The Astroturf Alert is intended to be a signal to Slashdot readers that a user has been seen posting what looks like astroturf.

Make the Astroturf_Alert your Friend, and the posts of any suspected astroturfers will be flagged as "Foe of Friend" when you read them. If you are moderating, you will be able to consider the astro-status of the poster before you moderate.

If the astroturfers themselves befriend the Astroturf Alert, that will just alert you even more to their status.

(Astroturf_Alert is modeled on, but unrelated to, the Profanity Blacklist).

Astroturfing is the process of laying down a false appearance of "grass roots" support for something.

Unethical companies have used the practice to pollute Usenet, message boards, and anywhere else they can pretend to be a casual user who is a fan of the Company's products.

Astroturfers sometimes work in teams, carrying on conversations. One of them may appear to be a pro-Company zealot (or even an anti-Company zealot), and the other(s) on the team respond in a way that the casual observer sees as positive. That generates a positive view of the Company.