There’s a handful of accounts I see repeatedly going to bat for centrist (or extreme right or antiwest) positions and they universally have thousands or tens of thousands of comments in less than a year or two. I will sometimes still engage because it’s important people don’t think it was just left at their comment, but they are clearly not average people. They are either astroturfing or some kind of unwell sycophants. No one posts that much regularly brown nosing to people who actively do not care about you. The platform I use allows tagging of users. I’ve found that helpful so I at least can recognize them without having to remember their names. I try not to bring too much attention to the fact I’m aware of who is likely engaging in bad faith because it encourages them to change tactics, but I’m sure they know their tells already, but we are not at the point where enough average Lemmy users care or notice. Once more people start to notice hopefully we see them shut down more often. You’re not alone in noticing this.