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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsScientists create algorithm that ‘identifies future trolls from just five posts’
It is possible to tell comment trolls apart from other users simply from looking at the way they write, researchers have found.
Studying the comments on three sites CNN, Breitbart and IGN over an 18 month period, the researchers at Cornell and Stanford universities found that users who went on to be banned wrote differently to other users in the same comment thread, using fewer words indicative of positive emotion.
Future banned users also tended to write comments that were more difficult to read than typical users, the researchers found.4
Studying the evolution of these users from the moment they join a community up to when they get banned, we find that not only do they write worse than other users over time, but they also become increasingly less tolerated by the community
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/scientists-create-algorithm-that-identifies-future-trolls-from-just-five-posts/
Very interesting...
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)TexasTowelie
(112,417 posts)MIRT frequently knows the trolls on only the first or second post.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)delrem
(9,688 posts)Since then I've counted up some righteous "hides", all of them totally justified. I've been sent to the isolation ward a couple times now, and every time I've been sent I've listened to catcalls of derision from my fellow travellers. I don't mind. I enjoy just reading DU, and reflecting on the views.
Hopefully MIRT continues to err on the side of tolerance.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)It was like watching a cat play with a mouse.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Shrike47
(6,913 posts)Believe me, I have more to say than I do due to the difficulty of writing anything.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)...would be more damaging than the number of words. At least one would hope so.
okaawhatever
(9,462 posts)bluedigger
(17,087 posts)Or maybe not.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)does that mean they weren't positive and Pollyannaish about whatever the story du-jour was?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)And regularly does.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)for years. Homophobic and anti-choice trolls have the most distinct pattern of any of them.
The exception to the trolls mentioned in the article are paid trolls, who are significantly more literate than the common dumbass RW trolls. Paid trolls are generally educated in the use of all propaganda devices, and use them frequently and effectively. They often use the same memes over and over for years, depending on the circumstance. Paid trolls are few, and are seldom banned because they are generally more intelligent than their total dumbass troll kin. They are dishonest by nature and profession, and can often be proven to be so, and their only concern regarding honesty is not easily getting caught at being dishonest. Their job is to convince you in any way possible, and for truth and honesty are expedient to the needs of their particular message. Half truths are critical to the effectiveness of their MO.
Professional trolls do not at all fit the pattern of the trolls mentioned in the article.