this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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That's because it's troll bait. Just like all generations have a bigger than wanted set of shitty people. I don't feel like I can take this shit down because it's not breaking any rules. You all can help by not falling for the bait though.
Definitely this. It circulates widely because it generates outrage, even though the number of people who actually believe this is miniscule. This is the same technique right-wing media uses
Agitprop, yep. One of the oldest tricks in the book, and we still need to remind people. 😶
It might even be the same people. I suspect that, but don't have any proof.
Russia has repeatedly and explicitly said they are playing both sides of the US/Western political divide against each other in online rate campaigns.
rage* 🙇🏼♂️
how important is proof and what would you do with it?
I have no idea how anyone could prove it. But if I could, I would remove these types of posts as spam.
i mean i might be able to dig through logs and find similarities between times, vpns, etc. we're talking forensic bullshit but i'd need instance level cooperation and it's work work, so i'd need money. it honestly doesn't sound worth it on either of our ends since my rates aren't really what you'd be looking to pay. i used to be an accountant in a former life, before my disability got too bad, and did a few forensic gigs a year.
As I said in another comment, I don't think OP meant it as troll bait. He probably thought it was funny and the trolls go off on it. They'll make up opportunities if they can't seize them. I do think "they" post stuff like this specifically to stir up shit, but not this one. I think it was opportunity trail bait.
and honestly what i'd probably find is the troll accounts' activity, and also myself when i can't sleep probably who knows what i get up to when i'm four days into an insomnia bender.
I appreciate you following the rules but tbh ragebait should be on of them. Lemmy is getting flooded with it lately. So many old, stupid social Twitter posts that do nothing but rile people up
This has 300+ upvotes right now though. I ethically agree with you, but I took over this community. If the community upvotes this sort of thing, I don't feel like I have the right to remove it because I think it's stupid and causes harm. I really want to, ha ha.
I know the opinion of one anonymous user doesn't carry a lot of weight but this would be my counterargument:
Upvotes are not a good gauge when people will upvoted anything that reinforces their beliefs. Even if it's straight up wrong like so many social media screenshots are.
Not all engagement is good engagement and more activity doesn't necessarily lead to a better community. Lemmy has been flooded with ragebait and say-nothing tweets lately and I fear it's becoming the norm
In my experience, if I took this down, the trolls will come out and attack so hard that any other kinds of posts get drowned out. Also, this is being upvoted outside of what I think the trolls can manage in briggading for the fediverse. This would be no problem for reddit, but I haven't seen it here.
Edit: I should note that this poster is one of our best OPs and probably thought it was funny. Doesn't stop it from being troll bait though.