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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Forums, in general, are not ideal for the Kremlin's bots. Those use Twitter, Facebook and similar platforms that actively shove data in your face, or they use actual news sites or aggregators combined with clickbaity titles, not to mention article comments. They don't want a conversation with you. They want to make a lot of meaningless noise and clog your bullshit filters. And any activity they do on a forum can be quickly countered with facts.
Forum trolls are generally in it for the lulz/tears/grief/chatpornnote /whatever name they use for their internet amusement.
If I weren't already satisfied with my current avatar, I'd switch to Howard T. Ackerman and take the caption.
Hm, it appears that while watching The Shape of Water, I mistook Nigel Bennett for J. K. Simmons
edited 6th Apr '18 7:13:52 AM by Medinoc
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."This is actually hilarious!
'Concerned' Evangelicals Plan To Meet With Trump As Sex Scandals Swirl
"We're very concerned" about the allegations, said a leader of a faith-based ministry. The leader is involved in hosting the gathering, which organizers are aiming to take place June 19 at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The source said the combination of the Stormy Daniels sex-scandal allegations and Trump's continued reputation for divisive rhetoric could suppress evangelical turnout in the November 2018 elections.
"It is a concern of ours that 2018 could be very detrimental to some of the other issues that we hold dear," like religious liberty and restricting abortion rights, the source noted. The source, like the others with knowledge of the event, spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity so as to not jeopardize the meeting.
Trump has denied Daniels' allegations. Speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, he also denied knowing about the payment his attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election. She alleges she was paid $130,000 not to talk about the alleged affair.
Sources say organizers are working to firm up planning for the day-long event with the White House before sending invitations to hundreds of conservative Christian pastors and political leaders in the coming days.
Asked for comment Thursday, a White House spokesman declined.
Trump has been invited to take questions from the evangelical leaders for roughly 90 minutes during the meeting. It's not clear whether the allegations from Daniels — or another woman who alleges she had an affair with Trump, former Playboy model Karen Mc Dougal — are likely to come up while the president is on stage in a more open session.
But a source said the president is likely to be asked about the women during private discussions in at least a "sidebar conversation."
The ministry leader said Trump's tone and personal life remain a concern for many evangelicals.
"There's things that are like fingernails on the chalkboard to people of faith. That's not who we are; that's not a 'fruit of the Spirit'; that's not leading with humility," the source said, referencing a passage in the New Testament book of Galatians that describes the character traits Christians exhibit.
The meeting is part of an effort to rally and reassure conservative voters, especially white evangelicals who fueled Trump's run to the White House, ahead of this year's midterms. But it also could raise questions about the ethics of holding such events, organized through the White House, at Trump's hotel just a few blocks from the White House.
That prospect did not seem to concern the evangelical leaders involved with booking the event.
"That doesn't even cross our mind," said one person with knowledge of the planning, adding that the hotel was chosen because "this is probably the best deal in D.C."
This is the best part:
Another source with knowledge of the plans for the event tells NPR that the gathering will encourage pastors and other leaders to frame voting as a Christian's "civic duty," rather than urging churchgoers to support a particular political party.
That said, white evangelicals overwhelmingly favor Republican candidates at the polls. Whatever their misgivings, 81 percent of self-identified white evangelicals voted for Trump in the November 2016 election. Recent polls suggest a majority still back Trump despite the Daniels allegations, though his popularity with the group took a dip after the news initially broke.
The source with knowledge of plans for the June meeting told NPR that organizers have worried that some evangelicals might avoid the event because of the Daniels controversy.
"For some evangelical leaders," the source said, "it's a liability."
But others, including Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, expressed optimism that the president will weather the Daniels storm.
"I just honestly don't hear hand-wringing over the issue," Nance said. "They're not surprised; they made that decision a long time ago. This president is not Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee; he doesn't pretend to be a Bible-banging evangelical."
Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, also said it's "highly dubious" that the allegations will substantially erode the president's support or suppress midterm turnout.
Reed said that he will attend the meeting with the president if the planning moves forward. Given how organized and energized Democrats are this year, he said it's important for evangelical leaders to rally their base.
"If these folks don't turn out in record numbers in 2018," Reed said, "it's gonna be a long night for Republicans."
"I was totally comfortable with voting for Donald Trump when he was abusing women, ogling beauty pageant contestants, and making raunchy comments about his daughter, but dating a porn star... that's too much."
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"TV Tropes OTC forums are one of the few I can safely follow without being worried of it descending to 4chan or facebook tier of shitstorm.
Granted, moderation is key and TVT Forums are small enough to have a very effective one.
Inter arma enim silent leges

Regarding Russian trolls, we have never explicitly identified any TVT accounts as being part of a trollfarm, but we have banned a few for openly shilling for Russia. During and around the election, we had a number of accounts coming on with names like "TrumpIsGreat" and nakedly trolIing, to the point where we installed a passive block on all new accounts with "trump" in the handle. I also remember a few years back when we got some poor fool telling everyone how great North Korea is, who couldn't more obviously have been a shill if he'd tried.
It does seem fairly rare though, compared to the overall incidence on the Internet, and I think it's probably accurate to say that we're too small to be worth that much attention.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"