I think that a huge number of posters truly are DU-esque trolls — maybe even AI — inserted in FR as stirrer-uppers.
I think this as well and wonder if there is a way for admin to determine if they are as such?
There are times when I have engaged in discourse with someone who is so weirdly irrational and off-topic that I wonder if they are drunk, on drugs, or having a breakdown.
That there is an element of suspicion of each of those things in a number of posts we see is undeniable, but I have been seeing more of it lately, and that makes me wonder if it is coordinated posting by humans or AI Bots, and lately, I have been wondering even more about that.
I was on a thread the other day where the discourse became so weirdly disjointed and irrational that I thought it was either fully intentional psy-ops by entities from outside of FR or the result of malicious AI.
The Trump/DeSantis or Russia/Ukraine threads reek of this.
I often avoid going into them and posting in them now due to the "you're a Putinsta" if you think we shouldn't be there and you're a globohomo supporter" if you think we should, and in the threads about the Presidential raceas where it assumes the forms of "you think Trump is God" if you like him and you "you support the Deep State" if you support Desantis.
I dislike that I have to self-censor by going into them, and that is one thing. There are lots of things to talk about.
But the problem is, every thread, no matter how seemingly distant from the subjects of Trump/DeSantis or Russia/Ukraine, is intentionally turned into one, often by many of the same people.
And that is what makes me suspicious of malicious intent from extra-FR sources.
If that sounds like a conspiracy theory, we should keep in mind that many, if not most of our "conspiracy theories" attributed to us on "the Right" have turned out to be true.
All this said, I struggle to remain civil, and try to improve and not repeat it when I find I deviate from that path. So I promise to keep trying to improve and stay on the path of civility.