TROLLGATE: Hillary Shill Just Spilled The Beans On Trollgate…And It’s Getting Weirder

[n2doc]

this was posted on Reddit. The original post has been deleted, but luckily it’s been screen capped so that we can see a unique portrait into the Hillary Paid Troll Scandal:

Good afternoon. As of today, I am officially a former “digital media specialist” (a nice way to say “paid Internet troll”) previously employed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign (through a PR firm). I’m posting here today as a confession of sorts because I can no longer continue to participate in something that has become morally-indigestible for me. (This is a one-time throwaway account, but I’ll stick around for this thread.)

First, my background. I am [redacted] … and first became involved in politics during the 2008 presidential race. I worked as a volunteer for Hillary during the Democratic primary and then for the Democratic Party in the general election. I was not heavily involved in the 2012 election cycle (employment issues – volunteering doesn’t pay the rent), and I wasn’t really planning on getting involved in this cycle until I was contacted by a friend from college around six months ago about working on Hillary’s campaign.

I was skeptical at first (especially after my experience as an unpaid volunteer in 2008), but I eventually came around. The work time and payment was flexible, and I figured that I could bring in a little extra money writing about things I supported anyways. After some consideration, I emailed my resume to the campaign manager he had named, and within a week, I was in play. I don’t want to get bogged down on this subject, but I was involved with PPP (pay per post) on forums and in the comments section of (mostly-liberal) news and blog sites. Spending my time on weekends and evenings, I brought in roughly an extra $100 or so a week, which was a nice cushion for me.

At first, the work was fun and mostly unsupervised. I posted mostly positive things about Hillary and didn’t engage in much negativity. Around the middle of July, however, I received notification that the team would be focusing not on pro-Hillary forum management, but on “mitigation” (the term our team leader used) for a Vermont senator named Bernie Sanders. I’d been out of college for several years and hadn’t heard much about Sanders, and so I decided to do some research to get a feel for him.

more

http://marshallreport.com/2016/04/24/trollgate-hillary-shill-just-spilled-the-beans-on-trollgate-and-its-getting-weirder/

[NewImproved Deal]

1. Behold the Former First Lady's...

Troll Air Force...

[link:|

[MrMickeysMom]

26. Aaahhhhh!

[mindwalker_i]

29. Hey that's sexist!

Or something...

[Wilms]

2. Look at this! Familiar???

From the OP Link:

Just to give you an idea, here are some of the guidelines for our posting in October:

1) Sexism. This was the biggest one we were supposed to push. We had to smear Bernie as misogynistic and out-of-touch with modern sensibilities. He was to be characterized as “an old white male relic that believed women enjoyed being gang raped”. Anyone who tried to object to this characterization would be repeatedly slammed as sexist until they went away or people lost interest.

2) Racism. We were instructed to hammer home how Bernie supporters were all privileged white students that had no idea how the world worked. We had to tout Hillary’s great record with “the blacks” (yes, that’s the actual way it was phrased), and generally use racial identity politics to attack Sanders and bolster Hillary as the only unifying figure.

3) Electability. All of those posts about how Sanders can never win and Hillary is inevitable? Some of those were us, done deliberately in an attempt to demoralize Bernie supporters and convince them to stop campaigning for him. The problem is that this was an outright fabrication and not an accurate assessment of the current political situation. But the truth didn’t matter – we were trying to create a new truth, not to spread the existing truth.

4) Dirty tactics. This is where things got really bad. We were instructed to create narratives of Clinton supporters as being victimized by Sanders supporters, even if they were entirely fabricated. There were different instructions about how to do it, but something like this (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/31/1443064/-Dis-heartened-Hillary-Supporter) is a perfect example. These kind of posts are manufactured to divide and demoralize Sanders supporters, and are entirely artificial in nature. (The same thing happened in 2008, but it wasn’t as noticeable before social media and public attention focused on popular forums like Reddit).

[dreamnightwind]

35. It sure as hell does

I suggest people read the entire article, and the comments on that site. There's no proof of its authenticity that I've seen, but you can be damn sure that what it describes is the reality we've been dealing with during this primary. Grassroots vs. astroturf.

[SheilaT]

3. I'm sure this will be totally dismissed

by the Hillary crowd here, but it sure has the ring of truth.

One thing I've noticed is how many of the most vociferous and nasty Hillary defenders here are either quite new, or somehow had an account that was created four or eight years ago, was apparently dormant, and now suddenly is quite active and quite pro-Hillary.

Makes me wonder if there's a way to find old, unused accounts here and hack into them.

[n2doc]

4. Well there is one small group of DU'ers who have access to all the account info

You can guess who they are, but they are adamantly pro-HRC....

[cui bono]

8. No need to hack the accounts.

Especially if they are from the 2008 presidential election cycle. The person posting would not be the 'owner' of the account, the company that employs them would be. So they can have different people post on it in various years. It's not hard to sound the same when all you do is post a five word retort that includes either the word "hater" or "bashing" and the rofl smiley.

For me, one telling thing is when people who LOATHED Hillary now think she's just peachy. The only thing that can make them do that is if they represent the establishment, if they represent the corporate/Third Way wing of the Dem Party.

The other, more obvious tell is when people did 180 degree shifts on serious policy issues that would require tossing aside your principles to do so. Things like civil rights, privacy, whistle-blowers, drone strikes, free trade... you name it. When BushCo did it it was bad but when Obama did it it was to be defended and applauded.

This is why our country is in the dire condition it is in for the average citizen. There is a large contingent of Dems who have forgotten to stand true to their morals and principles and just play the game to win and please their corporate masters.

.

[noamnety]

19. Oh! I should have pieced that together.

"For me, one telling thing is when people who LOATHED Hillary now think she's just peachy."

That explains a lot.

[DebDoo]

13. I've noticed quite a few have some form of the word democrat in their user name - guess that's

Supposed to make us think that all "real democrats" feel the same way as the poster.

[Scootaloo]

28. Yeah, that's a big tell in general

"BlueCaliLibLeftDem4Kerry04" is almost always going to be one of the biggest pieces of shit you ever talk to on a liberal messageboard.

[TBF]

21. You can buy aged Reddit accounts -

http://www.redditsecrets.com/buy-reddit-accounts

Available Accounts
Ask us for special bulk order discounts
For Extra Boost: Provides extra ranking boost, also appropriate for posting in the biggest subreddits. These accounts inspire the most trust in redditors, moderators and Reddit's filter.
Dust: Account without any verified email so far. This is an actual trophy.

[MrMickeysMom]

27. Jeebus, Now I've seen everything...

There's no limit to pay-outs down the road, since you're used to being bought and paid for.

[Enrique]

5. i call bs

the fact that it is anonymous is a red flag, but this part made it a certainty that it is made up:

Around the middle of July, however, I received notification that the team would be focusing not on pro-Hillary forum management, but on “mitigation” (the term our team leader used) for a Vermont senator named Bernie Sanders.

"a Vermont senator named Bernie Sanders." How could he not have heard of Sanders? He's trying just a little to hard to get across the innocent lamb led astray by the big bad politician.

[LiberalElite]

15. I don't because it's possible that in July s/he hadn't

heard of him. I'd read posts here on DU that some here hadn't heard of him before. There well may be even now, people who haven't heard of him.

[SheilaT]

20. And I call bs on what you're saying.

Back last July there were lots of people who had not yet heard of Bernie Sanders. Back then he was a relatively unknown Senator from a small state in New England. Not exactly a high profile person.

[greiner3]

32. Surveys said 70% of the public had not heard of. Bernie by july

So I call bs on your post

[Faux pas]

6. Kickin'

[Dragonfli]

7. The "trolls" have been around since 2015, they simply expanded the program of "brock puppets"

As I prefer to call these adorable, if obvious and ofttimes nasty little creatures.

[cui bono]

9. I like to call them asstrolls.

.

[Dragonfli]

11. More apt, but given the delicate sensibilities of Hill supporters, they may faint from such language

(after pounding hard on the alert button) on the way to the floor



or one of these

[dorkzilla]

16. As in "asstrollturfing?"

Brilliant, my friend, just brilliant.

[greiner3]

33. Certainly you don't mean DU members

[nenagh]

10. K&R

[jhart3333]

12. This first showed up last November.

Here is a link to the reddit thread if you care to go through it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/3rncq9/confession_of_hillary_shill_from/

Not sure why Marshall Report is posting it as recent news.

[Dragonfli]

14. Likely because they just expanded the brock puppet program with 1M$ in added budget from before

Quite recently and made public knowledge.

[Hydra]

23. I think the above poster has it correct

I saw this back at the time too and considered it accurate and was going to post similar. Back when it was first posted the same paid trolls cast doubt on it because the author would not tie themselves to a stake to prove it. Now that we have proof of it, it has a bit more bite to it for more people.

[FreakinDJ]

17. Most of the Shilling for Hillary comes on Philippine Time Zone

and yes they have a Yuuge English speaking Reading/Writing work force

[TBF]

22. Bingo. nt

[FreakinDJ]

24. And they work for $4 per day

Global Child Labor Exploiting POS to the end

[whirlygigspin]

30. have you hugged a troll today?

Don't blame the trolls, life is hard on the plantation of near starvation trying to prop up the 1%



they're with Her!

[Else You Are Mad]

18. So just a thought...

But wouldn't it be a great way to discount the whole paid troll situation by posting a hyperbolic 'confession' statement that seems just a tad unbelievable, then respond to it to by sayinh that such is ridiculous and that it was a hoax post. Thus, you shift the topic from there are paid trolls to being since this post was a hoax, all accounts of paid trolls therefore must be a hoax so pay no attention.

That would be brilliant...

[SoapBox]

25. I'm no expert but...

As I scan through a lot Twitter pages, their Tweets and then replies...

There are a LOT of very similar rants...I've not documented anything but the rants complete with profanity laden lies, have caught my eye...kept thinking, I don't think it's the same poster but I swear that I've seen the verbiage before.

Yup...something is up.

(And they are showing up on Bernie's Twitter page in droves now.)

[Baitball Blogger]

31. I was mostly doubtful, but, I have encountered a

new poster that is just posting mock posts against Bernie supporters. Too incendiary to be casual posting.

[magical thyme]

34. this is old

I forget when it came out, but definitely last year.

Nobody was ever able or willing to identify themselves, even in private. That's why it was removed from reddit.