Gregory's ServerHey y’all since it seems that some political troll farms may have joined the fediverse as of a few days ago and are potentially targeting mastodon.social now with accounts posting some of the stupidest political reply guy takes… it should be said to please be extremely suspicious if you get a weirdo in your replies being extra politically aggressive or deliberately trying to start a fight. Report and block. Do not argue. Do not let them waste your time.
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gavi
57 comments
estelle4565
@gavi
Pippa :deadinside:
@estelle4565 @gavi if you view the account through your instance (either in your own feeds or through putting a post url in your instance’s search bar) there should be a menu option to report the user. If you select the “something else” reason, you’ll get the option to provide more context (more detail = better) and then your own instance’s admins will be able to manually check out the user and their behaviours, armed with the context you have provided! Does this help? 
Ubergeek
@estelle4565 @gavi To you instance admin, and forward to mastodon.social instance admin. No instance should give the benefit of a doubt to anyone self-declaring themselves "disinformation troll", and acting the part.
Ubergeek
@estelle4565 @gavi I don't know about other apps, but with mastodon, when you report a post, there's an option to forward to the other instance's admin, as well as your own.
Alex :autism:
@estelle4565@masto.nu @gavi@wandering.shop there should be a report button, no? (the three dot menu below his post, there should be a link that says "report". that should be a good enough.)
Sheru (she/her)
@gavi Tbh this should just be standard policy across the board. Whether it's a robot troll or a person troll. My life has gotten so much better when I stopped giving those people space in my brain.
gavi
@MsHearthWitch agreed. Time is a valuable thing and life is too short to let garbage people waste yours 
Andrew Cook
@gavi @MsHearthWitch so many times I'll just type out a reply to vent, re-read it and then just delete it, because engagement is what the trolls want. 
westerling
@MsHearthWitch @piepants @gavi I monitored the Bad Place for many years (without signing in or interacting), and I learned a lot from watching a couple of folks who specialize in anti-troll tactics. No engaging, just pitch trolls out the airlock on sight. Occasionally screenshot the post in order to mock it publicly. As a sensitive person who usually listens to other arguments, I found that troll points were tiresomely identical. No time for that, I want to have real convos about good things.
Sheru (she/her)
@westerling @piepants @gavi Yup, that is 1000% my MO. I am too old, too tired, too few spoons to spend my time having bad faith discussions. I would so much rather reserve my energy for people who are authentic and want the discussion. Not ppl who get their rocks off by being shitheads online (or bots). I love hearing a well-reasoned, thought out opinion, with logic to back it up. 
Catherine is Tired
@westerling @MsHearthWitch @piepants @gavi Stonekettle Airlock Protocol is the best way. Let them bellow into the void. 
Catherine is Tired
@MattFerrel @westerling @MsHearthWitch @piepants @gavi he was here for about 5 minutes and then one of the “you have to use hashtags for all the things” purists got on his nerves and he left.
westerling
@CatDragon @MattFerrel @MsHearthWitch @piepants @gavi Yeah, SK for sure is one. He's a grumpy curmudgeon and I am sad but not surprised that he didn't hang around here. 
:h_s1::h_s2::h_s3::h_s4::h_s5:
@gavi@wandering.shop pretty much same thing can be said for any other argument on the Internet
kopper of sub-standard quality
@gavi@wandering.shop do you know the specific instances they're on? if it's just .social this may be the thing that makes me silence it tbf 
DaywalkingRedhead 😷
@gavi I always state clearly why I am blocking them before I do so, because that way everyone else in the thread can see it. I don’t explain to the troll, I explain to everyone else who maybe won’t speak up but are listening.
gentrifiedrose
@gavi Ive been blocking pro biden guys, its really bad how aggressive they are without appearing aggressive.
gentrifiedrose
@davidhmccoy @gavi no obviously, they're sending POC troll accounts to vigorously defend Biden when his record on protecting POC is white supremacy and class supremacy.  
Snowshadow
@gavi
sunflowerinrain
@gavi Human rudely disagreeing with you? Not much point discussing, as they aren't likely to listen (a pity because one learns much in proper discussion and opinions change, including mine). The invasion of bots this week needs some hefty blocking response. Armchair warriors arise! (Or sit up straight.) Doesn't matter whether political bots are .ru or any other, they are bad.
Svenska Satanister
@gavi I'm new here and I'm definitely not ordinary in my opinions. I definitely do not confirm to main stream opinions on Mastodon. I'm not hunting "likes" here. I'm here to express my opinion and our view on life. #notatroll
Exiled New Yorker - Connie
Oh, my goodness. ☺️ I’ve spent some time reading your posts. You sound like 50% of my friends. You’ll fit right in here. I don’t think there *are* many mainstream opinions here except some of the ones you’ve already expressed.
Kofani
@gavi @MsHearthWitch please don't call em "garbage" people, or "troll" it is a negative reaction. just - you right, I think, do not waste time. when you trying to identify troll as a troll you also fall to analyses, also reaction. 
BlueDot🇺🇦
Please name the troll accounts on hashtag FediBlock, so others can block them preemptively. 
The Duchess of Spring :v_ace:
Mastodon dot social you say? Well luv a duck and knock me down with a feaver guv'nor. I'm shocked that their robust moderation has failed. :neocat_shocked:   
Neo-Luddite Gregly
@gavi My favorite response is to post this image and then mute them, since muting them potentially wastes way more of their time (as they don’t know you’re ignoring them) 
Gina Intheburg 🇺🇦 🌻
I think I may have found one. After about 3 rounds, I realized this guy was trying to corner me into a debate I didn't want to have.
Dawn Adill Pickle
@gavi ok well that explains a lot. I had this very experience earlier this week and was surprised at how nasty the person got so quickly. Thanks for the heads up!
Petra van Cronenburg
@gavi Reporting works quite well on Mastodon - so reporting BEFORE blocking helps a lot that such "farms" are isolated quickly. |
This should also be noted for other platforms too. Don’t feed the trolls, but even more so due to the state sponsored trolls that are likely in full swing due to the American election season. (That’s not a conspiracy that’s a real thing unfortunately)