There is a small chance that the new President himself might find this funny.
To encourage Filipinos to support the projects of the new administration, the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), sent out automated “personal messages” from President Rodrigo Duterte to Filipinos through the social media site, Twitter.
It was a nice gesture that could foster optimism for the country’s future.
Any user who tweets with the hashtag #PartnerForChange would get a “personalized” card from the President
The PCDPSO account would reply through a graphic, with the text: “Dear ____, Be a partner for change. Let us build a better Philippines, together. – Rodrigo Roa Duterte.”
It was a perfect opportunity for Internet trolls to party.
Some usernames included, “crazy,” “paidtroll,” “Drvg$Xx,” “Pak Ganern,” “Putangina,” “douchebag,” “Bukkake,” “Not Hugot Account” and other obscene words.
President Duterte’s communication team learned an important lesson on their first day of the job, as pointed out by Twitter user Yves Gonzalez: “If you setup an autoresponder, netizens WILL troll it. This has happened before, it will ALWAYS ALWAYS happen.”
Gonzalez pointed out that PCDSPO could have easily prevented the problem by setting up a profanity filter for its autoresponder.
Duterte was sworn in as the country’s 16th President on Jun 30. As part of his inaugural speech, he called on Filipinos to join him in his journey and start change.
As of Thu evening, the autoresponder was still producing cards even for trolls.
