/r/blogola

Photograph via snooOG

Did you know that much of what you see on the internet isn't real? Much of what you see comes from people who are paid to comment on blog posts and forums or create fake accounts on social networking sites. They want to influence your opinion on a product or a political idea by appearing to be like regular folks. There are numerous terms for such covert online activities including, "blogola", and "online astroturfing".

Blogola is defined as an undisclosed payment to a blogger or website to say stuff that he/she wouldn't otherwise say. Blogola is illegal (under FTC guidelines). This practice is otherwise known as "shilling."

Online astroturfing is a practice where a group or government creates numerous multiple accounts in order to create a false appearance of consensus or to skew a discussion in the interest of that group. Astroturfing, is a practice which may in some instances violate the guidelines set by Federal Election Committee and when it is used on U.S. citizens by the government it is considered propaganda.

Many people feel that these kinds of things are happening on the internet but they don't necessarily know that these phenomena are being reported on all the time. So it's nice to have a place where people can have their experience validated. I honestly believe that as more people are aware that others are also aware of this kind of thing that the more power people have to effect change. This subreddit also allows people to come together and share their own experience with astroturfing, faking dating profiles, trolls or any other related phenomena.

This subreddit is non-partisan and strives to reveal and oppose astroturfing and related phenomena from all sides of the political spectrum. I only ask that people do not turn this subreddit into a witch hunt by naming and shaming specific Redditors- not that I've had any problem with this.

Other subreddits:

/r/hailcorporate - about corporate astroturfing on Reddit

/r/googlecensorship - about covert censorship taking place on Google

/r/subliminal - about covert means of psychological influence.

/r/blogola

524 Subscribers

1

r/blogola needs moderators and is currently available for request

If you're interested and willing to moderate and grow this community, please go to r/redditrequest, where you can submit a request to take over the community. Be sure to read through the faq for r/redditrequest before submitting.

0 Comments
2019/11/21
02:38 UTC

0

Dastoor Rice manufacture in India

Basmati is a variety of long grain Rice Manufacturer, famous for its fragrance and delicate flavor. Basmati Rice Manufacturer has been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for hundreds of years. The grains of basmati Rice are much longer than they are wide, and they grow even longer as they cook. Basmati rice is available both as a white rice and a brown rice.

Rice Manufacturer

0 Comments
2018/09/21
11:27 UTC

2

NICE PROJEK #AIRDROP

GOOD JOBS

0 Comments
2018/07/25
12:52 UTC

1

Air Asia Flight Inside view • u/kingmusic24x7

0 Comments
2018/07/07
18:46 UTC

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#RICHSTARZent.

Tune in there is a new artist coming up named Quinc Jones. Bringing a new sound to music. Find him on Facebook Instagram and YouTube. @quincjonesproductions #quincjonesproductions. Be the first to hear him. Be sure to like share and comment.

0 Comments
2018/06/24
23:37 UTC

2

China sponsored accounts requesting inactive subreddits, censoring negative China content.

u/the_world_turtle

u/bisonbuddha

Censored information includes text exposure of Buddhist organizations sponsored by the anti-religion Chinese government during a period of harsh persecution of independent Buddhist teachers and mandatory state approval of Buddhist groups through the governmental Buddhist Association of China (中国佛教协会). Independent Buddhist groups are currently illegal in China.

Subjects now being promoted on the subreddits are Communism and Anti-USA political news. Both accounts were named by a private China astroturfing watchdog group which verified the leak by posting to the subreddits and observing censorship by the two accounts.

They currently have 17 subreddits, most of which were acquired through r/redditrequest .

2 Comments
2016/11/22
01:06 UTC

1

Debunking Denialism, Real or Astroturf?

Is this site http://debunkingdenialism.com/ A) valid, B) an example of astroturfing, or, C) some of both?

There seem to be some articles that would convince a person that disagreeing with the site would be stupid, and other articles that strike me as dismissive of people and ideas who may avtually be telling the truth. And just who is the site maintainer and article author, Emil Karlsson? Thanks, Reddit!

0 Comments
2016/03/23
22:55 UTC

0

Two examples of Wikipedia gaming (non-corporate)

Two examples of censorship:

There's a website called Jews Sans Frontiers; it's an anti-Zionist blog run by an English Jew who goes by the handle "Mark Elf." Back in 2006, somebody put up a stub page on Wikipedia about the blog, then there was a lot of back-and-forth over it, and it was deleted. Here is the first mention of the page on Elf's blog, then another as the drama carried on, and finally the end of the trilogy. The point of all of that is there were/are a number of pro-Israel Wikipedians and that anything critical of Israel might wind up deleted (notice that the whole saga only took a month.) And this was a stub page!

The other example is magician/paranormal debunker James Randi. The article on him is lopsided; there is no mention of David Pena/Jose Luis Alvarez scandal, the "blackmail" tape, etc. His legal issues are mentioned, but not in any great detail. In 2010 the magician Tim Cridland (stage name: Zamora the Torture King) wrote an article titled The Real James Randi for The Anomalist magazine where he dug up a lot of things, and some of those citations were put into the James Randi article...and then taken down. Cridland talks about the Wikipedia notes at 55:55 of this interview with Greg Bishop.

I have to agree with Cridland, who said that Wikipedia is useful for pop culture and not much else.

1 Comment
2013/08/22
18:39 UTC

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Anyone else think it's strange that this got 2000+ upvotes yet almost all of the 114 comments deride it?

2 Comments
2013/08/04
01:57 UTC

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Angst: what every shy girl thinks. So what should I do?

Okay I'll admit it, I'm kinda shy. Rather I'm uncertain about what to say, especially around boys. But that's not my real point to make here, my point is there was this guy and yeah I liked him. A little more than he liked me. Alright, I really liked him, to the point of speachlessness. As a result my interactions with him at school usually went: "Hey!" "Hey." Him sitting there headphones on staring at the computer screen, probably in the middle of the latest anime series he's watching. I sit down and get my homework out, and that ends our conversation. It wasn't always this bad, but since I started liking him, I've stopped being able to saying anything more. And he asks me about things, although never why we only say "Hey" in the morning, just once a day. What I want to say isn't just "Hey". I can't get it out, I'll never get it out. It's like asking for the impossible. "Hey." That's all of our relationship and I know that's all it will ever be. My best friend and this guy started hanging out a lot recently. I know he likes her, because she's the coolest person I've ever met, she's funny, cute, a little flirty (although she'll never admit it), and she can say more than just "Hey". I want to be like that some how; someone who is calm, funny, and can just talk on and on. I see them laughing sometimes, I can see the way the corners of his mouth turn up and the only thing I can think is "Hey, one day that will be me you're smiling at. One day I'll say something more than just hey. And you'll take off those clunky headphones and actually look at me."

0 Comments
2012/08/09
01:38 UTC

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Ex-Shill Spills the Beans (xpost)

0 Comments
2012/07/17
02:18 UTC

5

/r/conspiratard actually stumbles onto a quazi-astroturfer or at least a marketer who blurs the borders

0 Comments
2012/05/19
02:11 UTC

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