Where we are so far.

 This blog is an offshoot of my ad hoc efforts on Free Republic so my second post will be the rough information I've posted so far on my Free Republic about page:

One of my side projects this past year (2021-2022) has been identifying troll accounts. Troll accounts come in a few different versions but first let’s identify who is NOT a troll:

1. New accounts are not automatically troll accounts. They do deserve scrutiny as they learn how to navigate FR but that does not automatically make them trolls.

2. People who freely identify as being from a foreign country are not trolls. Trolls pretend to be one thing in order to claim credibility as they spread propaganda. Yes, they can still be trolls but I give them a lower score on my troll index if they admit to being from a country they promote.

Next up are the varieties of trolls to be found operating around FR. For the purposes of my ad-hoc research it’s easier to identify longer term trolls than it is new trolls. Given that FReepers and admins zealously police new accounts I am not bothered by my focus on long term troll accounts. The long term troll accounts are easier to quantify as their posting history gives me more data to work with.

On to the varieties of troll accounts:

1. Chinese troll accounts. These accounts focus their longest posts on topics of interest to China. They are often identified by posting almost nonsensical comments on non-China topics with the intent of trying to appear like a normal user. In general these troll accounts will go inactive when China is not in the news. This means you can frequently identify these accounts by studying their posting history to correlate with when China is in the news. Chinese troll insults tend to revolve around animals. Calling someone a pig, dog, a bird, or using insults that involve an animal attribute or physical characteristic are indicative of a Chinese troll.

2. The long-term Russian troll. This guy is around for the long haul. Like his Chinese counterpart his posting frequency intensifies when Russia is in the news and there can be months-long breaks in his posting pattern but analysis of his vocabulary and writing style indicates it is the same person behind the keyboard. Also like his Chinese counterpart he will sometimes post in non-Russian topics to establish credibility but these posts are typically short and typically off-topic.

3. The short-term Russian troll. While the particular account may be old the person behind the keyboard is prone to change. The posting history will also have lengthy breaks as Russia is out of the news but in contrast to the long-term Russian troll the short-term troll is likely a different person behind the keyboard from one posting period to another.

3. (Continued) One of the short-term trolls I studied exhibited markedly different personalities over time. One personality posted lengthy commentaries that exhibited a high degree of English fluency while a later personality posted short quips that betrayed a lack of English language competency and a lack of American cultural understanding. A subsequent personality did not remember comments made by an earlier personality.

3. (Further) Russian troll insults follow Russian language insults and they tend to favor insults that question a person’s mental state, emotional state, mental competency, cognizance, intellect, and intelligence.

Conclusions about Russian trolls:

There are two types of Russian troll farm practices at play here. Trolls who use a particular account for several years and accounts that are used by a variety of trolls over a period of years.

Troll Tactics:

1. The Dodge. When a troll is confronted by information or a question that goes against the narrative they’re advocating they predictably ask challenging, loaded, adversarial, or insulting questions in response. Then they typically demand answers to their questions as a tactic to distract from the questions or information they’re trying to dodge.

2. The Unprovoked Insult. In general the unprovoked insult is best identified when it is directed against a poster whose comment was merely an observation and not a challenge. The troll will respond aggressively to these posts in the hopes of silencing the more polite and innocuous poster. Sometimes the troll will even go so far as to claim a ‘victory’ when they think they have silenced someone or chased them away from a topic.

3. The Drive-By Troll. Similar to bloggers who post their blog pages and then don’t respond to comments the Drive-By Troll will post usually overt propaganda and then fail to defend it. If their posting history shows any comments at all then the comments will typically be short and often off-topic posts that would appear to be intended to make the troll account look ‘normal’.

4. Circular Reasoning. Trolls will quite often cite posts by other trolls as ‘evidence’ supporting their narrative. Then when challenged they will refer the challenger to the other troll post as ‘evidence’.

5. The Sock Puppets. Selected troll accounts have a collection of sock-puppet accounts that they use to echo and amplify the message of the primary troll account. The Sock Puppet accounts are sometimes easy to identify because they only post in response to the posts of specific troll accounts. Their comments are typically brief variations on the theme of, “You’re so brilliant, Original Poster!” The Sock Puppet never posts their own topics and they do not typically respond to posts written by anyone other than the primary troll account.

5. (Continued) Sock Puppet accounts are sometimes used to create a false chorus of insults or criticisms directed at posters who challenge the narrative of the primary troll account.

Note that I am not listing all of my criteria here for identifying troll accounts. But I will say that I have investigated numerous accounts and that about 20% of the accounts I investigate I end up clearing as simply people who happen to agree with the opinions of the Chinese and Russian governments.

I was asked by one poster to see if I could identify Deep State troll accounts and after consideration I have a few accounts I am now studying. But I have nothing even vaguely substantial at this point to prove or deny the existence of such accounts.

I’m still working on this project and will post updates here as I have them.

Updated 8 March 2022