To be sick of propaganda on MN

Apols @PigeonLady I assumed it was an MN message posted onto a thread - publicly. I would have thought MN had some kind of software that filters false account, but maybe not.

Christ, there’s someone comparing Starmer with Putin now. This place is bonkers sometimes.

Are you new here? Mn is as centre right as forums come.

I have been called a bot as well. I agree it’s used as an insult but I don’t think MN is saying it like that. On the thread in question that wouldn’t have made any sense anyway.

If MN are saying then I am assuming it’s not just what they are saying and there’s some other indicator. Like how old the account is or their IP or something. I have no idea about the tech but am sure they do.

No sorry I won’t be sharing. It was a private email in response to a report and I don’t believe there was anything odd about the message at all.

Starmer will never be as cruel, incompetent and corrupt as the last 3 Prime Ministers before him , no matter how many melodramatic threads get started on here.

Quite. The uk has an abundance of people who dislike fairness and want to keep their own privilege at the expense of everyone else.

I'm affected (more than most of the whiners on here) by the school VAT thing and I don't begrudge it because it's about fairness.

I have no idea what you’re referring to re decade

I’m talking about the last few years and of course many posters have used ‘bot’ at anyone not pro Labour

It probably felt comforting and a way to try and drive people off but Starmer is tanking too much now and dislike will be on here too

Good, mix things up a bit

For many people I think they find it difficult to accept there are people with differing opinions on various issues, so it is easier for them to believe those differing opinions are from bots or propaganda from journalists etc.

Dunno what decade you're trying to claim that for, @EasternStandard .

You've been around here for many years, and so have I, so we both know MN has not been short of anti-Labour threads for many, many years.

-30 in opinion polls today if anyone thinks mn will remain the only place for pro Labour threads it’s not feasible

Maybe earlier when any dissent was met with ‘bot’ or HQ to drive people away

Those jammy days are over, public opinion will be on a public forum

You can’t expect the internet to reflect anything other than ordinary people

Surely the opposite is true?

Any person or organisation with a message they wish to broadcast will use internet chat sites as part of their comms strategy.

That can be you and me chewing the fat, but it can also be companies, countries, political parties, Old Uncle Tom Cobbley and all. The interent will reflect those actors in proportion to the amount of money and effort they care to throw at it. Which can be a lot.

A PP mentioned Cambridge Analytica. One of CA's bosses, Mark Turnbull, was caught on camera bragging about how he could help his (supposed) client broadcast smear material against a political opponent:
"We just put information into the bloodstream of the internet, and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again like a remote control," he said. "It has to happen without anyone thinking, 'that's propaganda', because the moment you think, 'That's propaganda', the next question is, 'Who's put that out?' So we have to be subtle."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cambridge-analytica-ceo-alexander-nix-data-firm-describes-shadow-election-tactics-2018-03-19/

I think the internet is wider and possibly more representative than it’s ever been. Many people are not particularly well educated, informed or experienced.
I’m in East Midlands area. Old mining town. The overwhelming majority of people here are very narrowly focused on their own interests. Kind in person, but less so in principle.
Very Daily Mail regardless of how they vote.

You can’t expect the internet to reflect anything other than ordinary people across the spectrum. And ordinary people want what’s close to home fixed and aren’t that interested in what’s further away- as long as it stays there.

I have wondered if the Internet in general is now mainly conspiraloons posting. I feel like there aren't many balanced places to post where people can share different opinions and it means most people don't bother cos they don't want a fight. So you are left with those with fringe views who don't have so many people to talk to irl?

(Bots not bits!)

Not sure it's bits either.... There's a whole thread to the effect of "I don't care about climate change" going on around the moment too.

I really despair about the level of ignorance out there. It's literally going to kill us 😞

Eh?

Yep. So boring aren't they. Totally agree.

There have been political and foreign propagandists posting on forums like MN for ages. Remember Cambridge Analytica? China, Israel et al have admitted to such departments in the past.

Many will have accounts that are at least a decade old, quite possibly inherited from the person who had the job before them. They will have started the odd innocuous thread in S&B, made a few gently kind comments in Relationships, Chat etc. Then they will come into their own when current events veers towards their job descriptions. With VPNs and a selection of devices and accounts, MNHQ hasn't a hope of reliably identifying them.

As with any other social media, only post what you are happy to reveal and take everything with a pinch of salt.

I wonder what the correlation is between people/media who've spend the last few years moaning about rich boomer pensioners and their £400 annual triple lock increase and those now moaning about the removal of the £200 WFA.

Just things that to me do not appear to be written by casual commentators and feel disingenuous.

Do an AS on the user name. I have no political affiliations, for all parties there are things I agree with and things I don't. I've been critical of - and have posted about - the freebies and of the level (not the principle) cut off for the WFA. I don't like removing WFA while taking £100,000's of freebies. And that the Tories did it - two wrongs don't make a right.

However do an AS of my username and you'll find out I've been here a long time and without NC.

I think the obvious propaganda ones are easy to spot tbh. I voted Labour and was actually quite excited about the new government.
I don’t regret my vote but I am HUGELY disappointed in Keir Starmer. Not because I give a shit if he gets some perks and free clothes ( I don’t) but because of his obvious failure to think politically about such things and the lack of imagination/ arrogance that is going to jeopardise some of the good that Labour could actually do.
Same with the way the WFA decision was handled. I have a lot of time for Reeves but that policy was not properly thought through. The lot of them need sitting down and given a politics 101 class in how to manage optics… it’s like they think they are righteous and that’s ALL that matters, but it’s not. If they don’t get a second term we are at the mercy of the Tories again and I just don’t think I can handle that.
Starmer needs to start making himself likeable, and quickly.
I think some of the really angry posts are from people like me who feel frustration with the way the current lot have handled themselves.

Or right wing.

Absolutely this.

I mean there’s loads of criticism atm re Labour and Starmer

It’s reflected in the media, polls and commentary. It’s no surprise that it’ll be on a public forum, even mn which has a high number of Labour voters

I think if a site needs to be pro Labour a closed FB site or something would be more able to do that