury result, at least there is a known date it is over. FFR status is generally after several hides in a short time, this was after a single hide in that month and was indeed number 5. "Typically, this account review occurs sometime over the next 24 hours" So how long will it be? The clock started Wednesday 7 December 2016. Since I am FFR, can't ask a question in ATA. Can't send the administrators a PM. So I have emailed all administrators several times, no response. I have tried to contact via Twitter, again ignored. They do not have the politeness to even respond. I have been a paying member for many years. They will not silence me. So far I email every possible address here at least weekly, so far nobody has even the common courtesy to even respond. I have also responded to tweets to try and get some kind of response, again not even the common courtesy of a response. I hope the administrators see this. I know I am not the only one they are just showing this disrespect to, sadly. See I am trying to follow the rules and not open another account but they do not even follow their own 24 hour rule ........UPDATE.......I will post my hidden posts for all to see... (((Sat Oct 15, 2016 1. Another one that will be locked, why do you insist on disrespecting the host? He has been eminently fair to you and very politely asked you several times to respect the group SOP. You have had several like this one locked for that reason.))) (((Sat Oct 15, 2016, 10:03 PM 6. Lol, the rules of a group on a private board, Control what is allowed. There is always ATA again. I do love those exchanges.))) ((( Mon Nov 21, 2016, 01:05 PM 22. I do not think so, she sunk herself with her selfish use of a personal server. He did not go there.))) If these hidden posts are so bad to get me permanently flagged, I hereby dare the administrators to answer and provide some kind of explanation!! ......UPDATE....So it has been another week and the nice administrators are still too scared to even acknowledge my emails, Tweets for some kind of explanation on my FFR. Look at the hidden posts above, I was supporting the administrators!!!! I really think the PURGE has begun even though they fail to acknowledge that fact!! ....UPDATE 13 Jan 17....So another week has come and gone. I have once again politely emailed all possible addresses to request any update on my FFR status. Of course, our nice administrators failed to give any common courtesy of even an acknowledgement. I will keep updating this and pointing out how the administrators are not even following their posted guidance of a 24 hour review of the FFR status. Just noticed my 5th hide has now dropped off so I should be able to post again. And like clockwork two more of my removed posts dropped off. Now only two hides and still being punished I assume because I supported Bernie and am part of the purge.....28 Jan 2017... Been another week and the administrators still fail to even acknowledge any of my emails to every available account and also my replies to their twitter account. Very sad... UPDATE 29 Jan 2017....I am getting tired of the administrators not being civil enough to even acknowledge or respond to my dozens of polite emails over the last two months. I have told them to delete my fucking account as part of their purge. Lets see if they have the balls to follow through. I have enjoyed my decade of civil and sometimes not so civil discussion. I have many friends here I will miss.....UPDATE 5 Feb 17......So another week goes by and I email all possible general and administrator addresses daily. So far still not even an acknowledgement or answer. I know they get them as Skinner adjusted my log in email within hours. Thanks for that by the way. I have also responded to the DU tweets with no response. Not very civil or polite in my opinion. I guess I am just part of the new purge, sadly they just do not want my input to the site.....UPDATE 7 Feb......Well it has been 60 days now and not even one response back from my dozens and dozens of emails to every administrator and general DU account, very FUCKED UP in my opinion. I have also kindly requested an update to every DU tweet, No response. The admins here are really FUCKED up and I hope people get to read this and see how members are being treated! I know I am not the only one. As far as I am concerned they all can get bent!!!! FUCK EM!!!!.... UPDATE 12 Feb......Continued daily emails to all administrator and general accounts. They do not even bother to acknowledge. I have also responded to twitter posts with no response. The purge is real and the ASSHOLE administrators are to yellow and scared to admit that fact, shame on them!! ....UPDATE 17 Feb....Emailed all available accounts again every day this week, the administrators still did not have the courtesy to acknowledge or answer. Responded to every Tweet, again they seem to be so scared of me they will not respond. Very sad the administrators are so fucking scared of dialog they have to purge a long term paying member that has contributed to this site for almost a decade. Whats the matter SKINNER, yes, I am calling your ass out for this bullshit!!!!!......UPDATE 25 Feb....Well another hide dropped. I am down to the last one which should drop in a week or so. Same crap from the cowardly administrators. They refuse to answer my daily emails to every account and respond to my tweets responding to theirs. Very sad. Like I say, the purge is real and they are to scared to admit it!!!...UPDATE 6 Mar...Well hitting 90 days in FFR status and once again the administrators failed to answer or even acknowledge my daily emails or Twitter responses. I am quickly coming to realize they are just a bunch of assholes that have small minds and hate certain people. I can only think it was because I supported Bernie in the primary and I am now part of the purge. They are just to fucking cowardly to admit it! My last hide should drop tomorrow....UPDATE...My last hide dropped.There is no excuse for this treatment by the administrators. They just show themselves to be out and out cowards. I have been more then fair in giving them 60 days before actually calling them out for what they are. SKINNER, EARLG and ELAD, YOU ARE A FUCKING COWARDS FOR NOT EVEN RESPONDING TO MY DOZENS OF INQUIRIES, TELL ME WHY I AM STILL FFR? I DARE YOU!!!!!!...UPDATE 9 Mar...Over 90 days now, still no response to my daily emails. I have requested that the administrators delete my account for the second time. THEY ARE SUCH COWARDS THEY WILL NOT AS THEN I MIGHT LEGALLY RETURN!!! FUCK ALL THREE OF THEM!!!!!!......To all who think I am just being an ass. I have very politely emailed every account daily for 60+ days with not so much as an acknowledgement from any of the administrators. Their treatment of a long term paying member that has been a supporter for almost a decade is beyond inexcusable. So they brought this on themselves and yes they are complete ASSHOLES!!!they even fail to delete my account after many requests now, SO FUCK THEM!!!!!!!! Delete my account, I dare you to do it!!!!!!!LOL, administrators too scared to delete my account as that would allow me to make another account without breaking the TOS. I think they are breaking their end of the bargain by accepting my years of membership fees and then keeping me in permanent FFR status. Bunch of fucking cowards. Maybe MIRT can kill my account as the administrators are too scared. I hope this profile is being read at least by them and others.....UPDATE 17 Mar.....Still the same sad treatment from the administrators. Daily emails to all of the accounts to at least delete my account. Same to entries in Twitter. They are still too cowardly to even respond. I say it again FUCK THEM, I have been very patient and fair, they have not and need to be called out on that bullshit! I am not scared like they are!.... UPDATE 25 Mar....Almost at 4 months since the administrators have put me in FFR limbo, can't even PM them. They ignore my email and tweet requests for a status update. The fail to abide by my request to at least delete my account since they are so scared of me posting. HAY SKINNER, YOU FRIGHTENED LITTLE SHIT! DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!!!!!!!!WHAT ARE YOU SO SCARED OF!!!!!...UPDATE 4 Apr....Coming up on 120 days with no response from the admins via any available channel. Sad they are such cowards. Will continue daily requests and responding to their Tweets. So Skinner and the other Admins, why are you so scared of little old me?....UPDATE 9 Apr....Well now passed the 120 day mark of FFR!!!The cowards that administer the site are still too scared to respond to my email requests or Twitter responses. I have kindly requested they just delete my account since they are so scared to allow me to post here or even ask a question in ATA. Seems they are just such assholes they will not even perform that simple request. Hey Admins, FUCK YOU!!!!!, you read that right, FUCK YOU!!!! I HOPE YOUR SITE GETS HACKED AGAIN AND YOU NEVER GET IT BACK. Maybe they will delete my account now, lol!!!I will continue the daily emails but I think they have blocked me sadly.... UPDATE 11 Apr.....Thanks for reading Billh58, I appreciate the PM ((("You are seriously fucked up Dude. Let it go, and get on with your slimy little life.&quot )) My answer, nope I will continue my daily requests for status until the admins respond or delete my account as I have requested for some time now. I have yet to figure out why they are so scared of me as I got hidden for defending them and was very polite for the first two months. For the decade of being a paying member it would be courteous to at least respond.....UPDATE 16 Apr.....Happy Easter everybody! Continued my polite requests to the administrators requesting an FFR status or just to go ahead and delete my account per my multiple requests. Not even the courtesy to respond, sadly. I have become so disappointed in how they treat decade long paying members....UPDATE 26 Apr.....Many requests to delete my account in the last two weeks. Again all of my requests and tweets have been met by silence. Very grown up attitude of the hosts. Just sickening and I still wonder why they are so afraid of little old me posting. Been a member for almost a decade and a paying star member for many years. They will never get another red cent from me and I hope this place closes down. I will continue to email and post here. I do miss some friends and continue to thing the administrators here are now just fucking cowards to not even respond or grant my request to fucking DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!!!!!!!....UPDATE 28 April...Still no answers from the administrators, Too bad the the administrators went pure Hillary and purged us. I received hides for defending them, I regret that now in hindsight. This place was enjoyable and had a big tent, not anymore. ADMINISTRATORS PLEASE DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!!!! HOW MANY TIMES MUST I ASK??????DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!!!!This site is unsecure and has been hacked, I do not want my information stolen, DELETE MY ACCOUNT PLEASE!!!!!!!...UPDATE 7 May....120 days, still not even a response from any administrator. All I request now is to DELETE my account, PLEASE!!!!! DU has changed and not in a good way. I used to believe the admins and defended them. NO MORE, You have to pass the purity test to belong anymore. So much for the big tent and accepting liberal independents. ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE DELETE MY ACCOUNT, IT HAS MY PERSONNEL INFORMATION ON IT AND THIS SITE IS NOT SECURE. YOU WILL NOT LET ME POST OR EVEN DELETE MY OWN ACCOUNT. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE AND I WILL SUE IF MY INFORMATION FROM THIS INSECURE SITE IS COMPROMISED!!!!Lots of hacking going on, it would be a shame if this site was hacked again as you have my personal information. Please DELETE my account!!!!....UPDATE 25 May 17....Thanks billh58 for responding to my posts. The administrators here have not bothered to respond to just one of my hundreds of emails and tweets to them. I am asking again to PLEASE DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!!! Your site was hacked again and I fear my personal information has been compromised again. I know you will be hacked again and you are just too scared of me to let me post or even IM you administrators. Just very sad after I defended your sorry asses and received hides for that. Well never again as I just wish you to keep the money I paid over these years and DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!!!! Hi billh58!!!!!.....UPDATE 22 Jun 17... Still continuing to email and Tweet administrators to delete my account due to the hacks and it being unsecured. They are still to cowardly to even respond. Very sad actually. I feel sorry at how shallow they are. ALL of them are just COWARDLY LITTLE ASSHOLES. FUCK YOU ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!....UPDATE 6 Jul 17...NO RESPONSES AGAIN, JUST DELETE MY ACCOUNT FROM YOUR HACKED SITE. YOU FUCKING COWARDS!!!!!!!....UPDATE 5 Aug 17....Still no answer from any of my requests to delete my account. Thanks for the kind words SQUEE, I fully agree. I am trying to open the account not to contact old friends but as of now, no confirmation email showed up. I am glad I am not a coward like the admins here.....UPDATE 17 Sep 17.....No change, still no answer from the ADMIN ASSHOLES. THEY HAVE PREVENTED ME FROM JOINING THE OTHER SITE THEY RUN ALSO, FUCKING COWARDS. STILL WON"T DELETE MY ACCOUNT EITHER!! I HOPE THEY GET HACKED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!5 Nov 17....Been almost a year and still not even one response from my requests. Too bad the administrators are so scared of little old me. I find it funny and actually very sad. I AM STILL HERE ASSHOLES!!! DELETE MY ACCOUNT, simple!!!!!!!!!25 Dec 17....Been over a year and the administrators still will not answer my emails or tweets. They even had the balls to ask me to renew my Star membership, WELL FUCK YOU!!!!!! is that plain enough for your coward asses? Don't even have the balls to delete my account per my request. Sad as it has been hacked several times and they have now gotten my credit card information. Good thing I canceled that card after the fraud charges were made and identified by the card issuer. ONCE AGAIN, DELETE MY FUCKING ACCOUNT, YOU COWARDS!!!!

Statistics and Information
Account status: Flagged for review
Member since: Thu Sep 4, 2008, 09:16 PM
Number of posts: 16,974
Number of posts, last 90 days: 0
Favorite forum: NA
Favorite group: NA
Last post: Wed Dec 7, 2016, 08:35 AM

...

Signature line
Fuck the adminstrators for purging me by keeping me in FFR status for 4 months and never responding once to my many emails and Tweets. SKINNER AND THE OTHER ADMINISTRATORS, YOU ARE NOW JUST FUCKING COWARDS!!!!DELETE MY ACCOUNT!!

!

[Hekate]

72. Someone seriously slipped a cog

[SWBTATTReg]

76. Wow...I agree! nt

[NCTraveler]

80. Wow.

The last op of the other one you mentioned was to Sputnik news.

I had never seen that rant. Just wow.

[pintobean]

92. FFR Purgatory sucks.

It's just a shitty way to treat people. A lot of people I can't stand are in that status, along with a lot I like. I don't wish it on anyone.

[Gothmog]

100. If you want to Pro Russian material, go to JPR

Ypou woll ee s number of former DU posters on that pro-Russion board

[aikoaiko]

15. Some and some who came to Correct The Record.

They came and went, too.

[OilemFirchen]

26. Correct the Record was a Russian operation?

Well I'll be damned.

[aikoaiko]

33. Is that what you think I said?

:

[OilemFirchen]

35. I think that's what the OP asked.

[aikoaiko]

37. And I answered it with "some" and included another group

David Brock already apologized for his anti-Bernie Shenanigans.

[OilemFirchen]

40. I could claim to not get your point.

But I won't be bothered. Literally.

[aikoaiko]

42. Well then I thank you for your time. Good night.

[jrthin]

16. Yes. I stopped visiting until after the election. nt

[mucifer]

17. I am 100% sure reddit was. I have thought that since the beginning.

Weird stuff was going on there. trump stuff was upvoted like crazy. Now there isn't much there pro trump. It can't be a coincidence. Lots of really good interesting stuff in the general political page. I often repost it on DU.

[LeftInTX]

28. Reddit for sure

[herding cats]

19. This all depends on how many layers of the onion you want to peel off.

We’re there some people repeating Russian propaganda? Yes, definitely.

We’re they Russian trolls or just unwitting tools? Who knows for sure.

Some of them used to go to some extreme lengths to defend their Russian linked sources, though. Which was always suspicious to me. I saw one person here thanking god for RT just a couple of days ago. Yes, even still now after everything we know about what’s trustworthy and what’s well done Russian propaganda.

I remember some wildly intense pro Russian posters who predated the election cycle, too.

[R B Garr]

20. Chris Hayes show was just reading from the indictment,

and everything they highlighted happened here.

[LeftInTX]

22. I think some posters were influenced by Russia via other websites

The Snowden, Assange, JPR, Hugo Chavez fans. They got their ideas from somewhere and brought it here. Many of them had been members of DU for quite awhile. It doesn't take much to find Russian influence propaganda online.

[GWC58]

46. I think Ill refer to those vile, evil things as

Ruspublicans. Vile, putrid, sick of mind! Just my cents worth.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

23. Why would you ask the GD population what the admins found?

Why not post a thread in ATA? Probably because you will not get the answer you want, is my guess.

[Hekate]

74. The OP asked us our opinion, not "what the admins found." This isn't meta and it isn't the primaries

I do believe this counts as a current affairs topic on this day, and all weekend.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

112. Lol. He literally asked "Did DU administrators ever find evidence of trolling?"

Literally

Why not ask the admins?

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Конечно, они здесь

And they are STILL here, even tonight.

I won't break site rules and call anyone out, but some of them have pretty high post counts.

[dalton99a]

93. +1

[Leith]

25. Yes

There still are some.

Whether the admins will ever admit to finding evidence of trolling, well... who the hell knows. We're not allowed to let our suspicions be known.

[Willie Pep]

27. Yes probably.

I noticed a lot of left-wing or left-leaning websites having an unusual number of "Never Hillary" types during the election. Places like Truthdig,Truthout and Alternet still have them in their comments sections but it was really in force in 2016.

It is one of the reasons I came to DU because I got sick of the trolls on other lefty websites. Interestingly, they never directly made the case for Trump but argued that Clinton was just as bad or worse so you should just stay home or vote Stein.

[GulfCoast66]

31. Yes. But even more insidious were the once good Democratic Party members hoodwinked

By the propaganda. They ate it up and since Hillary was not their choice in the primary they were easy marks.

And I remember after the primaries all the howls about voter fraud in the primaries. We learned today that was all driven by comrade Putin and his merry band of killers.

Most all of the Russian marks fled to a he-man-woman-haters site after the election. Unfortunately a shit ton of them have returned today since it was learned that Putin had his finger on the scale for other candidates besides Trump.

[Docreed2003]

41. Spot on post that deserves its own thread

Many were played and swept up in the propaganda...many still are, and the stinch still lingers here from time to time. We must be vigilant in calling it out and exposing the truth!

[GulfCoast66]

49. Thank you.

I am pissed off beyond belief. If I were king of DU that whole ‘Democratic Allies’ Bullshit would be history. You are either a member of the Democratic Party or go somewhere else.

Because we now see that allowing fans a of a non-Democratic candidate free access to this site opened it up to Putin’s minions. Because we learned today that the Russians were actively supporting Hillary’s primary opponent.

And do not think of alerting on me. Mueller just said the same thing.

[Docreed2003]

50. Look bro, Id never alert on that

I agree a thousand percent...mainly because if it had not been for my lovely wife, I would have gotten swept up in that propaganda! We have to be ever vigilant and expose the trolls...hopefully we can prevent a repeat of that nonsense!

[GulfCoast66]

56. I am loving being called a bro!

Cause I’m a fat man over 50!

But obviously our common beliefs override the fact I am an old, overweight white guy. We don’t get called Bro often!

I love DU.

You and you wise wife have a nice evening.

[Docreed2003]

62. Lmao

Well I called you bro because we share a love of safety razor shaving! You’ve got a few years on me but I appreciate your posts because you speak for this TN dem most of the time. I’d gladly use “bro”...anytime! Hope that didn’t offend you my friend!

[GulfCoast66]

66. No offense at all.

I hug my beer club guys when I meet them and call them brother!

How in the hell you keep DU members straight. Because you are smarter than me. I can’t remember who post what.

And shaving is the biggest scam in America! I use a 25 cent razor and get the best shave in the country!

Where are you in TN?

[Docreed2003]

68. Nashvegas...

And I don’t screen folks, per se, I just observe the frequent BS artists...

And cheers to your 25c blade!!! The best decision I ever made was moving to a safety blade razor!

[herding cats]

54. Hey, I agree with you for what its worth!

I’m not an angry nor confrontational kind of person, but even I’m at my limit of tolerance for shite like that.

We now know exactly what allowing things like that can lead to, and I’m not OK with reliving that horror ever again. If even Facebook and Twitter can accept that there needs to more done to prevent propaganda being freely spread, then it stands to reason all places should.

[GulfCoast66]

59. DU is my only online thing.

I do not Facebook Twitter or any of that shit. Tried it early on an realized it was a panacea for people who do not live the life they want.

I guess many disagree, but that is where I come from.

[herding cats]

63. I dont Facebook but I do Twitter.

It’s a strictly political account under a pseudonym, kind of like here. I use it as a news aggregator and to keep in touch with other Democrats. Zero personal stuff on it ever.

I’m proud to announce I had zero alerts about having interacted with Russian bots. Which since I didn’t buy what they were selling wholesale and blocked any followers who were suspicious makes sense.

My account is really small (only a couple of thousand followers which is tiny for a strictly political account of its nature) but at least it’s clean!

[democratisphere]

38. Yes. There were pop-up Trolls. I experienced one first hand.

Had to be hackers as they appeared and disappeared without an apparent trace.

[Turbineguy]

39. Yes.

Now I know why I was kicked out of the Bernie Sanders Group.

[HipChick]

44. Not just DU...I noticed a lot on minority focused boards..

[yardwork]

98. Russian trolls infested left-wing boards and spread lies about Hillary.

It was disgusting to watch people fall for it.

[HipChick]

104. Was not just left wing boards...any board where HRC was discussed..

I got into it on a few non-political boards...it was widespread...

[yardwork]

105. I'm angry with people who should have known better.

[greyl]

47. Probably, by a handfull of varieties.

Ranging from Obvious Asshole, to the uniform-wearing eggers-on.

[AlexSFCA]

48. it was an abcious target cause they have power online

we should make sure DU is alive and well during 2018 midterms cause russians are going to double down on their efforts on much larger scale

[TygrBright]

51. Yes. n/t

[still_one]

53. That DU was hacked on election day speaks volumes

Last edited Sat Feb 17, 2018, 01:56 PM - Edit history (1)

[DinahMoeHum]

101. +1000s

n/t

[Hekate]

55. Oh HELL yes

[PunksMom]

57. I will never forget that night

It was my first election on DU, and it was just freaky how it happen. It took me a while to get back on.

[runtel]

95. Me too!

I mostly lurk, but that is exactly the way it was for me. I have never been very politically active but knew it was time to get with the program. I learn a lot coming here and I didn't think I was going to be allowed back in.

[BlueDog22]

58. Wasn't Active

i was registered, but wasn't active at that time, but it wouldn't surprise me. I know the Admin of the Reform Party's website, he has had to ban most of the IP addresses out of Eastern Europe to keep their website up.

[Corgigal]

61. Yes

It goes like this. I agree with whatever you just posted DU'er, but
then but, but..

[tenderfoot]

67. Probably...

Their the ones that hacked the site election day.

[stevenleser]

70. Considering the size of the Russian operation as it has been laid out, the better question is...

...what were the limits of their reach?

All the top pro-Democratic sites would certainly have been targets, DailyKOs, DU, etc. The goal of the Russians was to depress the vote for Hillary among likely supporters by getting them to stay home or to vote for Stein. As such, after Facebook and Twitter, DU and Kos would have been the best sites for them to try to make that happen.

[no_hypocrisy]

77. Are you kidding? This site was disabled by Russians on Election Day and days after.

[hexola]

78. OP - Nonsense...

In any election season - we always have users pop and go...

Hell - I go months without posting...sometimes.

Gang - its not as simple as new users shilling candidates...thats not what this is about!

This is about attempts to DIVIDE us...not promote one candidate or another...that's almost a secondary goal.

DIVISION AT DU is what I am ALWAYS suspect of...

[Itchinjim]

79. You bet.

I had posts alerted on and hidden when I brought it up too.

[Vinca]

81. I'm sure. In fact, even now, someone shows up every so often I'm suspicious of.

Didn't anyone else think it odd how long the Hillary/Bernie fight went on?

[Bluepinky]

109. The Hillary-Bernie fight is still going on.

There’s still a sizable group of posters who feel free to bash Bernie every chance they get. Now, with the new Mueller indictments, they feel justified in equating Bernie with Trump, saying Russia helped both candidates, and even implying that Bernie was in on it.

[LexVegas]

83. Absolutely. nt

[OnDoutside]

84. I think there was a small percentage. The vast majority of posters were behind Hillary, then there

was a sizeable minority who were pro-Bernie, with a small rump very defensive about Jill Stein. The concerning subset were those who professed to "see stuff elsewhere and just reporting back". I think people were generally quick to jump on them though.

[vercetti2021]

85. Of course!

They can disguise themselves easily. But you can easily spot them as well. But no doubt this place was trolled, mean it was hacked on election night...let that sink in. Can hope when the midterms and 2020 elections come, DU won't have that issue again with being hacked.

[oberliner]

87. I used to think people who believed that were paranoid

Now I am coming around to that point of view.

I think back to all the Russia Today posts and how defensive people got about them.

[ms liberty]

88. Yes. Some of them are still here

And who they are would probably be surprising.

[Demsrule86]

89. Yes, and some are still here. I had some on my ignore...and after the election checked on them.

their last post was the day before the election. They will be back. But I took names and will be waiting. Many good DUer's were kicked out during this time too...I myself spent more than a month on FFR.

[MineralMan]

94. It probably was, but there were also a number of people here

who probably were taken in by the propaganda campaign carried on elsewhere by the Russians. The tone of DU during the campaign was very uncomfortable for Clinton supporters like myself and others. Constant alerts on posts and dedicated attacks on thread supporting Clinton were very common.

I don't know whether some of those doing that were actually paid by the Russians to do that stuff. I suspect that a few were. As the indictment indicated money was spend on people who would post anti-Clinton stuff on the Internet. What I do know is that all of that has disappeared now, with very few exceptions. Following the hack, a lot of screen names are no longer seen here. Many have moved to other websites after either being FFRed or refusing to sign the agreement put up after the hack.

I note that at least one of those sites where some have gone is not really even discussing the indictment very much. That's an indication to me that they know their blame or were actively disrupting here.

DU is a friendlier place now for traditional, long-time Democratic Party supporters. I do know that.

Probably the question in the OP will never have a satisfactory answer.

[parkia00]

97. Logic would dictate that it was.

Actually started well before. Pretty much sharp increase at the time of Russian annexation of Crimea peninsula and went into over drive when MH17 was shot down. Buy the time a few months passed it was basically "normal" with all the trolling with continious quotes and links to RT by the same people. Basically a one way flood of "information" and arguments concerning very select agendas.

[Gothmog]

99. A number of the pro russian posters now post on JPR

Last edited Sat Feb 17, 2018, 07:43 PM - Edit history (1)

[Adrahil]

110. Yup.... and right now...

there are a number of them claiming these indictments amount to "junior McCarthyism." They were perfectly willing to carry Putin's water, just like Jill Stein.

I don't think Bernie is willing to, though he's finding it hard to openly denounce their efforts to stoke party division.

Fortunately, most of his supporters were not buying the worst of the divisiveness, but I can't help feel he could have done much more to neutralize it, once it was clear he was not going to win the nomination. Instead, he allowed the most rapid of them to whip themselves into a frenzy.

[onecaliberal]

102. Yes, I believe so. Its no coincidence the site was hacked and down for weeks.

[Kaleva]

113. JPR is probably controlled by Russian trolls and a # of formers DUers are there

[Saboburns]

115. Certainly

And many are here still, posting daily, sowing doubt, mixing ideas.

There's a strong anti-Anti-Republican current here.

[G_j]

116. Keep in mind that bots will also pour gasoline

on both sides of an argument. Division is part of the endgame.