Thursday, August 26, 2010

Foist Off the Record

Somebody call ComEd. Lake County is shocked -- shocked! -- over Daily Herald revelations that local campaigns are dispatching sockpuppets to stuff Internet news sites with political propaganda. It seems that every local blog and online news outlet of any consequence is now the target of a campaign operative hoping to bomb a free online comment section with some earned media. The complete play-by-play and color commentary was provided early this week on this blog ...
Faux Comment
The proliferation of campaign sockpuppets, trolls, drivebys, chatboxes, spammers, avatars, bots, fanboys, flamers, shills and lolcats has suddenly turned the fuddy-duddy world of Internet political news and reasoned opinion into a sausage-factory of prefabricated sound-bytes manufactured for political gain.

It used to be: don't believe everything you read. Now it is: don't believe who said it. That online comment section may seem to represent the voice of the people. However what appears to be the vox populi may in reality be the vox politico.

The Daily Herald warned: be discerning. Your LakeCountyEye has discerned the online monikers of some of the more egregious offenders. Be forewarned, when you see one of these names you may have encountered a campaign operative hoping to manipulate your opinion against your will.

Ten Obviously Fake Names Seen at Online News Sites and Blogs
  1. Ben Dover
  2. AquaBuddha
  3. Flibber T Gibbet
  4. Admiral Kibbitz
  5. Princess Nudelman
  6. Puddin'n'Tain
  7. Hipcheck16
  8. Tiny Elvis
  9. We Buy Gold!
  10. Louis G Atsaves

For the record your LakeCountyEye has no additional comment at this time.

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