Definition #
Coordinated, often pre-planned, mass online activity to affect a piece of content, or an account, or an entire community or message board. Examples include coordinated upvoting or downvoting a post to affect its distribution, mass-reporting an account (usually falsely) for abuse in an attempt to cause the service provider to suspend it, or inundating a business with good or bad reviews.
Background #
Brigading occurs when groups of users coordinate to target an individual or community with a flood of messages, comments, or downvotes. This can overwhelm the targeted users and distort the natural flow of discussion. Moderators can look for sudden spikes in activity aimed at specific posts or individuals. You may also see a sudden deluge of reports for one user. However, it’s important to differentiate between brigading and legitimate, albeit passionate, group discussions that naturally arise.
Brigading can manifest through Astroturfing, and may use Sock Puppet accounts. Often, the user’s content is reposted or quote posted elsewhere to coordinate the brigade.
Coordinated brigades may target a post or a user with mass reporting.
Example Rule #
Organised and targeted actions, such as brigading, that aim to harass or silence individuals are not allowed.
Discussion #
Discuss this label in the Brigading forum.
