Was Billythrilly created by the US govt? (Psychological warfare not for the US)

thothguard51 said:

Does anyone have a problem with the Voice of America broadcast?

Just wondering?

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I thought of VOA too. I think the difference is that VOA broadcasts were clearly identified as such, and everyone knew it was Uncle Sam's version of things. Having sock puppets on social sites is more akin to having a mole work for an enemy's radio station, such as what happened in Kurt Vonnegut's book Mother Night.

For sock puppets to work, though, it seems you would need to flood the internet with them. Fifty GS-5 government employees* clicking "I Like This!" on Facebook simply isn't going to do much.

*Come to think of it, they are probably CIA interns.

Plot,

I don't disagree, but the original post was about the military creating sock puppets for social networks to counter negative propaganda. It is no different than Voice of America... IMHO.

Plot Device said:

(Isn't it against the rules to "call out" someone by name in the title of a thread?)

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PD,

After the thread merge Billy was asked if he minded the joke in the title. He said he was fine with it.

Thanks for looking out for a member!

-- Williebee

So the next candidate with the most "Likes" wins?

Plot Device said:

s.

On other matters, I suspect that every time a sock puppet gets banned, they will just keep fine-tuning their efforts to create the "perfect" sock-puppet who blends flawlessly and never trips the alarms of the mod-sniffers.

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Mods are nifty and much appreciated.

But you know who excels at spotting sock-puppets ?

The members en masse of a community, the regs. This is not just anecdotal evidence, it's been tested in laboratory conditions by a number of sociologists and geeks doing dissertation research.

I don't think Billy was created by the government. I do think the government was created by him.

Williebee said:

PD,

After the thread merge Billy was asked if he minded the joke in the title. He said he was fine with it.

Thanks for looking out for a member!

-- Williebee

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Why doesn't that shock me?

Well, I still think that William has his hand in it too. (Bet they have a cubical next to each other.)