Online Laura Palmer Bot Avatar Icons

[mentalgongfu2]

So, I was browsing the web, as I sometimes do, and checked up on RawStory.com.

It is a pale imitation of a real news website, especially in the Trump Era, with most of its stories being "X said Y, and Twitter responded with Z,"
but it still figures in my rotation. Sympathetic as I may be to the anti-Trump fervor, I find a lot of what passes for content there to be as bad or worse than Zero Hedge,
just on the opposite side of the Teeter-Totter.

For whatever reason, I decided to click on the comment section today, to see where sentiment lies among those who might bother to post in the Raw Story comment section. I couldn't say which story I clicked on first, but it was one of many about the ongoing foibles of the President Donald Trump.

What surprised me was not the rhetoric being bandied about, but the avatars I saw behind many of the comments.

Laura Palmer.

Laura Palmer of Twin Peaks. From multiple commenters. Often in succession of each other.
I was forced to ask myself - is this a thing? Is it like when all my facebook friends changed their pics to = signs, or put up French flag backgrounds? So I kept scrolling. But no pattern could I find. I clicked another story and dove into its comments section. I saw more Laura Palmers.

I googled here and there, with no solid answer, as I kept scrolling random threads on Raw Story.

So I come here to ask my RI friends, is there some hidden movement, where Laura Palmer has been adopted as the icon of the American so-called Left, like a new and twisted version of Pepe the Frog? Or is this just a sign of bots, Russian or otherwise, lazily filling a particular forum without bothering to search out alternate pics?

I find it hard to believe so many people are TP fans, as I have had such a hard time finding folks to discuss the show with me...

Here's a smattering of samples, almost all from different stories on this particular website.











I could have taken pictures for days.
The Laura Palmer image is all over the place.

So tell me, what does this mean, if anything?
I'm inclined to look at it as auto-fill, but surely any smart operation would know enough to use different avatars for the conversations they have with themselves, right?
And surely would not use such a recognizable image in succession.
Or maybe not.

Is this limited to one place, or are there Laura Palmer avatars popping up elsewhere in your online journeys?

I seek input from the minds of RI. Especially the Twin Peaks fans.

[Sounder]

Interesting find mentalgongfu2

Or is this just a sign of bots, Russian or otherwise, lazily filling a particular forum without bothering to search out alternate pics?

My own 'rounds' are very limited because I prefer to play fiddle and am a cynic that considers 'comment sections' of most places are tainted by 'social indoctrination agents', whether bots or live, I don't much care.

My impression is that there is a large amount of bot activity and this may be an intentional social experiment to gauge the effectiveness of pushing confirmatory pretenses to mute critical thinking.
(there are plenty of examples of these last six words, right here on RI for one.)

We might as well let the world be run by bots, after all we agree with the programming anyway.

[Jerky]

Why not pipe up in context and ask THEM?

Gonna go check now to see for myself what's up.

J.

[mentalgongfu2]

I actually did just that, Jerky, before posting here. In the comments on the headilne "Obama ethics director says he’s taking to the streets if Trump fires Robert Mueller or Rod Rosenstein." The only reply so far is from a non Laura avatar who suggests it is the default for the site. I would find that odd. But I am about to test it to be sure.

Edit:

Hmm - seems it requires a Facebook, Google, Twitter, or Disqus account to log in. I log in via Disqus, as it at least leaves me a little illusion of privacy. I'm not about to start an account elsewhere to test, at least not this morning, but I gather it just pulls the avatar from the site you use to login, since that's what it has done for me and my disqus account.

Should someone wish to start an account somewhere without loading an avatar in order to test what the default may be when joined to Raw Story, I would be grateful. That at least would show that my paranoia in this particular instance is unnecessary.

[stillrobertpaulsen]

Twin Peaks fan here.

Something is definitely happening. (Not "it", but something.) I've never heard of any place having a default avatar with a picture. In the case of Raw Story, this is their default avatar if you don't choose one:



Also, I agree with you that Raw Story isn't the place it used to be, say, 14 years ago.

[Burnt Hill]

Twin Peaks fan here.

Something is definitely happening. (Not "it", but something.) I've never heard of any place having a default avatar with a picture. In the case of Raw Story, this is their default avatar if you don't choose one:



Also, I agree with you that Raw Story isn't the place it used to be, say, 14 years ago.

But I did not see a single comment with a "blank" avatar? I am pretty sure it is a default and that it is changed at whim by the site.

[stillrobertpaulsen]

Twin Peaks fan here.

Something is definitely happening. (Not "it", but something.) I've never heard of any place having a default avatar with a picture. In the case of Raw Story, this is their default avatar if you don't choose one:



Also, I agree with you that Raw Story isn't the place it used to be, say, 14 years ago.

But I did not see a single comment with a "blank" avatar? I am pretty sure it is a default and that it is changed at whim by the site.

I did. Here's the thread where I c&p'd the jpg from. Commenters by the names Homer and Sammie have the blank avatar.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/msnbcs ... nts=disqus

[Burnt Hill]

Yes you are right blank avatars abound.
Check out another blank one at your link - Sharman Galloway - hover over Sharman's blank avatar!

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/msnbcs ... nts=disqus

[Burnt Hill]

Phoebequeen • 13 minutes ago
That is how it works on this site. People may choose to use that blank avi picture on other sites , I see that all the time, but I don't think here. I asked the same question when I first started posting here a few years ago. One time, it was all Noam Chomsky!

[norton ash]

Baffling. Colour me dead, wrapped in plastic.

[Iamwhomiam]

A pretty creepy avatar, I'd say. Laura Palmer was raped by a monstrous beast and was killed by it, the beast being her father.

[mentalgongfu2]

I suppose the mystery is solved. But I still find the whole thing a little odd. They must have a web admin who is a Lynch fan is all I can gather.