Paid Trolls (Page 2 of 2)

Good idea, but I wouldn't even know WHERE to start!  I've rejected a lot of what I "learned" how to do in seminars, and pretty much only use what I feel is an honest approach.  I have no problem making what I write stand out or have punch, but I dislike the subversive tactics many use.

Here's a good exercise for anyone to do, especially all of us here at NR:  From now on, watch advertising when it comes on instead of just zoning out.  I mean, really watch it, and ask yourselves these questions:

1)  Who is this aimed at?  Is it retired persons afraid their pensions won't last, Gen-X-ers afraid they're losing their youth, adolescents afraid they're not cool enough?

2)  What is it trying to TELL you about yourself  (assume, for a moment, the role of the market they're trying to reach)? 

3)  What need is it trying to CREATE and FILL?  That's the big thing with advertising-- create a need and fill it.

4)  What type of emotion (usually fear- and ego-based) is it trying to elicit within you?  Pay attention to the subtle nuances, because that's where the mind control is.

So here's an example I saw the other day that really uses all the dirty tricks.  It's for ADT or some other alarm company.  A man kisses his wife goodbye in their upper-class suburban home.  As he drives away, he sees a white male jogger bend down to tie his shoes.  Just as the husband drives out of sight, the jogger puts up his hood and immediately tries to smash in the door.  Fortunately for the rich couple, their alarm system goes off, scaring the would-be intruder away. 

OK-- let's analyze this, and try to forget for a moment how unlikely it is that an intruder would try so ham-handed an approach as to just smash the fromt door down when he knows someone is home.   First, we're dealing with the guilt that an upper-middle class man might have about leaving his family home alone so often while he works long hours.  Second, we're dealing with the fact that ANYONE could be an intruder.  No one is safe.  This is shown by the white male jogger, who doesn't look out of place, or like most people would stereotype an intruder to be.   We're also dealing with "rich guilt" and paranoia  felt by those who occupy the upper socio-economic strata.  IE, everyone is after their good life, and they are ironically more vulnerable than poor folks.  This is just scratching the surface here, but you get the idea.

If you can train yourself to observe and identify, you'll eventually become immune to advertisers' ploys, whether they come from an internet troll or television.

Start with the things you DON'T identify with, such as the importance of investing (if you're not the investing type), or the fear of not feeling fresh (if you're a man).  This will help you see clearly without predjudice.  As you get better, begin identifying your weaknesses/ blind spots.  Like how cool you'll be with the new iPod, or how much you really need that new Sci-Fi out on DVD, etc. 

I hope this helps.

I understand what you're saying, Lyra, and I truly do agree that this stuff is packed with subliminals.  However, for those who still watch the occasional CSI episode, they need to have some sort of awareness of what's being beamed at them.  Awareness is the key, and if you practice always being aware of what's being presented, it builds something of an immunity. 

We're quickly approaching a saturation threshold where advertising is difficult or impossible to avoid.  Even the movies we watch have these messages embedded in them.  I believe it's important to maintain vigilance to what's coming into your mind.  And if someone is watching TV and thinks the advertising isn't affecting them because they zone out/ get something from the kitchen/ go to the bathroom, etc., and just have it going in the background, think again. 

But I do see what you're saying.

With the last three posts in mind specifically, even very aware people are probably still at different stages of development or even just "placement" in the scheme of things on this.  I agree with lyra that it is best just to avoid ads entirely but as Lono and sinaptix have pointed out that can't really be done anymore.  Unless you do actually go live in the woods, but things aren't at a point where everyone has to do that or else become completely enslaved and have no hope left.  Yet.  My life still involves processing a lot of this unwanted garbage, and I tell myself that I'm not affected by it at all anymore but I know that's not 100% true.  I'm worried about the asleep/hybernating crowd who hasn't even had advertising explained to them in a college class or whatever who still take this stuff in raw.

Dreamosis, I think we can take this even further and apply it to interactions with many people in daily life.  Lots of people are out there trying to sell us something, whether it's the mother trying to sell guilt or the boss trying to sell hard work.  We're constantly being told who we are, what we should feel, what we should want. 

But back to the topic, yes, these concepts work exactly the same no matter what the advertising medium.  A troll's job is to convince you that you need something and that you won't be complete without it.  My hope is that this would be such a low-level, bottom-feeding job that the people who do it wouldn't be savvy enough to be really good at it.

Yes!  And in this thread I'm more interested in the advertising medium of humans.  Trolls are an advertising medium now--not just for companies who sell toothpaste, but for political groups it seems.

And, yes, the pay for internet trolling is probably bottom-level.  However, Netvocates does require its employees to have a college degree and at least a year of experience in PR/advertising. (http://netvocates.com/jobs.htm#OnlineCo … onsManager)

Because somebody has a college degree in Business doesn't mean that they're saavy, but it probably means that they've learned more about how to manipulate people than a person without a college degree.

Again, at NR, between our discussions (and collective knowledge) of OPs or plug-ins and logical fallacies and disinfo artists, learning to deal with trolls isn't a pressing issue.  But there a lot of people out there on the verge of unplugging who are again and again sucked back into the control system because they're going on feeling and haven't done their homework.  It's hard to have certainty when you don't have any "proof" of the manipulation--when all you have are feelings of frustration.  I'm thinking of them.

I'd never heard of this expression before..."Concern troll."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic … 01,00.html

In my experience, the "concern" can take the form of "...Oh, man, you should be careful here" or the form of "Let me correct you on that.  This is what's what..."

I can't seem to find NetVocates online anymore.  I tried searching in Google and Yahoo! and their site doesn't come up now.  Where'd they go?

However, if you search for "blog monitoring service," you'll get hits.  Like this:

http://www.cyberalert.com/blogmonitoring.html

And here's a service anyone can sign up for:

http://technorati.com/

**

...I have different take on all of this than when I began this thread.  Trolls seem more or less obvious to me now and so I don't fret over it. 

What continues to fascinate me though is the idea that there are people who interested in making money by monitoring what people say about a product, a politician, a political regime, or a spiritual concept.  ...It's the Matrix made physical.