
All the “reopen $statename” websites were registered on the same day - enraged_camel
https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/g3niq3/i_simply_cannot_believe_that_people_are/fnstpyl/
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enraged_camel
The whole comment thread is fascinating, and perhaps the best evidence that
this entire movement was astroturfed. I thought it was interesting the ease at
which this could be detected.

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anthony_doan
It's scary to me that our country is being manipulated.

Covid19 does not need to be politicalize. We're in troubled times I don't
believe we need people going against experts (science/doctors/etc...).

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heyitsguay
It doesn't need to be, but if you have your own interests in mind (economic,
anti-US, others?), then why not? Since the rise of mass social media we've
learned it's pretty easy to mindfuck a bunch of rubes, and if you get caught,
the rubes will double down because nobody's ego will ever take the hit of
realizing they're the rube.

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Scoundreller
For those of you that prefer the “old” reddit interface:

[https://old.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/g3niq3/comment/fn...](https://old.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/g3niq3/comment/fnstpyl)

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RandomBacon
Firefox add-on to always automatically redirect to old.reddit (also works on
Firefox for Android)

[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/old-reddit-
re...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/old-reddit-redirect/)

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homieg33
What exactly is the definition of astroturfed? If it implies spending lots of
money then is there evidence of that here? A few Facebook groups (free) and a
few hundred dollars in domain registrations and hosting. Are these protesters
being bused to rallies? What would a true grassroots movement look like these
days?

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coolgeek
First off, grassroots vs astroturf describes a spectrum, rather than a binary
or dichotomy.

Astroturf implies control and/or financing by an organization. That
organization might pay participants (Brooks Brothers Riot) or pay for
advertising to generate support from those who would otherwise be apathetic.

It is said that the Tea Party started out as grassroots, but was coopted and
turned into an astroturf operation. OTOH, Occupy Wall Street rejected any kind
of centralization and can thus be described as almost purely grassroots.

Astroturfers often have additional, hidden goals that may be misaligned with
those of the supporters that they have attracted.

