Does anyone here on DU feel that we have been or are being

[DFW]

42. I have noticed on other sites a telltale sign

Not so much here, but I don't read anywhere near all posts on DU. But I often see posts on the New York Times or Washington Post letters page that are obvious Russians seeking to cause trouble.

Russian grammar has several conspicuous differences from English, and many Russians, even ones with good English, often make the same mistakes that reflect this. The two main differences are:

Russian has no word for "to be" in the present tense. "My house is red" in Russian comes out as "My house--red." A post with many sentences missing "is" or "are" could well be written by someone whose native language is Russian. That goes, of course, for native speakers of Russian who are NOT trolls, but the content will make it obvious.

Russian has no articles. No "the" or "a." A Russian starting to learn English would frame "The dog has a flea" as "Dog has flea." Articles are completely foreign to them, and they need a long time before they know when to insert them and when not to. A post containing many such omissions could also easily be by a native speaker of Russian. There are many other languages that don't have articles, either, including most non-Indo-European Asian languages, so this is not exclusive to Russian by any means. However, a combination of the two, plus close scrutiny of the content of a post, can often be a good indication of Russian "visitors."