back to article Russian 'troll factory' firebombed – but still fit to fiddle with our minds

Russian media is reporting that someone has tried to torch the notorious St Petersberg “troll factory,” linked with trolling Western social media sites, sparking a police investigation. The Internet Research Agency became famous as a “fake news” operation spreading misinformation by way of Facebook ads, and stealing Americans …

  1. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    You cannot troll a troll.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Don't be silly.

      Of course you can troll a troll. You just have to be a better troll, that's all.

      1. MrMerrymaker

        Re: Don't be silly.

        I troll them by saying I have full compassion for Why they're lashing out and if they want to discuss it, I'll be a shoulder to cry on and they're my equal in every way.

        Tends to get me death threats, then they vanish...

        1. bombastic bob Silver badge
          Devil

          Re: Don't be silly.

          a 'good troll' will find your IRL info and dox you, subscribe your IRL e-mail address to multiple irritating lists, use a dozen sock puppets to ridicule everything you say, try and crack your firewall, post your company info on a business review site and give you lousy ratings, and if they're REALLY good, sign you up for receiving lots of junk mail. And, subscribing you to dating sites for bizarre fetishes.

          There are point assignments for each troll behavior. So a REALLY good troll will score you more points. Then you can compare with your friends, "my troll is better than your troll". Otherwise, they'd become boring, and you'd just stop feeding them...

          'SWATting' has a negative point value. that's just lame.

          anonymously e-mailing you a windows virus, when you're running Linux or *BSD, is an extra added bonus!

          1. jake Silver badge

            Re: Don't be silly.

            "a 'good troll' will find your IRL info and dox you, subscribe your IRL e-mail address to multiple irritating lists, use a dozen sock puppets to ridicule everything you say, try and crack your firewall, post your company info on a business review site and give you lousy ratings, and if they're REALLY good, sign you up for receiving lots of junk mail. And, subscribing you to dating sites for bizarre fetishes."

            None of that is trolling. That's spoiled rotten teenagers being antisocial, subconsciously wishing their mummies would punish them for their bad behavio(u)r. Hormones are an ugly thing when held in close confinement.

          2. Alan Brown Silver badge

            Re: Don't be silly.

            "And, subscribing you to dating sites for bizarre fetishes."

            I've discovered a few interesting new fetishes in this manner....

      2. Stevie

        Re: Don't be silly.

        Trolling troll troller is obviously obvious.

        Or something ...

    2. A.P. Veening Silver badge

      Re: You cannot troll a troll.

      No, but you can give him a cookie.

      1. Afernie
        Trollface

        Re: You cannot troll a troll.

        "No, but you can give him a cookie."

        But if you give a troll a cookie, he'll want a glass of milk.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: You cannot troll a troll.

          "[...] he'll want a glass of milk."

          Goats milk.

          1. Mark 85

            Re: You cannot troll a troll.

            "[...] he'll want a glass of milk."

            Goats milk.

            Not unicorn milk?

        2. jake Silver badge

          Re: You cannot troll a troll.

          If you feed the trolls you get to keep them.

          If you don't want trolls, don't feed them.

          Thus the phrase "Bad troll, no cookie".

        3. Stevie

          Re: But if you give a troll a cookie,

          If you give him a glass of milk, he'll want to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies.

    3. Potemkine! Silver badge

      I heard about a danish operation to unmask all trolls and make their identity public...it hope they will succeed

    4. joemostowey

      Trust a troll? Everyone trusts Fox News,

      Russian Trolls, or News people? Or Russian Agents?

      Fox news has spread the gap between the people of the USA more than All the other troll factories combined.

      I often wonder after catching a fox broadcast if they get two paychecks, one fromMurdoch and one from Putin? or Maybe they are combined prior to payday.

      Maybe Putin owns stock in fox networks? Or maybe Putin funds the Murdoch empire.

      either way, a troll is a troll is a troll.No matter who pays them.

      Still very very few anti-Russian stories on fox, and very little stories that don't gush over the leaders of the USA and Soviet Union's budding bromance.

      1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

        Re: Trust a troll? Everyone trusts Fox News,

        "maybe Putin funds the Murdoch empire."

        Murdoch finds trolling Americans very profitable. He doesn't need any help.

  2. Alister

    Separated by a common language...

    An unidentified man broke the glass on the first floor of a building

    In the UK, that would no doubt be the ground floor of the building, not the first floor.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: Separated by a common language...

      "And where in the world is that English girl I promised I would meet on the third floor?" —Gary P. Nunn

      1. Stoneshop
        Coat

        Re: Separated by a common language...

        And where in the world is that English girl

        Carmen Sandiego is English?

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge

          Re: Separated by a common language...

          No, Slovenian.

    2. find users who cut cat tail
      Pint

      Re: Separated by a common language...

      Not just in the UK. Until I read you comment I was wondering why and how he targeted a window so high above the ground...

  3. Stoneshop
    Flame

    Fight fire with fire

    Rammstein - Benzin

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fight fire with fire

      LOL. For those who didn't quite get that, look here.

      :)

  4. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    Brave/stupid person. Capital offence doing that in Russia, even when it failed.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Really? A dude burned one of the doors of the FSB building, and he's alive and well together with his family in France now (after having to flee there because of a #metoo accusation against him).

  5. sanmigueelbeer

    Liar, liar. Pants on fire.

    There, I said now. Now I'm leaving!

  6. DropBear
    Trollface

    See, that's what happens when you're not doing it properly, using Greek fire...

    1. Aladdin Sane

      Not Molotov?

      1. harmjschoonhoven

        Re: Not Molotov?

        Or the Paris 1968 variant: half petrol, half sulfuric acid. Eats away marble and circuitboards.

  7. Chris G

    The alleged perpetrator was last seen driving away in a Cadillac Escalade with blacked out windows.

  8. Alan J. Wylie

    Reichstag fire

    Why does this remind me of the Reichstag fire and false flag operations?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Reichstag fire

      Because you're a bad person who definitely deserves my upvote?

      :)

    2. PhilDin

      Re: Reichstag fire

      Wouldn't a false flag operation be directed against something that people are sorry to see burned down. It's hard to imagine the Russian population getting behind a troll factory (Je Suis Trolleur:)

      1. dvvdvv

        Re: Reichstag fire

        The Russian population is in fact the primary target of the operation, and the operation's main objective is to discredit whatever passes as the Russian opposition to the regime. But if it burns down, not many will notice — it's not Reichstag by any means.

        BTW and IMHO, the American election thing was done mostly for shits and giggles, the guys and gals didn't expect all the brouhaha and were really amazed how the Americans lost their shit about it.

        1. Teiwaz

          Re: Reichstag fire

          really amazed how the Americans lost their shit about it.

          No one should have been, the swamp people are hoping will be drained is the rising tide of the squits that's been festering for years now.

          10000 years from now, a legend of a new Atlantis. The 'paradise' that sank into the brown and smelly.

    3. Dagg Silver badge

      Re: Reichstag fire

      Also a bit like the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Are you guys dyslexic or something? It's Fontanka.

    Anyway, my guess would be it was a disgruntled ex-employee of the establishment — rumour is there are a lot of them. I think the incompetence of the arson attempt is a good sign that it was.

  10. Teiwaz
    Joke

    'Research'?

    Well, that settles it. Any organisation that includes that word in it's name when it's not actually involved in STEM or medicine should probably be declared an illegal organisation and it's directors hunted to the ends of the earth.

    Thankfully, Britain has no such charlatans, no siree....

  11. Potemkine! Silver badge

    It's not an attack, it's an homage to Molotov

  12. spold Silver badge
    Devil

    Troll factory

    Trolls within trolls like the matryoshka dolls? - Matrolloshka? - collective name for Russian trolls?

  13. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    Russian Trolls

    Tautology?

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