People who've studied and followed along are likely to be able to see detailed and specific patterns, etc

But for most of us it's probably hard to tell the source of a bot

several incidents where a very very long term DUer eventually self-outed (as RW trolls) after sometimes a decade or more of posting. So, can we be fooled--sure. But I'm hoping admins have some registration algorithms that might be helping before they even start posting...

and tell them, "Welcome comrade". There was an exceedingly lengthy thread about proper etiquette, and I was ready to go with a picture of Russian sausages. It never happened, though, as far as I recall. So does that mean no one was able to identify a bot or troll? Or maybe they just became infuriated and forgot the proper protocol we had established.

THIS IS NOT ME ............... ALTHOUGH i played with them when i was a kid.

Better hope Pence doesn't see her. Mother would not approve.

I was totally ridiculed when I posted this. People said it was ridiculous and that DU would never be on their radar. Someone even posted a Natasha and Boris cartoon to Poke fun. My spidey sense told me it was happening and btw is still happening.

Is short for robot - a device or piece of software that can execute commands, reply to messages, or perform routine tasks, as online searches, either automatically or with minimal human intervention.

On a discussion board, bots are actually pretty easy to spot and generally don't last long on DU. It's the human trolls and disruptors who are the real problem.

I haven't seen as many people jumping trolls as they did a couple years ago. I just thought of them as RW nuts who had too much time on their hands.

This site has a stated acceptance of people who are paid to post here. As such, it starts to get difficult to distinguish between those that are paid by DU friendly sources, and those whose purpose is to disrupt, especially during primaries.

Campaigns run social media operations these days. Many are volunteers but some are paid.

If they don't, it's very likely because even describing whatever tools they've created for site security could offer unfriendly trolls clues on how to evade our excellent MIRT squad.

"Bots" are probably not much of an issue here as discussion board posting is more complex than social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Trolls and their sockpuppets, OTOH, are a constant issue and very likely some of them do originate outside the US.

MIRT does a reasonable job, and the community has tools to participate in the process of alerting on trolls.

As far as hacking the site itself, after the Election Day hack security was hardened considerably, and I'm fairly sure the Admins alerted any law enforcement authorities they thought might or should be interested in that hack, and have cooperated with any attempts to trace it to a source.

Ongoing security for the site and members' information has been good and continues to evolve as threats evolve. It's one reason I have no problem with being a Star Member.

If you have specific concerns about your own member information, etc., you can ask in the "Ask the Administrators" forum and/or drop a PM to Skinner, Elad, or EarlG.

helpfully,
Bright

It certainly explains a lot and gives one a sense of security.

I can't believe the election hacking didn't have something to do with the Trump/Russia faction, although that might be Drama Queen time.

DU is such a good group, I'd hate to see anything like that election hack happen again.

There is a difference between bots, which are programs, and people who are paid to disrupt things, which might occur here, but they usually get booted quickly enough.Twitter, on the other hand, is almost tailor-made for bot activity. Short posts, and anyone can join. There are only a few rules, not really enforced, etc.

On Facebook, they could buy ads and boost "fake news" to the susceptible.

You can see how much I'm into computerese.

but it seems likely given the numbers of Russians that were out there.

After a while, though, so many of them were so obviously here only to disrupt and divide us. It was hard to miss them.

ETA, though, I would be willing to bet money that there are some gun nut trolls here, and given what we are learning, who is to say they are not Russian? They come out only when there's been a slaughter, and they run from thread to thread dividing people and working really, really hard to convince us that we are helpless to change things.

Compared to twitter and Facebook this place is of no importance.

Also, pretty much the wrong audience.

I am less certain

I was accused of being a bot once. I ignored it.

The last thing we should do is start getting paranoid, because then we will turn on each other.

And honestly I think some of the posters with high post counts have been more disruptive on the forum, and hijacked more conversations to lead them nowhere then the low number posters.

They’re not human and couldn’t hold up to scrutiny.

An out right operative might, if they’re careful, make it for awhile. Those influenced by Russian propaganda who chose to regurgitate it here have managed to stay for lengthy amounts of time.

If they say sunny and 80 degrees, they're ok. If they say it's cold and snowy, they're probably a Russian bot.

posts that vehemently bash Sen Clinton as a horrible candidate

posts that claim Sen Sanders was robbed of the Nomination by DNC shenanigans