That's why you ignore all comments from usernames that are like the default ones. Has been that way for a long time, tbh.
This is incredible. Like, it was always obvious from a gut feeling or seeing comments reposted in the exact same thread, but this makes it even more obvious.
How the fuck is this even possible?
*Does this have to be done by Reddit itself? That's the only way I can think of, but I really have no idea how it works.
This doesn't have to be done by Reddit.
I can create as many accounts as I want, scrape old threads, and then replay the old conversations with my new accounts.
Makes it appear very much like the accounts are real people. Then I can sell them to troll farms.
Historically bot posts are from people looking to sell accounts
Thank you. That is the day when I'll finally stop using Reddit. I never have thought that bots write that realistically, so thank you for proving it.
Well they actually don't write that realistically, these are copy and paste bots that are just trying to farm karma so they can later sell the account (which I've heard is a thing apparently?). You can see the left is all original accounts by the uniqueness of their usernames and the copied posts on the right are all reddit generated names.
The left image is the original post, 10 months old, where (at least most) of the users are real people. Left is full of bots copying the post 1:1, comments included.
I will use Reddit for real search results sometimes, but I'm done reading it in general and here is partly why.
I've been using reddit a bit the past couple weeks, it's getting pretty dry in the fediverse, especially for local content. I got permabanned from our local Reddit communities thread over literally pretty much nothing about a year and a half ago, basically questioning a power mods opinion on something, and then after getting temp banned, asked what the heck like if you aren't agreeing with me just respond with something, and then I got permabanned.
Anyways I wrote them a kind note today asking to be unbanned, as it is a pretty big sub (343k users for a city of 1.5M), and a good source of information. Told them like look, I'm pretty boring and I can behave, like could you prevent me from having to create a new alt account and let's let bygones be bygones?
The response I got was really condescending, they banned me from mod mail, and basically it was just a really weird response. All they had to say was no, thanks, and I would have moved on with my day. I think some of the mods are suffering from some pretty serious mental health issues these days, if not a god complex in the slightest. Reddit is a really really unhealthy place, and thankfully those people reminded me of that. I quickly deleted the app from my phone, and I think I'm done for good this time. The fediverse may be drying up a bit, but at least most of the people on it can behave like adults.
Idk if it's drying up just because it's slower with responses. I think we're just used to the reddit shitbots constantly responding to us on reddit. The slower pace is better because here, there's actually people responding, not bots.
WTF ?
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.
What if find absolutely wild is how their stock didn't just flop. The site has been on a downward spiral since the first redesign, and with the cut to API they've basically entered a freefall. I could seen people backing Reddit like 14 years ago, but now? Why?
I suppose if there's any optimism to have in OP's post it's that the bots are at least propagating messaging that's better for the greater good than the typical shit that's trying to get us into a full dystopia.
fuck reddit
Been happening a lot longer than you imagine. I stopped using Reddit when the third party apps got shut down. At least the last year of my time there was calling out repost bot accounts. Threads like that on smaller subs with week moderation were really common.
Even on some better moderated subs, they got through.
Reddit died for me a long time ago.
Lemmy will be full of bots too if it grows big enough. Enjoy the fleeting moment
Depends on the instance. Some instances will enshittify, others will fight against this sort of thing. Since Lemmy is federated, if we're stuck on the former we can move to the latter without losing access to the entire network.
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