JRP3

Unfortunately the general public can probably be swayed by "KB"'s rhetoric, since it often plays on the unfounded fear of being stranded with an empty battery.
Luckily more often than not informed people chime in after Kent and speak the truth, and he usually doesn't bother to try and come back and defend his position.

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vfx

Yes there are often ten well argued KB responses when he/she/the bot speaks first but most people who are reading to learn about something they don't know about will only read the first, maybe 3 deep in the comment section. KB comes across as an instant (unfounded) counterpoint to a reasoned EV discussion therefore putting doubt into the uninformed reader's mind.

This site has never been hit by KB (unless you think that Fink is KB) So there must be a way to ignore activist sites and only go for EV related copy in mainstream pages.

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TEG

Sheesh. Could it really be an automated program doing this? Some well funded entity that decides the best way to stop a grassroots EV movement is to send automated negativity to just drag down all conversations? Some psychologist or sociologist probably came up with a way to just keep the incessant auto-negativity post machine going knowing that it will disrupt things.

Reminds me of a quote from the Joker in the new "Dark Knight" movie: "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos."

I imagine somewhere someone is laughing at all of this and it really bugs me.

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We know enough about what is really going on to be able to see this happen in our EV community, but imagine how many other places such a tactic would work and go unnoticed. Rather nefarious if true.

Scary Blogspam Automation Tools - Security Fix
Dave’s Blog » Blog Archive » The State of Spam [Karma]
Malware targets bloggers
XRumer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

vfx

Was talking with my wife about this last night. She has connections with a very large software company. She told me that the company has full time employees that do nothing but moniter the appropiate forums and blogs to squelch any company or product related trash-talking or dangerous rumors. The team has several alias' and also monitors mainstream media.

She guessed the KB is a paid shill working for an a lobbyist firm. I would add that his Posts seem to support big oil (any other guesses?)

Question is how to combat? If we hunt down his email address and find out who he is working for and out him, then the host and names would just change.

Maybe a grass roots organization like Plug In America or The Electric Auto Association can have a few members that each have a handfull of sites they check daily for rebuttal and even better to be proactive in pointing out the advantages of EVs.

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TEG

I don't think we have the time / resources to react effectively to this kind of thing. Also, trying to rebut all the "auto-rants" just adds credibility to them in the mind of the casual reader. They may think "that (person) must be on to something if they get a reaction out of the rest of the forum community."

vfx

Quote:

Originally Posted by TEG I don't think we have the time / resources to react effectively to this kind of thing. Also, trying to rebut all the "auto-rants" just adds credibility to them in the mind of the casual reader. They may think "that (person) must be on to something if they get a reaction out of the rest of the forum community."

Don't necessarily agree with you TEG. As for resources, that is an unknown.

As to the rebuttals on the sites that is already happening form of various independent commenters and that is the key. Come at the pro-EV argument with a few people with a lot of different names with different takes on the counter argument(s) (Climate Crisis, Peak Oil, Energy Independence etc.) I am merely suggesting that the responses be coordinated. As long as it feels organic it would be seamless.

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JRP3

Check out page one of this very thread:

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JRP3

Looks as if David Lassiter has been on old Kent for quite a while, wonder if he's still at it?
david lassiter Kent Beuchert - Google Search

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domenick

I don't recall seeing a recent post by David Lassiter. I suspect he never followed through on his article or whatever. As for Kent, I'm pretty sure he is real and I'm pretty sure I have his address and phone number which are readily available. I won't post them but if google street view had of driven down his cul-de-sac, I would have posted a picture of it just for the lulz. They drove by about a block away. Drats.

JRP3

Maybe David is an anti-kent bot
Greg Laden's Blog : The Kent Beuchert Affair: Bias and Corporate Lobbying on a Science Blog Energy Blog sponsored by Shell?

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