[Maelstrom]

Thanks for the headsup.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

Nice research... So we're surrounded by a bunch of wackos! Scary but not surprising I guess.

[Flyer]

You also have to consider that many of us visit the Leftists' sites to know the enemy.

[backhoe]

Very interesting- info is appreciated.

[the invisib1e hand]

next thing to do is trace ip addresses to office/home locations and cross reference against vehicle registrations -- lot's of SUV's I'd bet...

/dark humor

[Maceman]

I visit DU every day, often more than once.

I can't help it. It's like when you see a bad accident on the road and can't stop rubbernecking.

[nicmarlo]

very interesting....

[Republican Red]

Noticed what I though were old timers bashing Rush nonstop yesterday. Makes more sense now. They were out in force yesterday.

[Freebird Forever]

Many relatively new accounts, or older accounts with previously little or no activity, suddenly coming on and posting negative comments

Hmmm.....

DU sleeper agents.....

Why am I not surprised?

[FreedomPoster]

<*golf clap*>

Nicely done.

Anyone that loads Alexa and allows it on their machine is foolish. I recommend running Spybot Search and Destroy *and* Ad-Aware a 2-4 times a month to strip out tracking cookies and spyware.

[proxy_user]

Mr X rejects modern society. He sees popular culture as corrupt and decadent. Instead of watching television and eating at McDonalds, Mr. X reads classic literature and grows his own organic food. Instead of sending his children to public school, he teaches them at home so they will learn proper values.

Mr X is:

1. A conservative
2. A radical leftist
3. A nut

[Catspaw]

More trolls:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1028540/posts?page=191#191

[rabidralph]

There was also a lot of trolling over the holiday weekend, so a lot of these visitors were probably on Thanksgiving break.

[RandallFlagg]

Wha? Am I the only one arguing politics on metallica.com while I'm here?!?!

[halley]

This doesn't really mean what you think it does. I run a fairly large internet business and spend half my waking hours analyzing and studying this kind of stuff, and I've been in the Alexa offices to discuss business opportunities. Although Alexa can and does track click behavior, the information you refer to is the result of their "editorial process", where they look for "similar" sites. When I check Alexa for one of our sites, they have a competitor's site listed that went out of business almost two years ago.

[Devil_Anse]

PING PING PING!

Others have noticed lots of trolls lately too! This thread is not about the exact same problem we noticed, but it's very close.

[bicycle thug]

Two comment; the Alexa toolbar is spyware that Ad aware removes. I fail to see how anyone in their right mind would let someone track something as private as surfing habits. It should be remove like Gator, Lop.Com, Xupiter,etc.

The other thing is, not everybody likes Reagan. I don't put my lifelong distaste for the man and why I feel him vastly overrated and why I feel others are using him name to feather their own pillows out of respect for the feelings of his family and admirers in the difficult time of his very tragic illness I wouldn't wish on anybody.

But I will mention it one time here merely to make a point we have a right to our opinions, and just because it may differ with yours that doesn't make one a 'troll.'

I may give credit where credit is due, but I reserve the human right to not like another human if I so chose, and you should think about that. Have a nice day

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Many relatively new accounts, or older accounts with previously little or no activity, suddenly coming on and posting negative comments about President Reagan, saying they are lifelong Republicans but no more, and a bunch of other things that could be legitimately held beliefs on their part but when taken in aggregate make it clear that there is quite a bit of trolling action going on.

Thank you for confirming my recent suspicions, along these lines. I, too, have noticed this, as well.

[bvw]

Okay, fine, you noticed it *now*. But it also *has been*, back *then*. *Then* being, I've seen that pattern of strange "also visited" sites over the past year of so I've looked at Alexis.

IOW, it's not a NEW thang.

[FrogMom]

Others have pointed out the know-thy-enemy business.

I would also point out that I'm taking an on-line history class through the local CC. One section of the mid-term required that I write up a half a page on each of 12 topics/people on a given list. When done, I counted 10 of the 12 that were on socialists and/or socialist programs. I visited lots of "their" web-sites gathering the info.

We also have to post to a discussion area of the school's web-site. I posted a question asking why there were so many socialists on the list. No one replied.

To be fair, I have to say that when we have a choice of whom to review, I always pick solid conservative people/programs. My half page on Joe McCarthy received a "You continue to do excellent work" from the instructor.