Too much censorship on the forums?

[Suobig]

They are either suspiciously GOOD at Russian for being Westerners who are just beginners, or they don't appear to study Russian at all.

So, they are good at Russian and don't appear to study Russian at all? Who could they be? May be, I don't know... Russians?

They repeat the same info ad infinitum and sometimes seem to be on a script.

Never seen such things here.

It's a bit paranoid, isn't it?

[Hanna]

So, they are good at Russian and don't appear to study Russian at all? Who could they be? May be, I don't know... Russians?



Never seen such things here.

It's a bit paranoid, isn't it?

Yes, well read the article. I'm not saying it's happening here, or it isn't. I don't work for the NSA or GCHQ.
Read the article, take a look at some of the people who have been extremely active in the political forum and make up your own mind. Their behaviour is very odd, but makes perfect sense if you look at it from this perspective.
You don't have to believe it, I am not convinced.

Have you ever been in a gaming parlour online? There are often employees of the company pretending to be real players for whatever business purposes. Read Amazon reviews with page after page of "genuine" people praising to the skies a book that you happen to own and you know is useless?
The GCHQ program is the same thing, but on a global level, in relationship to politics. It's not paranoia to assume that it's being done, particularly not after Snowden confirmed it. The only question is whether it happens here or not.

As for the people I had in mind, no I don't think they are Russian, as they make typical native English speaker typos or grammatical errors, alt. continental European oozing out of every line they write. Or they write stuff that is so incorrect or prejudiced that it's unrealistic in the extreme that a Russian person should come to a site like this and start making such statements.

Of course, you can never know for certain who's who online, and people can deliberately try to give out signals of being another nationality than they actually are. Just throwing it out there, because I actually did get a feeling I was dealing with people who were paid to just spit out nonsense of a certain political flavour. Frankly I'd prefer it if this feeling was wrong though - it would be an incredibly sinister situation.

[edvalais]

Frankly I'd prefer it if this feeling was wrong though - it would be an incredibly sinister situation.

Well it wouldn't really, would it? The internet is so vast that I doubt whether a few people posing as "normal" internet users will make much difference. .

I've also just read how you dislike the "black-painting" of Russia on this site. In my opinion, you should distinguish between criticism of certain aspects of Russia - and specifically a small, corrupt group of people in power - and the country itself. Personally I deplore what's happening to Russia at the moment precisely because I respect her people and culture and history.

I would much rather be a member of a forum where there are lively disagreements, than read endlessly polite platitudes: спор между форумчанами до добра доведет!

There should be no censorship here at all. Frankly, I find it "detskii sad".

[Hanna]

Well it wouldn't really, would it? The internet is so vast that I doubt whether a few people posing as "normal" internet users will make much difference. .

I've also just read how you dislike the "black-painting" of Russia on this site. In my opinion, you should distinguish between criticism of certain aspects of Russia - and specifically a small, corrupt group of people in power - and the country itself. Personally I deplore what's happening to Russia at the moment precisely because I respect her people and culture and history.

I would much rather be a member of a forum where there are lively disagreements, than read endlessly polite platitudes: спор между форумчанами до добра доведет!

There should be no censorship here at all. Frankly, I find it "detskii sad".

I particularly dislike when people come to this site and think they are going to tell Russians what's wrong with their country, in an arrogant or patronising way. Or go on about supposed wrongs in Russia's past, or the general evilness of Putin. First of all, they already know it, and secondly it's pretty rude. After all, this is a forum about Russia. and the language. What would you say if somebody asked your help with English studies and then proceeded to insult Britain's past, present, queen and government.

For the most part, such people are either ignorant, or a besserwisser basing their info on skimming English speaking media and watching a few documentaries.

I think people should come with the aim of learning, and an open mind. Unless you lived in Russia for many years, and speak Russian fluently, the average Russian person is going to be one up on you on any political, historical or cultural matter.

[Crocodile]

Never seen such things here. It's a bit paranoid, isn't it?

Aha! Here's the first one! The guys apparently is using the social science tactics - denyting with determination and putting labels!

So, they are good at Russian and don't appear to study Russian at all? Who could they be? May be, I don't know... Russians?

Aha! He's also using logic! Meaning he's trained too!