Can we talk about this summer?

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

Hi all,

When tournament football rocks around every couple of years, a decision is normally made to "open up" the forum to all and sundry, and relax the rules around the access request system.

During the last torunament - Euro 2016 - the forum was infested with Russian Trolls - paid trolls and bots, who's intention is to "disrupt" online interactions and also shill for Mother Russia.

This summer, before any decision is foisted on the community, would it be possible to talk about it first, and see if something can be done preemptively to combat this?

It's probably overall a "good thing" if more people are allowed to interact on the forum, but is it worth the disruption?

bot43

Russian Trolls?

Lord TSC

Um...Bot 42 starts a thread, and Bot 43 replies first, and the thread is about Russian bots.

I'm nervous....

jamesbere

Lord TSC wrote: »

Um...Bot 42 starts a thread, and Bot 43 replies first, and the thread is about Russian bots.

I'm nervous....

I'm waiting for bot 69 response

Agent Coulson

As long as the add to the World Cup Hottie Thread they are welcome.

Cantona's Collars

They can post for 10 minutes from 4am to 4.10am. That's the best solution.

WoollyRedHat

Lord TSC wrote: »

Um...Bot 42 starts a thread, and Bot 43 replies first, and the thread is about Russian bots.

I'm nervous....

Bot, Bot what abot us?

dfx-

By all means, it is open for discussion, perhaps the yearly Feedback thread is the best place for it. From memory, we brought it up on the Feedback thread before the Euros and there were no objections to it for the last Euros.

I'd personally not be in favour of opening it up, it was more trouble last time than in 2014 with a huge amount of re-regs. It does show the value of the access request system.

bot43

Lord TSC wrote: »

Um...Bot 42 starts a thread, and Bot 43 replies first, and the thread is about Russian bots.

I'm nervous....

He copied me and is trolling me the whole time. Weirdo.

Arghus

Russian Trolls?Am I the only one who doesn't remember this?

bucketybuck

Arghus wrote: »

Russian Trolls?Am I the only one who doesn't remember this?

Don't you know what they did last summer?

pjohnson

Russian trolls?

When did soccer forum merge with conspiracy forum?

Ulysses Gaze

Arghus wrote: »

Russian Trolls?Am I the only one who doesn't remember this?

GavRedKing

I'll be honest, I remember a few re-regs who were banned previously setting up new accounts but nothing about Russian bots.

Its usually pretty harmless too when the forum is open to all because there is far less divide when a country is playing.

Theres a bit more traffic for the Euros when Ireland are involved but not having Ireland at the WC, there may be less emphasis on casual fans looking to post in the forum.

eagle eye

Maybe you could set up a brand new sub-forum for the world cup and keep out those unwanted people from the main forum?

The regs can use that one if they like or the main soccer board if they wish to stay away from it.

Lord TSC

I was on holidays and so missed a huge amount of having to moderate those two weeks.

I do remember a few posters though who certainly appeared to have pro-Russia agendas, constantly posting nothing but praise for Russia. I'd say a lot of that passed people by though cause it could get drowned out if you were keeping a close eye on every post made.

Though as Dfx , the bigger issue for mods and the board was the amount of trolls and reregs that basically got back in from forum bans.

Beasty

TBH I don't think the Soccer Forum is the typical target for "Russian bots"

Equally I saw no evidence of such "bots" anywhere on the site during my site-banning rampage last summer. There was much more of an issue with the Commuting & Transport forum with one particular re-reg trying to maximise disruption. If the Soccer forum had seen anything like what that forum has seen I would be the first one to bring down the shutters to new accounts

Tom Mann Centuria

I do think there were a decent number Russian trolls myself, or sympathisers at the very least.

Any discussion of the crowd trouble by Russians was strongly argued against, despite all the evidence. And a lot of the tournament threads were a complete mess which to me were caused by the influx of new posters (or reappearance of old ones). Imo only of course.

Can't see any positive at all in open access, but maybe in week or two leading up to the tournament, the access request forum could be promoted, and during the tournament, it could be highlighted in announcements or some other place.

Zebra3

Manipulating the football forum on boards.ie AND the US presidential election.

Helluva year for the Russians that was.

Mint Sauce

Whilst AH does have its good and bad posters and points, I thinking opening up the soccer forum during the WC and Euros turns it into an AH style thread.

I would rather post AH style comments in their WC thread, whilst usually against their charter, they often allow a thread during major tournaments, and keep the genuine soccer comments for here.

artanevilla

What would be the logic in opening it up?

Beasty

artanevilla wrote: »

What would be the logic in opening it up?

I think the thread was started because we've tried this for the last 2 major tournaments, and therefore it's a fair question as to whether we will follow that pattern

Now we may have seen "Russian sympathisers" or indeed trolls simply trying to use Russia as an avenue to stir things up. However, as has been posted in a current Help Desk thread, there really is no evidence suggesting there is an concerted attempt to disrupt this site, certainly in the way being suggested here. And yes, I've engaged, and are currently doing so in another forum, with posters that support the Putin way of going about things, but equally I can state reasonably categorically that my interactions are with long-term site members who have taken a position that I personally do not agree with. However I would consider the idea anyone is being put up to this as remote to say the least

Coming back to the original question, I personally think that both experiments have worked well enough, but I'm certainly not going to impose my personal view on the issue. If the consensus is not to open it up again, then I'm happy to go along with that.

CSF

Definitely of the viewpoint to not open it up.