How To Spot A Russian Troll

[Tessera]

How To Spot A Russian Troll On YouTube

During the past few months, the Russian trolls have adopted a new tactic. Their former tactic was to pose as rabid Trump supporters and tell the world about how wonderful Trump is. Lately, that ruse has been very hard for them to maintain, thanks to Trump's increasingly psychotic behavior.

So now, they have switched over to a new tactic: they pretend to be sympathetic to the liberals, while posting stuff that is ACTUALLY designed to instill fear and doubt, and a sense of weakness into our minds.

You can spot these Russian trolls pretty easily, once you know which clues to look for...

On YouTube, nearly all of them will be hiding behind "disposable accounts," that they delete after about a week or so. We've already known that about them for a long time and typically, none of them will have any content on their YouTube channel. So if you click on the name of a suspicious troll and their page says "This channel has no content," then there's your first clue. If there is any content on their channel, then it will usually just be some random playlist that they quickly added to their channel. There will NEVER be any original content and they will always have either no subscribers at all, or maybe 5 or 6 subs from a few other Russian trolls, who are likewise using disposable accounts.

Another important clue is that they will usually begin their posts with the word "Unfortunately" or "Sadly." This is intended to make them appear to be sympathetic to the left. I have seen such posts hundreds of times during the past few months. But take note that in every case, right after they start their post with "Unfortunately" or "Sadly," the rest of their post will consist of something which is intended to cause doubt and fear in the minds of liberals.

With me so far..? Their channel has no content, they have few or no subscribers, and their posts almost always begin with the words "Unfortunately" or "Sadly." THAT'S A RUSSIAN TROLL.

Let me show you an actual example of what I'm talking about in this post. Notice that my reply to this particular Russian troll was designed to turn his fear right back around on himself:

LovinLife
25 minutes ago
@Tessmage Tessera Unfortunately I believe Trump will refuse to leave the White House if he loses
and may call for his Supporters to take up arms to keep him in the White House.

Tessmage Tessera
1 second ago
@LovinLife  If that happens, then we'll have to kill them. Do you know how to shoot a gun..? If not, then I can teach you.

I highlighted the giveaway word "Unfortunately" in that example, to better illustrate what to look for. They ALL do it these days. Nearly every one of these Russian troll posts will begin with "Unfortunately," "Sadly," "The sad thing is," etc. Which suggests that they are following some sort of guideline sheet, that instructs them to use those words (or words to that effect). As I've said, the intention is to play on our psychology and make them appear to be sympathetic to our side. Immediately afterward, they stick the knife in. I mean, they may as well post something like "Unfortunately, all of us are too meek and powerless to withstand The Mighty Trump." Get the picture..?

For the record, I am not actually advocating that we run out and shoot Trump supporters, in the response that I quoted above. No, that response was just my little way of torpedoing a Russian troll. Their intention is to scare us, so I responded with a show of bravado. A response like mine is usually enough to make the trolls run away because clearly, they've been spotted... and they've failed.

Keep your eyes open, folks. We are WINNING this battle. The Russians were trolling non-stop a year ago, too... and did it help them..? Nope. In the election that followed, the 2018 midterms, the Republicans suffered their worst defeat in the entirety of American political history. They lost nearly 400 seats nationwide, three states flipped from red to blue and so did about a dozen counties in various states. We also saw a record turnout of younger voters, as well as a record number of far-left candidates winning their races (including "The Squad").

The blue wave in 2018 was just a taste of what's coming in 2020. So don't be fooled by the trolls. 

[Tessera]

Of course, the cable news media are even more deceptive than the Russian trolls... just in different ways.

For example...

Here's a fact that the cable news never tells you: Joe Biden has absolutely no chance to beat the progressive candidate.

Here's how you know: just look at ANY poll... I don't care where it comes from... and add together the numbers for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Keep in mind that only one of them will actually be the nominee, and they both share the same progressive base. If one drops out, then his or her base will naturally migrate over to the other one. Okay, so are you adding those numbers together..? Now compare that total to the numbers for Biden.

In every single poll, Biden is behind the progressive candidate. 

[Blankspace]

On YouTube, nearly all of them will be hiding behind "disposable accounts," that they delete after about a week or so. We've already known that about them for a long time and typically, none of them will have any content on their YouTube channel. So if you click on the name of a suspicious troll and their page says "This channel has no content," then there's your first clue. If there is any content on their channel, then it will usually just be some random playlist that they quickly added to their channel. There will NEVER be any original content and they will always have either no subscribers at all, or maybe 5 or 6 subs from a few other Russian trolls, who are likewise using disposable accounts.

Another red flag of a disposable account on any site is that they use the default icon/banner for their page/avatar.

[Drazgar]

This is some serious crap going on around there on YT. If those guys ARE Russians, then I can only imagine what kind of shit their heads are full of right this moment. My misbegotten country was burning alive during this summer (Siberia) and about to be torn apart once again in history, and all these fuckheads care for is troll-supporting Trump. Donald motherfucking Trump.

It seems that "Russian Federation" is a semi-foreign management company after all.

[Will Never]

These guys are EVERYWHERE. 

[Blankspace]

These guys are EVERYWHERE.

Agreed, trolls will pop up in any trending or controversial topic.

[Tessera]

Here's another clue:

You see a suspicious troll within a particularly controversial thread. So you check out that troll's channel and it says "5 subscribers." Later, you see what appears to be a different troll posting within the same thread and once again, the troll's channel has 5 subscribers.

They're all sock puppets. Lately, the trolls have taken to creating 4 or 5 YouTube accounts at the same time and then, they log into each channel and use it to subscribe to all of their other channels.

In short, all 5 subscribers are the same person... using multiple accounts and trying to disguise their channels, in a weak attempt to make them appear to be legitimate.

YouTube could put a stop to this crap tomorrow (or at least cut down on it), by preventing more than one account from the same IP address.

[Blankspace]

Here's another clue:

You see a suspicious troll within a particularly controversial thread. So you check out that troll's channel and it says "5 subscribers." Later, you see what appears to be a different troll posting within the same thread and once again, the troll's channel has 5 subscribers.

They're all sock puppets. Lately, the trolls have taken to creating 4 or 5 YouTube accounts at the same time and then, they log into each channel and use it to subscribe to all of their other channels.

In short, all 5 subscribers are the same person... using multiple accounts and trying to disguise their channels, in a weak attempt to make them appear to be legitimate.

YouTube could put a stop to this crap tomorrow (or at least cut down on it), by preventing more than one account from the same IP address.

Problem is that YouTube doesn't do a damn thing about most problems on their site.

[Drazgar]

They're all sock puppets. Lately, the trolls have taken to creating 4 or 5 YouTube accounts at the same time and then, they log into each channel and use it to subscribe to all of their other channels.

I wonder what's going to happen to all these accounts after December 10.

[Will Never]

These Russian trolls are all over YouTube comments. I think they're trained or programmed to search for certain keywords because they swarm to certain political videos or videos about controversial topics within minutes of being uploaded.  I've also noticed that they will post something from a script without really checking to see if it's germane.  The other day I saw a video uploaded about the Ukraine scandal and the bot was posting stuff about Robert Mueller, which is from the Russia scandal. 

And they definitely use names that are clearly Russian in origin or on the opposite end, almost TOO English sounding.  They don't use natural sounding names.  "John West" and "Beverly Harris" are two examples I recall recently.  They may as well be naming themselves "Clark Kent" or "Bruce Wayne" LOL.  And they've definitely started adding favorite videos to their channels and subscribing to one another in order to hide their true nature, like Tessera explained.  Real users have caught on to the fact that their accounts had no content and the trolls are adapting to it.

[Tessera]

 I can tell you an easy way to neutralize any Trump troll. Just reply to them with the following:

Your childish comments on YouTube will not protect Trump.

If they respond, don't get sucked in (unless you want to have fun with them).
Just copy/paste and respond once again with:

Your childish comments on YouTube will not protect Trump.

Same reply... over and over again, if necessary. It drives them up the wall. 

[Tessera]

To expand upon my previous post...


What upsets the trolls even more is to respond with something totally unrelated to whatever they posted. Trust me... I've been a troll killer ever since 1992. The whole trick is to turn their anger back on themselves. Then trolling isn't fun for them anymore and instead, they feel angry and small. Keep in mind the fact that habitual internet trolls are, by nature, very, very childish and unhappy people.

So how do you crush a troll..?

Basically, it's like pretending that you didn't even hear what they said and instead, you keep responding with totally different stuff that you know will piss them off. For example: a typical Trump troll posts "TRUMP LANDSLIDE 2020" and obviously, he's trying to "trigger the libs" with his horseshit. So instead of even acknowledging that, you gleefully respond with something like "Hey, guess what? Melania has really ugly breast implants!" Or... "Trump is going to die in prison. That's so awesome!" Or... "Trump sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl. What a pig!" Get the idea..? Flip it back around on them, and they'll always end up running away and spitting over their shoulder. If they respond by trying to get you into an argument, or hurling childish personal insults, again... pretend you never even saw it and come right back with yet another unrelated response that you know will annoy and frustrate them. This little game works 100% of the time, believe me.

Just never, ever acknowledge what they actually posted. That's what they want, so don't give it to them. Totally ignoring them works, too... but doing what I just described works even better. Demoralize the trolls.

[Will Never]

LOL Tessera, , you're right, that's EXACTLY how to slay them.

What's also fun is to impersonate them.

I've visited sites like "Breitbart" which is full of fanatics, and have enjoyed turning their arguments on them in the comments section.  Some of them are very easily misled too: one time I posed as a "devout conservative" advocating for war in the middle east because "it will kickstart our economy like WW2 and the depression" or some shit.  It's an obviously horrendous and stupid a position, but you'd be surprised how many people there supported the idea, LOL, until they realized I was trolling them the whole time.

[Tessera]

LOL Tessera, , you're right, that's EXACTLY how to slay them.

Here's a typical example of what I've been describing...



Very simple stuff. Get the idea..? Completely ignore whatever the troll says and then
just reply with something unrelated, that you know will piss them off.

And here's an even better example.. this time to someone who is almost certainly a Russian, or a Russian sympathizer:



Hard smash to your psyche, Ivan.