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lapucelle

(18,037 posts)
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 03:43 PM Mar 2018

"Trolls Across America: Mapping the Most and Least Troll-Ridden Places in the U.S."

"Internet Rule #1: Never read the comments. People are not always their best selves there. To find out exactly how bad the bad behavior is, we partnered with Disqus, an online commenting platform (disclosure: WIRED.com uses it) to quantify the problem.

Co-founder Daniel Ha says toxic posts have been an issue from day one, and he sees it as a human problem, not a technological one: 'It’s never really going to go away.' The company analyzed 92 million comments over a 16-month period, written by almost 2 million authors on more than 7,000 forums that use the software. (So sites like Infowars and the Wirecutter are included, but Facebook and Twitter are not.) The numbers reveal everything from the trolliest time of day to the nastiest state in the union."


https://www.wired.com/2017/08/internet-troll-map/
37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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"Trolls Across America: Mapping the Most and Least Troll-Ridden Places in the U.S." (Original Post) lapucelle Mar 2018 OP
Vermont? WTF? hlthe2b Mar 2018 #1
Lots of bridges in Vermont. Tommy_Carcetti Mar 2018 #3
Exactly! matt819 Mar 2018 #9
Interesting that VT has the highest rate, yet right across the Connecticut River NH has the lowest. George II Mar 2018 #2
Vermont is different FarCenter Mar 2018 #4
Doesn't NH also have very law gun laws and high gun ownership? OliverQ Mar 2018 #19
I loved that show! mcar Mar 2018 #26
Fire that meme author, posthaste. sl8 Mar 2018 #32
With the exception of San Fran/Jose, the cities are as toxic or more than their states. FarCenter Mar 2018 #5
3 AM EST is 12 PM St Petersburg Time dalton99a Mar 2018 #6
Those are interesting facts to have at one's fingertips. lapucelle Mar 2018 #8
Park Forest Illinois, 34%. hedda_foil Mar 2018 #7
The home of two ... just two ... very nasty trolls UpInArms Mar 2018 #10
And both authors are probably the same person lunasun Mar 2018 #11
Kick and Reced! ehrnst Mar 2018 #12
hmmm Eliot Rosewater Mar 2018 #21
Off to the Greatest Page for you Hekate Mar 2018 #13
,,, lapucelle Mar 2018 #14
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #15
Why is the data analysis of 92 million online Disqus comments innaccurate? lapucelle Mar 2018 #22
You're calling WIRED's report unscientific "nonsense"? Hortensis Mar 2018 #25
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #27
Thank you for that very clear explanation. Autumn Mar 2018 #29
I wish i could recommend this post. nini Mar 2018 #33
This is based on Disqus metrics, and that tells you something FakeNoose Mar 2018 #16
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #17
Why is the Disqus comment hosting service a "bad actor"? lapucelle Mar 2018 #24
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #28
Disqus is one of the major third party commenting platforms worldwide. lapucelle Mar 2018 #30
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #31
One would need examine the actual study lapucelle Mar 2018 #34
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #35
Data analysis is best left to experts. lapucelle Mar 2018 #36
This message was self-deleted by its author Rainbow Droid Mar 2018 #37
And evidently some areas have a higher proportion lapucelle Mar 2018 #23
Link to try out Perspective software: sl8 Mar 2018 #18
I'll take the opinion of the professor lapucelle Mar 2018 #20

matt819

(10,749 posts)
9. Exactly!
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 04:22 PM
Mar 2018

Vermont? WTF?

That said, I think Vermont has been the home to stormfront or one (or more) of the other Nazi hate sites, and that has to have skewed things. It would be interesting to see a state breakdown.

Across the border, NH was once the home of crazed neo-Nazi and parking vigilante (look it up) Cantwell. At least the ones we have are less vocal and less troll-y than those in VT.

But, still, VT? That's like finding out there are no unicorns, rainbows, or ponies.

sl8

(13,584 posts)
32. Fire that meme author, posthaste.
Fri Mar 9, 2018, 12:42 AM
Mar 2018

It's, "Hi. I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl."

Two brothers named "Darryl", not three.

We're not crazy.

lapucelle

(18,037 posts)
8. Those are interesting facts to have at one's fingertips.
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 04:19 PM
Mar 2018
"Prime Troll Time
The most toxic time of day (darkest line) is 3 am—11 percent of comments are mean. The most talkative time is 9 pm (longest line), with 10,971 comments on average."




People might want to be aware of what was posted in the wee-AM hours of the morning as opposed to what's posted during the PM.

UpInArms

(51,252 posts)
10. The home of two ... just two ... very nasty trolls
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 04:43 PM
Mar 2018
The most toxic city in the US, where 34 percent of comments are hostile. But 99 percent of those come from just two authors.

Response to lapucelle (Original post)

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
25. You're calling WIRED's report unscientific "nonsense"?
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 08:53 PM
Mar 2018

Sorry, but based on WHAT? Our son's extremely technically savvy, he's subscribed to Wired since its inception (we actually gave a subscription in its first year to him as a birthday gift), and he disagrees.

Please explain your allegation. Just this comparison of a report (which right wing fake-news outlets like Fox really don't want people to read) to Fox itself is hardly enough. More than Fox-style unscientific emotional reactions are required here. We're Age of Reason people.

Response to Hortensis (Reply #25)

FakeNoose

(32,341 posts)
16. This is based on Disqus metrics, and that tells you something
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 06:43 PM
Mar 2018

Disqus is loaded with trolls and more trolls because people are able to sign on with a fictitious name and never reveal their true identity. There's no accountability on Disqus, and even flagging or complaining about certain posts will not get them banned or curtailed. Even if they should leave or be "kicked out" the same trolls can come back immediately under a different fictitious name.

My biggest complaint about Disqus is that people seem to have the ability to open several troll accounts under multiple fake identities, and then proceed to support and agree with each other, even though it's the same person. (And yes, they're all right-wing nut jobs, no liberal would ever do this!)

When I see the Disqus logo on any social media board, I leave immediately.

Response to FakeNoose (Reply #16)

Response to lapucelle (Reply #24)

lapucelle

(18,037 posts)
30. Disqus is one of the major third party commenting platforms worldwide.
Thu Mar 8, 2018, 07:00 AM
Mar 2018

Insisting that Disqus comments are "inadequate" as a sample on which base a to study on internet trolling needs some more serious back-up than "I use BugMeNot".

If Wired explicitly identifies Disqus as the sole commenting platform on which the study is based, how is this "fake news"? Researchers examined 92,000,000 comments over a 16 month period. I'm not seeing why the study is being so vigorously dismissed out of hand. No study is perfect, but this one does not seem particularly flawed and there is honest disclosure.

I'm not sure what a "throwaway account" is. Is it a fake temporary account created and abandoned for the purposes of leaving a comment with no fingerprint?


Response to lapucelle (Reply #30)

lapucelle

(18,037 posts)
34. One would need examine the actual study
Fri Mar 9, 2018, 07:03 AM
Mar 2018

to objectively determine its reliability and validity. One would also need clarification on the definition of "troll" as per the study.

If the contention is that faked comments by people whose goal is to "anonymously corrupt comment sections" are not troll comments, then it appears that the difference is definitional.



Response to lapucelle (Reply #34)

lapucelle

(18,037 posts)
36. Data analysis is best left to experts.
Fri Mar 9, 2018, 08:11 PM
Mar 2018

The assumption that the study is flawed is based on the assumption that the data is bad because "the internet agrees that Disqus is an imperfect third party host".

Everyone is entitled to an opinion; opinions are not evidence and the mere fact of holding an opinion does not establish the cogency of an argument even if "the internet knows".

Response to lapucelle (Reply #36)

sl8

(13,584 posts)
18. Link to try out Perspective software:
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 07:22 PM
Mar 2018

Scroll down to the "Writing Experiment" section and type in a comment to be evaluated on toxicity.

https://www.perspectiveapi.com/#/

Be sure to try some profanity - it seems to have a noticeable effect.

I think the software has been updated since last August when the Wired article was published.

When enter "I hate racists", I get only 60% toxic rating, as compared to to 96% rating reported by WCAX last year.


From http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Is-Vermont-really-home-to-the-most-online-trolls-441557493.html

...
To show how tough it is to weigh context, she pulled up that Perspective program and typed in the word racist.

"So racist by itself is 87 percent likely to be perceived as toxic," she noted.

Then something many might think is toxic: "I like racists-- 87 percent," she said.

The same toxicity level. So, she tried flipping the sentence to something that might not seem toxic.

"I hate racists-- 96 percent because now we have the words hate and racists," Young said.
...

lapucelle

(18,037 posts)
20. I'll take the opinion of the professor
Wed Mar 7, 2018, 07:59 PM
Mar 2018

with the doctoral degree from Capella University under advisement.


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