Paid Internet Trolls

[Bring4th_Austin]

I find it difficult to believe that anyone would have to pay people to troll forums.

Yeah, I don't see much difference between a paid troll and a troll who does it for the fun of it. Crap is going to smell like crap, no matter who it comes from.

"Troll" is probably not a good word here. These people don't necessarily act in a trolling manner. Being abrasive would be counter-productive in their goals. The objective is to sway public opinion about one thing or another. When you have an expertly crafted "opinion" being spread across multiple communication platforms by a trained full-time staff, there's a very real effect.

I don't believe any forums like Bring4th would be a target for such tactics. I even highly doubt that any of the conspiracy oriented sites would be targeted; they do a good enough job as it is confusing themselves. But there are certain sites which are public enough to where this could have very real implications. Think massive social platforms like Reddit (8 million daily active registered members, each with a chance to share any story or comment on their respective social media outlet, and that's not counting the non-registered traffic). The nature of platforms like Reddit allow for the existence of a sort of hivemind, where if a certain concept is accepted by enough of the userbase, it becomes automatically accepted by the rest simply through repetitive exposure and groupthink. And once it breaks through to the hivemind, it easily goes "viral." Also certain major media outlets with visible "user comments" sections, popular blogs, or any other highly visible site where any particular person may read a comment and automatically accept it without any real discernment or questioning.