I see it all the time here.

Somebody makes an assertion.

Next post: "Link?"

Don't get into a pissing contest about unconfirmed information.

Back in the day, it was easy to spot. Stuff like, "capitalist imperialist running dog!" was a dead giveaway. The Russians have learned new tricks from Fox News.

bluepen

(620 posts)

6. Как ты смеешь!

Reply to joet67 (Original post)

Sat Nov 4, 2017, 06:16 AM

Nov 2017

Just kidding.

Lee-Lee

(6,324 posts)

8. Honest answer

Reply to joet67 (Original post)

Sat Nov 4, 2017, 06:55 AM

Nov 2017

It would require first that you insist people give you more details when requesting to join than just an email. And gather more detils like IP address. Get real name, address, phone #.

Second it would require a team of people working to vet everyone trying to sign up to see if they are real people. You can do some very basic things like:

Google the persons email address and see if they have a history of it being used, and what kind of websites.

Check and see if the name, phone number and address given match up with any public records.

Look at the address given and the IP address used to sign up- someone claiming to be from rural GA with a San Francisco IP should demand questions be answered first.

Most states allow the public to search voter registration records, so an obvious one would be to check those. If someone attempts to register and says they are a 35 year old named Shane Grimes from Georgia and you can’t find any registered Democrats or Independents in GA by that name it should be a red flag.

And lastly, actually make a phone call before activating a new registration. A few words on the phone can usually give an answer. If Sarah Wilson from Arkansas answers with a male voice and a Russian accent that is a giveaway. You can hide accents a lot easier online than over the phone.

Also, ban the IPs of known proxy servers so people can’t hide their IPs.

All that won’t stop them all. But it will make it much harder for them and since they seem to like volume would probably cause them to go elsewhere.

joet67

(624 posts)

14. THIS is exactly what I meant!

Reply to Lee-Lee (Reply #8)

Sat Nov 4, 2017, 01:46 PM

Nov 2017

Who is doing this for us? How do we really know this whole place isn’t just a Russian construct?

Lee-Lee

(6,324 posts)

16. Probably nobody is doing it

Reply to joet67 (Reply #14)

Sat Nov 4, 2017, 05:10 PM

Nov 2017

What I described is a lot of work. And it requires people with the experience and eye for things to see what are red flags.

You would need standards sets, with everyone on the same sheet of music, people trained on what to do, and of course before you can have people start vetting new members you need to vet them...

It would take a lot of manpower.

nocalflea

(1,387 posts)

9. Does "the Russians" include U.S. citizens purposefully pushing Russian interests ?

Reply to joet67 (Original post)

Sat Nov 4, 2017, 08:03 AM

Nov 2017

'Cause they're already here.

The consistent doom and gloomers (they want us to give up,lose hope).

The consistent dividers (divide and conquer, big russian interest ,that).

The consistent "I don't trust"-ers (they want us to lose faith in institutions, in leadership, in our fellow americans).

The consistent defamers (and no, I'm not referencing the Hillary/Bernie feuders) -anyone who is effective, who has our trust or is gaining our trust, is targeted.

Saw one here the other day. Could've been a russian for all I know, but assumed he/she was American.( If he/she was a russian, fooled me, very good, very deft impersonation).

The more obvious one's are sometimes mistaken for the far-right or deplorables. I've made that mistake, but then I asked myself :

"Why in the world would they be pushing that line?"

We need to ask ourselves that question more often.