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I get Paid to Chat on Reddit (self.offmychest)

princessarista が 投稿

I might get in trouble for saying this, but I’m about to get a better job anyway. I think people should know who they’re talking to.

Ever reply to one of those “work online” ads? Sometimes, PR companies hire young, cheap workers like me to create a false sense of consensus online. It’s called stealth marketing, but to me it’s just lying. I’ve been paid to do it here and in the comments section of a certain women’s news site.

Basically, I go to a small office six hours a day, working under the hour limit to qualify for full time. There are about twenty of us here on an average day, different people every day. They keep everyone rotating and hire extra people so nobody’s getting 40 hours.

Some of us aren’t even marketing for the same client, but we all work for the same PR firm. Did I say work for? We are all "temps" (sure).

I browse comments sections searching for mentions of our politician. They give us a script. If commenter mentions A, we mention B. If a commenter mentions “random negative thing x,” we respond with a vague counterpoint, like calling our candidate “authentic” or saying “look at his record” without specifying.

There’s even a script for when the other commenter is winning the argument. We’re told specifically to derail the discussion, throw mud, and in the end, accuse the commenter of being a conspiracy theorist/tinfoil hat wearer. That way, anyone reading the discussion will see those negative points as being associated with weird people.

I got into a discussion today with someone from an opposing politician’s team, I think. I was using my script, and I think he was using a script, too. Answers from a can. It felt weird to have a futile discussion between liars. I wonder what that person really believes?

Anyway, I just thought people should know not to take the political things they read on here too seriously. If you want to have a genuine discussion about that, keep it in person or on facebook where you know the people you’re talking to. If you’re doing it on an anonymous forum, you’re probably being marketed to.

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トップ新着論争中古い順Q&A

[–]Blake_Thundercock 832ポイント833ポイント  (130子コメント)

This is actually really interesting. Would you be interested in doing an AMA?

[–]princessarista[S] 1007ポイント1008ポイント  (125子コメント)

I don't want to get tooooo specific or my bosses will be able to tell it's me, or one of my co-workers. They are on reddit all the time and have probably already seen this post, (or maybe not since I would expect them to downvote it with multiple sockpuppets, or report it for doxing or some other bullshit report.) I'm hoping they will think it could be from some other wageslave at a similar but different company.

[–]zxcvcxz 712ポイント713ポイント  (41子コメント)

PLEASE take as many notes as possible, and save the scripts you follow so you can do a full AMA after the election!

This is one of the most interesting topics possible, and it could actually help our democracy function better if more people knew about it!

[–]Niezo 173ポイント174ポイント  (1子コメント)

Seconded, you might not be able to do an AMA now, but maybe it's possible afterwards? It'll be harder to track you down as well.

[–]presidentender 61ポイント62ポイント  (1子コメント)

after the election!

Or, like, now would be good.

[–]aozeba 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

After the job mayhaps

[–]KhabaLox 41ポイント42ポイント  (1子コメント)

How about before the election, but after he quits the job. As long as he didn't sign a restrictive NDA before he was hired, he should be ok.

[–]soulstealer1984 96ポイント97ポイント  (16子コメント)

Probably signed a nondisclosure agreement and he could be sued if he does an AMA.

[–]humanmanguy 53ポイント54ポイント  (5子コメント)

Maybe wikileaks or something. He hasn't said anything really identifying yet, except for maybe that he's getting a better job (which isn't that specific since McDonald's janitor is probably a better job)

[–]Immolated_Marmoset 40ポイント41ポイント  (1子コメント)

maintenance at mcdonalds is above minimum and full time, so you're actually right

[–]Nimbus2000 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Screenname is Princess Arista...

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    [–]thatcantb 29ポイント30ポイント  (3子コメント)

    "he" princess arista No since this is reddit, it's probably prince ssarista.

    [–]FecklessFool 54ポイント55ポイント  (2子コメント)

    "derail the discussion! DERAIL THE DISCUSSION!"

    spotted one

    [–]GlyphGryph 13ポイント14ポイント  (4子コメント)

    I'm pretty sure nondisclosure agreements only cover IP protection, so long as he doesn't reveal the specific technical details he's fine. And considering they are a company that benefits from staying out of the limelight, suing him with a bullshit case is probably very unattractive.

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      [–]humanmanguy 21ポイント22ポイント  (0子コメント)

      After the election? I think it'd be more important to do it before!

      [–]player0000000000 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

      full AMA after the election!

      That would be too late.

      [–]lectroboy 70ポイント71ポイント  (8子コメント)

      This is one of the most interesting topics possible, and it could actually help our democracy function better if more people knew about it!

      You're basically a conspiracy theorist/tinfoil hat wearer. Democracy is working fine. Nothing to see here.

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        [–]IBiteYou 135ポイント136ポイント  (44子コメント)

        or maybe not since I would expect them to downvote it with multiple sockpuppets, or report it for doxing or some other bullshit report

        Is this an accepted practice for people who work for your employer?

        [–]tidder112 222ポイント223ポイント  (42子コメント)

        It sounds to me ethics have already been cast aside.

        [–]IBiteYou 37ポイント38ポイント  (28子コメント)

        Sure... but admins can detect sockpuppets and bullshit doxxing reports.

        [–]BigYellowDeathBullet 70ポイント71ポイント  (0子コメント)

        The doxxing yeah, but imagine if you had 1000 accounts all running through different proxies with people paid to man them day after day. I bet there's plenty of genuine accounts people use only for politics, another for games, absolutely none for porn...

        [–]heidurzo 66ポイント67ポイント  (10子コメント)

        Don't be so sure. Reddit's anti-spam protection only catches people trying to do it on a budget. The average redditor is unlikely to buy something and extremely unlikely to click on ads so the more experienced marketers with bigger budgets target other websites e.g facebook.

        Politics is different, they aren't aiming to turn a profit. For around $1500 a month they can rent 1000 private proxies which change every month. With a few dedicated staff or interns they can easily keep a few hundred accounts reasonably active and unique. You can find or scrape massive image dumps to get a few hundred karma from the defaults easily and with a couple of comments on each account a day it will have decent karma and as long as they don't comment solely on politics they'll appear like regular users.

        There's also been reports in the past of people contacting users with 40k+ karma en masse to purchase their accounts.

        They also don't need to use every account to downvote a post at once, just enough to keep it depressed in the rankings.

        [–]sickburnersalve 21ポイント22ポイント  (3子コメント)

        Advertising on Reddit is basically free. You could have your delivery guy "generating buzz" in-between trips. Hit up bifl or whatever subreddits agree with you enough, and boom, amazon hits.

        Reddit is a market place. The social media aspect is the outer crust of a giant marketing Death Star in the vast space of the internet.

        [–]scorinaldi 10ポイント11ポイント  (2子コメント)

        the frequent front page poster /u/CANT_TRUST_HILLARY is one of these accounts. Look at the comment history, it's completely artificial. just scrapes of popular image repos, posts to aww and funny, and the occassional right wing talking point.

        [–]NSNick 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

        Politics is different, they aren't aiming to turn a profit.

        Well.... :P

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          [–]Tonkarz 11ポイント12ポイント  (2子コメント)

          If it's some random person doing it manually on the spur of the moment. But these companies have software to make it easy to get away with.

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                [–]Dear_Occupant 139ポイント140ポイント  (3子コメント)

                As a career political worker and redditor, this disgusts me. Please blow this story wide open. Any journalist in the country would love to speak to you about this, and they can protect your identity and keep this from affecting your career. Gather as much documentation as you can, make copies of your scripts, written policies, everything. I would suggest going either to the Washington Post or the local newspaper for the candidate in question.

                There are many of us on reddit who work in politics and aren't being paid to express our opinions. We just want to use the site like everyone else, we have stories to tell just like everyone else, and this sort of underhanded activity undermines our credibility. People have enough distrust in government and politics already, and this not only deprives reddit of authentic insights from people who have experience in the field, it also serves to further alienate citizens from the process of democracy.

                I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you expose this sham to reddit and to the public.

                [–]SiberianShibe 8ポイント9ポイント  (1子コメント)

                Newspapers and media are in on it. There was a story on Fox News doing this in their own comments section.

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                  [–]lowertechnology 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

                  Ok. If they're reading this, I hope they see my comment:

                  Your lunch policy is evil, and you should be ashamed.

                  [–]panic_bread 6ポイント7ポイント  (4子コメント)

                  If you're about to get another job, who cares what the bosses think?

                  [–]jdiez17 12ポイント13ポイント  (1子コメント)

                  Fuck that. I rarely upvote stuff but this time you've got my axe.

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                      [–]Anistmows 253ポイント254ポイント  (221子コメント)

                      This is not surprising, how much do you make a hour?

                      [–]princessarista[S] 533ポイント534ポイント  (215子コメント)

                      (Switched to mobile, please excuse any typos). I make min wage, but they nickel and dime us to functionally less than that. For example, i sometimes work a "split shift" so i work 3 hours before low traffic hours (3am, 4am) then work 3 hours after. I only get paid for working 6 hours, but my workday has stretched to 8. Like what am i going to do with those two hours? Commute all the way home and all the way back? Also, we're not allowed to bring our own food. So if i work 6 hours straight, i have to buy shitty packaged food from the office at a huge markup, which they pocket. Im regurgitating my pay back at them.

                      [–]digitalchicken 325ポイント326ポイント  (61子コメント)

                      What the fuck? What company doesn't all staff to bring their own food? What if a employee has a special diet requirement?

                      [–]Murder_Boners 300ポイント301ポイント  (28子コメント)

                      That has to be illegal.

                      [–]401king 145ポイント146ポイント  (21子コメント)

                      http://lunchbreaklaws.uslegal.com/federal-law-regarding-lunch-breaks/

                      Unfortunately it's not federally regulated only regulated on a state level

                      [–]NutritionResearch 233ポイント234ポイント  (6子コメント)

                      Hikjacking the thread to let everyone know I archived factual information on internet shills and all of the cases I am aware of where a redditor has admitted to working for a PR firm.

                      /r/InternetPR

                      [–]summerofevidence 23ポイント24ポイント  (2子コメント)

                      Don't you usually have to hijack the top level comment?

                      [–]NutritionResearch 86ポイント87ポイント  (1子コメント)

                      I was trying to be nice. The issues with OP's workplace are more important in my opinion, so that deserves some discussion. I don't want to drown that out :)

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                        [–]israfel070 16ポイント17ポイント  (11子コメント)

                        If OP lived in a strong Union state, this ancient unethical tool ("scrip" or company funny money) would be banned as it is almost everywhere in the country. Sorry OP.

                        [–]naosuke 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

                        Except for the fact that OP doesn't say they are being paid in scrip (which is company currency), just that the only food available on campus has a super high markup.

                        While that's certainly shitty, there can be ways around it. For example if OP drives to and from work they can pack a lunch and keep it in their car, then eat it not on company property.

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                            [–]crasher_pt 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

                            Hey, if you're out to make a company that profits by spreading shit around the world why half-ass it?

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                              [–]somanyroads 18ポイント19ポイント  (27子コメント)

                              They could simply offer no break room or fridge, without explicitly disallowing food

                              [–]photoshopbot_01 10ポイント11ポイント  (26子コメント)

                              They'd still have to offer a lunch break, by law. (depends on where you live, but most places have this.)

                              [–]gnamyl 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

                              Saw this in a recent thread and found out NC and VA both have no mandate to provide meal breaks. MA where I am now does as a counterpoint.

                              [–]jrad151 24ポイント25ポイント  (18子コメント)

                              I thought that it was required one lunch break after 4 hours worked? So if OP only works 3 hours at a time then he wouldn't get a "lunch break" just a 10-15 minute coffee break.

                              [–]AsthmaticHummingbird 38ポイント39ポイント  (13子コメント)

                              Not even four hours, nope. My boss liked to frequently remind me that even a ten hour shift, she didn't legally have to give me a break.

                              I'm starting a new job soon. Fuck her.

                              Edit: Yes, I'm serious.

                              No law requires employers in other industries to provide meal breaks, however. Nebraska does not require employers to provide rest breaks, paid or unpaid.

                              [–]Vanetia 9ポイント10ポイント  (4子コメント)

                              Places I'll never move to just got another item added to the list

                              [–]AsthmaticHummingbird 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

                              Also, you'd be surprised how many places you can go ahead and add to that list. Off the top of my head, Indiana is actually worse.

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                                        [–]SwissJAmes 384ポイント385ポイント  (19子コメント)

                                        Also, we're not allowed to bring our own food. So if i work 6 hours straight, i have to buy shitty packaged food from the office at a huge markup, which they pocket. Im regurgitating my pay back at them.

                                        This make me more angry than the sockpuppeting and manipulation of forums.

                                        [–]jrad151 86ポイント87ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                        Ya, that's got to be illegal doesn't it? What if someone has a special diet they have to strictly follow?

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                                          [–]FirstAmendAnon 52ポイント53ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                          What state are you in? I am a lawyer. I don't want to say for certain without knowing your jurisdiction and 100% of the facts, but based a few replies in this thread I'm pretty sure this employer is in violation of a number of labor laws. "Nickel and Diming" so that your effective rate is below the federal minimum wage is almost certainly a violation of the wage & hour provisions of the fair labor standards act. It sounds like you are misclassified as a contractor as well.

                                          [–]luxdesigns 26ポイント27ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                          Being forced to buy the meals from your employer probably means you have a claim against them for back pay once you leave.

                                          Considering that they're doing this to EVERYONE that works for them, that means it's potentially class action.

                                          Please do find a lawyer when you leave (or, before, preferably).

                                          Go here to find one: https://www.nlg.org/referral-directory?state_province=All&field_of_concentration_13%5B%5D=Employment&items_per_page=50

                                          [–]motokrow 15ポイント16ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                          Please come back and out this company and their clients when you change jobs. It's important to shine a light on this kind of behavior. You'd be doing a huge service to everyone.

                                          [–]BestCaseSurvival 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                          Like what am i going to do with those two hours?

                                          Read? Wander the city? Find a local park?

                                          Whatever you do, don't get a book on labor law out of the library and aggressively read it inside the actual building, you will probably get fired for 'unspecified reasons.'

                                          [–]googlehymen 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                          Make a bad-ass sandwich and eat it outside.

                                          Congrats on the new job, hope it works out better for you.

                                          [–]Adaptable_ 47ポイント48ポイント  (99子コメント)

                                          Do you think Hillary Clinton has an enormous team doing this for her?

                                          I'm thinking she does.

                                          [–]Timberduck 205ポイント206ポイント  (82子コメント)

                                          Bernie Sanders definitely does, and that enormous team is called all of reddit.

                                          [–]ProudTurtle 157ポイント158ポイント  (18子コメント)

                                          He's the authentic candidate.

                                          [–]TheEllimist 110ポイント111ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                          Just look at his record.

                                          [–]Eric_the_Barbarian 72ポイント73ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                          And if you say otherwise, you're nuttier than squirrel turds.

                                          [–]G-lain 36ポイント37ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                          Your tinfoil is crinkling.

                                          [–]labortooth 21ポイント22ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                          And loins be Berning.

                                          [–]KHRZ 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                          Bernie Sanders sounds like a decent man.

                                          I'm not a US citizen, but if anyone got a spare vote, you can throw him one for me.

                                          [–]nsa_assassin_bot 14ポイント15ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                          http://i.imgur.com/PSJTf2b.jpg

                                          [–]Serinus 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                          Ironic, since this is likely the only one that isn't paid.

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                                            [–]saraquael 59ポイント60ポイント  (48子コメント)

                                            Bernie Sanders doesn't have the funds to pay people to subversively market him. For now, his record just speaks for itself.

                                            Will that change? I'm not sure. I think the Sanders people are just really high on their own Kool-Aid.

                                            Source: am a Sanders person, am high on my own Kool-Aid. Tastes of authenticity!

                                            [–]sangneuf 28ポイント29ポイント  (36子コメント)

                                            Bernie Saunders = the liberal Ron Paul

                                            Not surprisingly, the supporters are highly motivated by the authenticity of their candidate.

                                            [–]AnneBancroftsGhost 19ポイント20ポイント  (31子コメント)

                                            See what gets me. I see a lot of crossover in the reddit supporter base from Ron Paul to Bernie Sanders. When so many of their actual political positions, and certainly their ideologies, are the exact opposite of one another.

                                            It definitely makes me less inclined to listen to them. And I say this as a Bernie fan.

                                            [–]specialkake 30ポイント31ポイント  (16子コメント)

                                            They are both anti-Fed, anti-war, anti-drug war, anti-government surveillance, anti-police state, anti-gun control. There are obvious differences, but they are on the same side on a lot of issues.

                                            [–]saraquael 22ポイント23ポイント  (10子コメント)

                                            Sanders resonates with millennials because he speaks to them about the things that matter directly in their lives. He believes public universities should be free, because no one should lose out on the dream of college just because they don't have the money to go in the first place, or drown in debt before they even get a job that will pay them a living wage. He thinks health care should be a basic human right, not a privilege that the wealthy and lucky get to have. He thinks that - and this is crazy, I know - but people should be able to live off of their earnings from only one job.

                                            I think that kind of message really speaks to the disillusionment that young people feel right now, the same way Ron Paul did with his platform of small government and legalization. Both candidates have honestly wanted to change the status quo, though their ideas are radically different on how to go about that. It isn't the same dog and pony show as the rest of the candidates are offering.

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                                              [–]Tonkarz 15ポイント16ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                              Just look at his record.

                                              [–]virgineyes09 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                              Look at this conspiracy theorist. Take off your tinfoil hat!

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                                                    [–]ProudTurtle 18ポイント19ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                    I think she's authentic.

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                                                      [–]ambitious_flosser 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                      I don't know how long you worked there, but anything past a day was too long.

                                                      I've worked some shitty jobs too because I needed the money, but this beats pretty much all my lousy jobs in the past.

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                                                        [–]ironwire 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                        I'm guessing minimum as they already do everything possible to keep them below full time status

                                                        [–]pustota 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                        This, please reply.

                                                        [–]khal534 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                        asking the real questions.

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                                                          [–]neckbeardious 196ポイント197ポイント  (47子コメント)

                                                          This is actually kind of creepy, in a way. I wonder how many 'fake' users are on here at any given time. Hundreds? Thousands?

                                                          [–]1-1000 144ポイント145ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                          many mods are involved in this, and the accounts associated with it are countless.

                                                          [–]bobthebobd 30ポイント31ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                                          It would make sense for each person who works at such place to have multiple accounts, so I'd guess there are more accounts than people.

                                                          [–]pixl_graphix 6ポイント7ポイント  (5子コメント)

                                                          A tender should be able to manage hundreds of accounts, if not more. If they are really shady and using botnets to mask traffic they would all have different IPs.

                                                          [–]allasonder 71ポイント72ポイント  (17子コメント)

                                                          Maybe we're all fake.

                                                          [–]Niezo 100ポイント101ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                                          Every account on reddit is a bot except you.

                                                          [–]Account_287365 57ポイント58ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                          Error: System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.
                                                          at RedditAccountSimulator.Main.Comment_Reply(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Users\Cyberdyne\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\RedditAccountSimulator\Bot\Main.vb:line 41

                                                          [–]Clamdoodle 22ポイント23ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                          And me....bzzzclick....too.

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                                                              [–]ReallyFastCloud 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                              Probably a lot more than normal user, especially if you count in bots.

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                                                                [–]thornydeathmeister 218ポイント219ポイント  (15子コメント)

                                                                Of all the words of tongue and pen, saddest are these: /pol/ was right again.

                                                                [–]AnotherBlackMan 77ポイント78ポイント  (5子コメント)

                                                                Sooner or later 4chan always end up being right...

                                                                [–]serfis 41ポイント42ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                Throw enough shit at a wall and some of it is bound to stick

                                                                [–]Puckered_anus_mouth 29ポイント30ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                Sadly when not a silly shit post, They're right so offen.

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                                                                      [–]LazyHazy 416ポイント417ポイント  (24子コメント)

                                                                      I fucking knew it. I just had an argument with my friend about this.

                                                                      [–]allasonder 280ポイント281ポイント  (8子コメント)

                                                                      Oooo... Did your friend accuse you of wearing tin hats or being a conspiracy theorist?

                                                                      S/he could be part of the stealth marketing's stealth marketing...

                                                                      [–]LazyHazy 69ポイント70ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                      Definitely got a lot of the tin hat comments.

                                                                      [–]Thobalt 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                      A bit unrelated to your point, but we sure got a lot of tin foil hat comments devaluing privacy concerns about Windows 10. With ad revenue tanking according to those news posts the other day, I'm sure marketing teams are scrambling to put together teams like this to defend/promote their products in place of traditional advertising.

                                                                      How far d'you lot think this will go?

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                                                                        [–]kaferserene 23ポイント24ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                        Are you crazy? LazyHazy's friend is one of the most authentic people I know! Just look at his record.

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                                                                          [–]KhabaLox 60ポイント61ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                          But just look at your friend's record. He's authentic. How can you accuse him of that when you've flip flopped in virtually every argument you've had?

                                                                          [–]silver_tongued_devil 20ポイント21ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                          I just always assumed it happened, yeah. puts on tinfoil hat

                                                                          [–]snatchenvy 17ポイント18ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                          https://www.google.com/#q=%22look+at+his+record%22+politics+site:reddit.com%2Fuser

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                                                                            [–]heyhihelloyowhatsupp 29ポイント30ポイント  (15子コメント)

                                                                            Do you know if any celebrities get firms to do this as well?

                                                                            [–]princessarista[S] 63ポイント64ポイント  (7子コメント)

                                                                            I don't really know, but if my supervisor gave me a new script to talk up Brangelina, it's not like i would say "no." In fact, that would feel much less insidious.

                                                                            [–]TenAC 7ポイント8ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                            Movie industry has something going on. Watch things like Rotten Tomatoes reviews... Movie not rating well? Then a wave of positive reviews come flowing in. Same thing on iTunes and Google Play for rentals.

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                                                                              [–]ThatFag 24ポイント25ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                              This is was so strange to read. Loved it. I hope you're using a VPN or a proxy.

                                                                              [–]Grapetattoo 73ポイント74ポイント  (36子コメント)

                                                                              Name the candidates

                                                                              [–]trollfarmer2015 55ポイント56ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                              The NY Times did a long article on troll farms, everybody who hangs out on the internet should read it

                                                                              http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?_r=0

                                                                              [–]NutritionResearch 13ポイント14ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                              Nice. I'll add that to the list. I made a sub to archive all of these stories on shills. /r/InternetPR

                                                                              FYI, Russia is not the only country which does this. USA, Britain, Israel, China, Turkey, Canada, etc are all participating in forums using shills.

                                                                              [–]Mangalz 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                              Your name... do I trust you?

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                                                                                [–]Freezy_Kerouac 61ポイント62ポイント  (8子コメント)

                                                                                Somebody should reach out to John Oliver to do a segment about this. This could be interesting. Plus, I bet there's some shady and grey areas behind these kind of jobs/companies.

                                                                                [–]barleyf 7ポイント8ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                that would be interesting

                                                                                [–]Freezy_Kerouac 2ポイント3ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                Yes! How do we get around to reaching this guy..

                                                                                [–]raymond8505 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                maybe there's some sort of... blue bird we could send... over the internet?

                                                                                [–]Freezy_Kerouac 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                Like... A message delivery system that can cross world wide instantly with just the push of a button..

                                                                                Pff If only...

                                                                                [–]raymond8505 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                yeah that'd probably work. Maybe the folks over at /r/SomebodyMakeThis could help us

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                                                                                  [–]FantasyDuellist 89ポイント90ポイント  (19子コメント)

                                                                                  This is obviously true and there's plenty of evidence for it.

                                                                                  [–]Dharmasabitch 16ポイント17ポイント  (11子コメント)

                                                                                  You have links? I'd be interested to see more about this

                                                                                  [–]1-1000 105ポイント106ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                                                                  https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/

                                                                                  This first link is very important. It has the actual leaked slide from NSA/GCHQ programs to control your mind and propagandize you on the internet by using "shills" to control discussion and narrative on major social media websites - and discusses how to manipulate individuals and groups.

                                                                                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-sponsored_Internet_sockpuppetry

                                                                                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Threat_Research_Intelligence_Group

                                                                                  welcome to real life, where the criminals have all the money and they employ people to control the minds of the masses because it's easier than controlling them physically (but that can certainly be done as well, and they have countless buildings full of cages where they put human beings - keep them there forever - and work them until they die while pretending they aren't slaves ... by paying them pennies per hour =/).

                                                                                  [–]dopalicious 21ポイント22ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                  You'd think the guy strategizing the NSAs top secret propaganda task force would at least know how to make a decent looking PowerPoint

                                                                                  [–]appocomaster 35ポイント36ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                  Honestly, knowing how business works, he probably had 20 things he was doing and someone said "Bob, we have a meeting tomorrow - put together a quick .ppt for it will you?" and he forgot until 10pm so did it frantically in half an hour.

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                                                                                    [–]Segat1 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

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                                                                                      [–]Murder_Boners 11ポイント12ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                      I'm guessing this just isn't limited to politicians.

                                                                                      [–]iDannyEL 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                      Celebrities, products, controversial topics. It's sickening to think about but a reality.

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                                                                                        [–]kebutankie 323ポイント324ポイント  (141子コメント)

                                                                                        I figured that there were many types of shills on here, which was why I made a bot to detect a bunch, so that I would have some additional information for when I come across a fishy one.

                                                                                        It searches their history for terms related to GMOs, vaccines, politicians, etc. This is a thread I posted recently showing the results for some GMO suspects. A few of them usually work as a team. /GMOMyths is where they do some of their brigading from. I've been on a crusade against their manipulation for the past 4 days and it's been tiring. -_- https://www.reddit.com/r/shill/comments/3fyp5b/gmomonsanto_shills/

                                                                                        You do not know how much I appreciate you for being so honest with us. I love you! I only wish that they would all do this lol.

                                                                                        I hope that they treat you a lot better at your new job and that you have great success! Good luck and be healthy and happy! <3

                                                                                        Update: I've also noticed that they will often refer to or mention /conspiracy, conspiracy theorists, tin-foil hats to trigger responses, and I have even mentioned that exact technique in a recent thread where 9 of them flooded into a GMO-related thread in /vegan. Here are some of those special moments.

                                                                                        JF_Queeny: Crawl back into the hole you sprung forth and stock up on tin foil.
                                                                                        Take this back to /r/Conspiracy where people believe everything is a plot.

                                                                                        mem_somerville: And this is why you can't have nice conversations with conspiracy theorists. It's completely futile.

                                                                                        dtiftw: Asserted without evidence. Just like the other wild claims on /conspiracy.

                                                                                        It's all a show.

                                                                                        [–]bobbage 187ポイント188ポイント  (28子コメント)

                                                                                        IDK, you sound like a bit of an anti-science tin foil hat wearing weirdo to me.

                                                                                        [–]kebutankie 39ポイント40ポイント  (24子コメント)

                                                                                        How so? Please show me how I am anti-science. Ahh, I see, you're just trolling. You got me!

                                                                                        Sanders would never do such a thing, just look at his record. You don't get more authentic than that. You sound like a crazy tin foil hat wearer to me, take it to /r/conspiracy. IT'S NOT SANDERS

                                                                                        [–]mcgoogins 74ポイント75ポイント  (5子コメント)

                                                                                        I think that was a joke.

                                                                                        [–]kebutankie 24ポイント25ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                        Yea, I've been on the defensive a lot lately. It was hard to tell without looking at his comments lol.

                                                                                        [–]Sabalabajaybum 17ポイント18ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                        Being defensive is an indicator of weak moral character. Have you smoked a marijuana?

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                                                                                          [–]EricInReddit 10ポイント11ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                          Quick, throw some mud!

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                                                                                              [–]princessarista[S] 52ポイント53ポイント  (38子コメント)

                                                                                              That bot... i think that would actually work on me. That's really cool, but also makes me nervous tbh.

                                                                                              [–]Chief_White_Halfoat5 27ポイント28ポイント  (11子コメント)

                                                                                              It's all a show.

                                                                                              Some. Maybe.

                                                                                              All? No.

                                                                                              One of my best mates' real name and two of the people I work with (the guy who normally sits right next to me) show up on a few of those 'shill lists' that you find in various places (which typically are conspiracy-related in some way) on the internet. We're all formerly or currently in molecular biology or related fields - go figure why we're on the lists.

                                                                                              I think there is evidence that shills in the stereotypical form exits, as this thread suggests. Certainly there's a variety of sources that support OP.

                                                                                              Do they shape the debate to the extent that many believe? Nah I don't think so.

                                                                                              There's also an actual problem with conspiracist ideation in this respect - there's a lot of evidence that shows that you're more likely to believe in one if you already believe in another. And also that presenting conspiracy theorists with facts and sources is not likely to change their mind, and given the nature of their beliefs, actually re-inforces it. So to be honest, I can completely understand why guys like JF_Queeny, resort to that kind of moeckery. Half the time (or more), it's correct. Especially when you've been going at it for a long time.

                                                                                              Ultimately it's incredibly difficult to determine the source of people's qualifications and the extent of their knowledge. There's no way in hell i'm putting my personal details in any posts even if they do lend credibility to my expertise.

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                                                                                                [–]theabomination 32ポイント33ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                                R/hailcorporate was right all along

                                                                                                [–]brotatojones 23ポイント24ポイント  (13子コメント)

                                                                                                That is kinda unsettling

                                                                                                [–]barleyf 5ポイント6ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                this is going to be 100% normal in the 21st century

                                                                                                [–]papersailboat 11ポイント12ポイント  (8子コメント)

                                                                                                Going to be? It already is. Try to talk negatively about a Microsoft product in a Microsoft thread.. you will be eaten alive.

                                                                                                [–]Qikdraw 9ポイント10ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                                Try talking negatively about Steam on Reddit and you get downvoted to hell. That's not a bot, that's just circlejerk. Same could be said for going into a Microsoft forum and bashing microsoft. Not everything is a bot or paid PR on social media.

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                                                                                                    [–]CowboyBoats 12ポイント13ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                    Could you please name some some candidates that your firm (not you personally, since I know your anonymity is a concern) has been hired to promote and defend?

                                                                                                    [–]Lepew1 10ポイント11ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                    There’s even a script for when the other commenter is winning the argument. We’re told specifically to derail the discussion, throw mud, and in the end, accuse the commenter of being a conspiracy theorist/tinfoil hat wearer. That way, anyone reading the discussion will see those negative points as being associated with weird people.

                                                                                                    Sure have seen a lot of that.

                                                                                                    [–]SCombinator 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                    Anyway, I just thought people should know not to take the political things they read on here too seriously

                                                                                                    Still on the clock?

                                                                                                    [–]Hooch180 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                    Can you post a script here? Maybe from throwaway account if you don't want to get in trouble.

                                                                                                    [–]Bluest_waters 57ポイント58ポイント  (11子コメント)

                                                                                                    I've known for a while that big oil is doing this.

                                                                                                    Back when I was researching climate change fairly intensely an article about climate change would get posted, and literally 15 minutes later there would be five to ten comments saying things like

                                                                                                    "it's too bad federal grant money has corrupted the climate research process."

                                                                                                    Or

                                                                                                    "suuuuree... First climate scientists were saying XYZ now climate scientists are saying ABC… Every six months They change their tune."

                                                                                                    Etc. etc.

                                                                                                    It was always very similar comments, saying very similar things. and they would brigade the comment section before anybody else even got there, almost instantly. Reasonable sane, informative comments regarding climate change were instantly drowned out.

                                                                                                    It was GLARINGLY OBVIOUS what was going on. I would try to tell people this is happening and they would call me a weirdo, a wingnut, conspiracy theorists, etc. etc.

                                                                                                    [–]wfunction 26ポイント27ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                                                                                    Yeah, same thing happened to me this evening. I posted an /r/AskReddit query trying to start a discussion with climate change deniers and exactly the same thing happened. I sincerely doubt deniers are that common on reddit, it's almost as if they are searching for climate change related topics and attacking the posters.

                                                                                                    [–]Bluest_waters 25ポイント26ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                                    they do exactly this.

                                                                                                    They have alerts set up so the INSTANT any kind of climate change article gets posted They know about it and they brigade it

                                                                                                    [–]wfunction 24ポイント25ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                                    I'm glad I put two and two together just now because posting that thread really bummed me out as I wasn't expecting to get bum rushed by deniers like that. For awhile I just assumed that there were a lot more deniers out there than I previously thought which bothers me as I'm very passionate about the topic.

                                                                                                    Anyway, looking at the post history of some of the users in the thread, they really look like fake accounts. For example, one poster posts nothing but nonsense and single sentence jokes ("I have aids." "Double fistin' it!" "How big are we talking?" etc) then all of a sudden when my climate change thread comes up, he posts this:

                                                                                                    "Man made emissions are a small percent of which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth."

                                                                                                    ...and gets upvoted three times almost instantly (while I get downvoted an equal number of times). Something has got to be going on. It's not just him but most of the posters in the thread seem to be more or less the same deal. Not only that but their accounts aren't very old either.

                                                                                                    I'd link to the thread and their names but I don't want to be accused of "brigading"... It's all in my most recent post history, anyway.

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                                                                                                        [–]blndcavefsh 6ポイント7ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                                        What does the script tell you to say if they accuse you of following a script?

                                                                                                        Does the script ever tell you to give up on a thread?

                                                                                                        [–]Brownwax 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                        I love the line - "a futile discussion between liars". Thanks for sharing!

                                                                                                        [–]IBiteYou 13ポイント14ポイント  (22子コメント)

                                                                                                        Some of us aren’t even marketing for the same client, but we all work for the same PR firm. Did I say work for? We are all "temps" (sure).

                                                                                                        Are you marketing for the same political party?

                                                                                                        [–]princessarista[S] 29ポイント30ポイント  (21子コメント)

                                                                                                        Aa far as i can tell, there is only one candidate being marketed at this office. (This is not the only office, which is another story all together) The rest of us are marketing for products, which rotate. For example "BPA's are safe." Various pharma.

                                                                                                        [–]aozeba 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                        Wow, amazing how everyone started talking about Clinton v Sanders and ignores that you do a lot of shilling for pharma and chemicals. I'm more interested in that. Tell us more?

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                                                                                                          [–]EraticA 44ポイント45ポイント  (23子コメント)

                                                                                                          How do you get a job like this? I know you hate it but I don't really have a soul and could use money.

                                                                                                          [–]vanillathunder420 9ポイント10ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                                          For real. One could say the perfect second job? To reddit just a little bit harder, and get paid for it?

                                                                                                          [–]ProfWhite 15ポイント16ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                          Actually it'd be redditting easier. I usually put thought into my replies, but shit, if someone's just gonna hand me a script to copy/paste...

                                                                                                          [–]princessarista[S] 33ポイント34ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                          It's hypocritical, but i don't want to help anyone else sell themselves as cheaply as i do. If fewer people would offer to put up with these shitty jobs, i believe employers would be forced to improve their policies. The workforce has little enough bargaining power without me facillitating people into shit jobs under exploitative employers.

                                                                                                          [–]genuinerysk 19ポイント20ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                                                                                          They wouldn't improve their policies. They will just outsource it to another country and continue with their ways.

                                                                                                          [–]IBiteYou 47ポイント48ポイント  (8子コメント)

                                                                                                          "Hi. Today I post to say that Bernie Sanders knows potato. If world was potato, Bernie Sanders save potato. Do you love Bernie? I also. For such I am giving heart to him."

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                                                                                                            [–]keypuncher 16ポイント17ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                                            Ginger, eh?

                                                                                                            [–]EraticA 8ポイント9ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                                            Blonde, but my beard grows ginger. But I know that any amount of ginger qualifies.

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                                                                                                              [–]fractiousrhubarb 19ポイント20ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                                              Don't know if it would have any effect, but what would happen if the Reddit TOS included a term that said "if you are paid to comment or post, your profile must state this" ?

                                                                                                              [–]somanyroads 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                              Good to know, I recently resubbed to /r/politics after a lengthy absence. I'll stuck to lurking there...

                                                                                                              [–]theaberdeenkid 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              Once you leave your current job can you do an AMA and talk about specifics about the company, what they do, who hires them, et cetera.

                                                                                                              [–]artifex28 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                              Well it has always been obvious that Russia isn't the only country using "troll factories".

                                                                                                              [–]young_consumer 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              A person I know used to do basically this for Amazon reviews and other sites. The bullshit is real!

                                                                                                              [–]The_Yar 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                              I think most of you here have no idea at what level this is being perpetrated. OP is the smallest of small fries. Arab Spring, Benghazi, Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street... pretty much any event on the major political stage that has a significant social media element to it was very likely concocted and manipulated by US political interests, using social media shills. Especially Occupy and most likely Tea Party, these were almost certainly cooked up by high-level campaign operators using shills.

                                                                                                              Stuff like this isn't new. Notice that each time Hillary prepares to run for President, suddenly there's a major TV show featuring a female president (Commander in Chief, Veep). That's not accidental either. That's not exactly being a shill, but the point is that political candidates know how people spend their time and what they watch / read / listen to, and they absolutely can and do manipulate all of that by any means they can get away with.

                                                                                                              That's why it's always important to keep your beliefs grounded in your own experiences with people and circumstances you have personal knowledge of, as well as in reasonably verifiable empirical/scientific data. The information you consume in the media, social media, and entertainment is significantly influenced by political (and corporate and special interest) agendas, and it is designed to program you to think a certain way without you realizing that you've been duped.

                                                                                                              [–]keypuncher 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              Organizing For Action published an ad for managing one of these groups a couple of years ago.

                                                                                                              [–]MusicMagi 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              Democracy, ladies and gentlemen

                                                                                                              [–]generalgeorge95 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              Everyone who I have ever disagreed with was doing this, I'm sure.

                                                                                                              [–]lamabaronvonawesome 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              I have seen the "tinfoil hat" thing tossed out at suspicious times when a logical argument is going well. It actually lept out at me a few times as seeming very odd.

                                                                                                              [–]my_lucid_nightmare 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              reddit overrun with shills. belongs in /r/noshitsherlock

                                                                                                              [–]sjleader 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                              Gotta love how they keep you from working full time. Assholes.

                                                                                                              [–]Wehavecrashed 3ポイント4ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                                              Relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/1019/

                                                                                                              [–]Yevla 16ポイント17ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                                                                                              I got in a fight with you about Bernie Sanders yesterday, didn't I?

                                                                                                              [–]ZeroAccess 18ポイント19ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                                              Just look at his record. Who cares that he's 74 years old and obviously manipulating reddit, he "has an aura" about him. You're a tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist. Jargon. Track Record.

                                                                                                              [–]gotta_ban_them_all 15ポイント16ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                              This looks way too much like an authentic reddit comment, fuck...

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                                                                                                                [–]earthmoonsun 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                                Some companies do this, too. I know of one that did (does?) it internally, it's part of the PR department.

                                                                                                                [–]Trixi4president 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                                Thank you for telling us this. This must've been a huge step for you. I wish you all the best for your future!

                                                                                                                [–]Kandiru 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                                Yeah right, sounds like a conspiracy theory to me. Look at the candidates record.

                                                                                                                [–]New_User_4 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                                When you get out of this job, assuming you haven't signed an NDA, you should really post the user name you used to market as well as as many others from your PR firm as you can find.

                                                                                                                [–]Stan-It 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                                Told you. Cheers. George O.

                                                                                                                [–]mitchdenver 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                                There have been other people in the past several years who have admitted this as well. One specifically went into the details of who they worked for and provided links to the companies website and links to his reddit accounts to show what he had done. The thread was deleted, along with his accounts a day or so later. This was about a year ago. I'm sure someone saved it, but I can't find info on it anymore.

                                                                                                                [–]Geekatlrg 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                                                I like the fact that you have empathy and you seem to relies what you’re doing is wrong and immoral but yet you continue to do it

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