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every single sub no matter how niche is infested with bots or spam/schill accounts. every single parenting/mom sub is inundated by formula companies. every fa

every single sub no matter how niche is infested with bots or spam/schill accounts. every single parenting/mom sub is inundated by formula companies. every fan niche like comicbooks is full of bot accounts in training (building up karma with low effort posts and repeat copy posts from previous days from other posters). everything, everywhere.

owlninja 2y ago
People always say this but no one ever proves it.
- adamomada 2y ago
  At this point especially considering the article we’re commenting on, it would be amazing if there weren’t spam shills and bots - they go where eyeballs go There is an enormous vested interest to not let this become public and should make you question the concept that conspiracy can’t exist somehow
  - xboxnolifes 2y ago
    Nobody is saying bot/shill accounts don't exist. Just that they aren't literally everywhere and in insane numbers. Also, it's about the distribution of the bots between the subs: are they mostly on the huge main subs, or do they also expand to the 10,000 person niche subs? If 1 formula company has 1 reddit bot that posts 1 post every month in every parenting subreddit, is that considered a bot infestation? How many bot posts is necessary to be considered endemic?
    - owlninja 2y ago
      Thank you, this is what I meant. I am well aware they exist but anytime I mention maybe I use reddit to do research before a purchase - everyone acts like not a single human even exists on there.
      - TulliusCicero 2y ago
        If there's a better source for general purpose product recommendations than Reddit, I haven't found it. I'd say the only real weakness is that sometimes the recommendations lean too hard on being for enthusiasts, and don't always fit what a casual user of a thing cares about. But other than that they're pretty great.
- astura 2y ago
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2017/02/20/reddit-is-being-manipulated-by-big-financial-services-companies/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2017/02/20/reddit-i... Unless you actually have a reason to have good idea of who you're interacting with you should probably assume they are trolls, shills, or children. Those are BY FAR the most common Internet activity. For example - I'm a normal human. I'll post a few comments on HN once in a while. Maybe a few up votes from time-to-time. Sometimes I don't think about HN for days. I don't post on other social media/forums. My father-in-law is a troll, he spends 10+ hours a day every day commenting and voting on various articles with his hundreds of sock puppet accounts. Which one are you more likely to see? Myself or my FIL?
- mejutoco 2y ago
  The founders admitted themselves to start traction on the site with a multitude of fake users. All the "just asking questions" posts pushing certain narratives in every regional subrredit are also quite noticeable. For me that is proof enough, but other people might have different standards.
  - dalyons 2y ago
    that was like, 17 years ago? and imho not an unreasonable thing to get a social site off the ground that had no users. Seems pretty irrelevant to the problems of today.
    - mejutoco 2y ago
      It might not be unreasonable to allow more bots before ipo, then. It is not proof, but it is a precedent. In any case, my main proof is the narrative pushing (which imo is obvious)
xboxnolifes 2y ago
> every fan niche like comicbooks is full of bot accounts in training (building up karma with low effort posts and repeat copy posts from previous days from other posters) If such things exist in subs I visit, I don't see it. Either the reposts are downvoted so I don't see them, the repost is the first time I'm seeing it making it a good post from my perspective, or they aren't reposts and the bots are making good contributions. I definitely notice the astroturfing accounts in the subs that are marketing profitable (usually lifestyle subs like fitness, fashion, cooking, investing, etc), but not every sub is profitable or even open to product endorsement. At least, I very rarely ever see such things in the video games subs I visit. I'm not even sure how you could mix in such posts into a sub like /r/rimworld.
TulliusCicero 2y ago
People say things like this, but the subs I frequent largely seem fine. I'm sure there are bad actors somewhere in there, but they don't seem prominent to me. > every single parenting/mom sub is inundated by formula companies. Okay, if it's every single one, show me all the formula company inundation in r/daddit. Should be easy if they're absolutely everywhere, like you say, right?
- pixl97 2y ago
  Look for reposts of the same topics and comments. Quite often the bots just look like contributors until you realize they've never had an original comment in their posting history. More often it seems they are involved in creating consensus and nudging votes up and down and in general making it more painful karma wise for those that don't toe the line. Not a daddit visitor, but it appears that formula is an uncommon discussion on that sub. Either it's not a popular topic, or it's being banned when it's too obvious.
  - TulliusCicero 2y ago
    Okay, that poster making the claim was completely wrong then. Almost like they pulled their claim entirely out of their ass.
- derbOac 2y ago
  I felt that way until the other day. There was a post that got upvoted, seemed wholesome and innocuous, and then eventually someone pointed out it was borrowing material from an earlier post. So I go to check, and sure enough, the pattern of posts by the parent poster is very inhuman, to put it one way. Strings of reposts of the same thing to many many subs in a short period of time, over and over and over again. I wouldn't go so far as to say reddit has been taken over by bots but I've started to wonder more and more about it. I generally feel like things have subtly but noticably changed for the worse since the exodus but I can't name a replacement in general except for some topic specific forums here and there. On the bright side I do think the new UI has improved noticably. I still revert to the old site often but the new site is better than it used to be.

owlninja 2y ago

People always say this but no one ever proves it.

adamomada 2y ago
At this point especially considering the article we’re commenting on, it would be amazing if there weren’t spam shills and bots - they go where eyeballs go There is an enormous vested interest to not let this become public and should make you question the concept that conspiracy can’t exist somehow
- xboxnolifes 2y ago
  Nobody is saying bot/shill accounts don't exist. Just that they aren't literally everywhere and in insane numbers. Also, it's about the distribution of the bots between the subs: are they mostly on the huge main subs, or do they also expand to the 10,000 person niche subs? If 1 formula company has 1 reddit bot that posts 1 post every month in every parenting subreddit, is that considered a bot infestation? How many bot posts is necessary to be considered endemic?
  - owlninja 2y ago
    Thank you, this is what I meant. I am well aware they exist but anytime I mention maybe I use reddit to do research before a purchase - everyone acts like not a single human even exists on there.
    - TulliusCicero 2y ago
      If there's a better source for general purpose product recommendations than Reddit, I haven't found it. I'd say the only real weakness is that sometimes the recommendations lean too hard on being for enthusiasts, and don't always fit what a casual user of a thing cares about. But other than that they're pretty great.
astura 2y ago
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2017/02/20/reddit-is-being-manipulated-by-big-financial-services-companies/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2017/02/20/reddit-i... Unless you actually have a reason to have good idea of who you're interacting with you should probably assume they are trolls, shills, or children. Those are BY FAR the most common Internet activity. For example - I'm a normal human. I'll post a few comments on HN once in a while. Maybe a few up votes from time-to-time. Sometimes I don't think about HN for days. I don't post on other social media/forums. My father-in-law is a troll, he spends 10+ hours a day every day commenting and voting on various articles with his hundreds of sock puppet accounts. Which one are you more likely to see? Myself or my FIL?
mejutoco 2y ago
The founders admitted themselves to start traction on the site with a multitude of fake users. All the "just asking questions" posts pushing certain narratives in every regional subrredit are also quite noticeable. For me that is proof enough, but other people might have different standards.
- dalyons 2y ago
  that was like, 17 years ago? and imho not an unreasonable thing to get a social site off the ground that had no users. Seems pretty irrelevant to the problems of today.
  - mejutoco 2y ago
    It might not be unreasonable to allow more bots before ipo, then. It is not proof, but it is a precedent. In any case, my main proof is the narrative pushing (which imo is obvious)

xboxnolifes 2y ago

> every fan niche like comicbooks is full of bot accounts in training (building up karma with low effort posts and repeat copy posts from previous days from other posters) If such things exist in subs I visit, I don't see it. Either the reposts are downvoted so I don't see them, the repost is the first time I'm seeing it making it a good post from my perspective, or they aren't reposts and the bots are making good contributions. I definitely notice the astroturfing accounts in the subs that are marketing profitable (usually lifestyle subs like fitness, fashion, cooking, investing, etc), but not every sub is profitable or even open to product endorsement. At least, I very rarely ever see such things in the video games subs I visit. I'm not even sure how you could mix in such posts into a sub like /r/rimworld.

TulliusCicero 2y ago

People say things like this, but the subs I frequent largely seem fine. I'm sure there are bad actors somewhere in there, but they don't seem prominent to me. > every single parenting/mom sub is inundated by formula companies. Okay, if it's every single one, show me all the formula company inundation in r/daddit. Should be easy if they're absolutely everywhere, like you say, right?

pixl97 2y ago
Look for reposts of the same topics and comments. Quite often the bots just look like contributors until you realize they've never had an original comment in their posting history. More often it seems they are involved in creating consensus and nudging votes up and down and in general making it more painful karma wise for those that don't toe the line. Not a daddit visitor, but it appears that formula is an uncommon discussion on that sub. Either it's not a popular topic, or it's being banned when it's too obvious.
- TulliusCicero 2y ago
  Okay, that poster making the claim was completely wrong then. Almost like they pulled their claim entirely out of their ass.
derbOac 2y ago
I felt that way until the other day. There was a post that got upvoted, seemed wholesome and innocuous, and then eventually someone pointed out it was borrowing material from an earlier post. So I go to check, and sure enough, the pattern of posts by the parent poster is very inhuman, to put it one way. Strings of reposts of the same thing to many many subs in a short period of time, over and over and over again. I wouldn't go so far as to say reddit has been taken over by bots but I've started to wonder more and more about it. I generally feel like things have subtly but noticably changed for the worse since the exodus but I can't name a replacement in general except for some topic specific forums here and there. On the bright side I do think the new UI has improved noticably. I still revert to the old site often but the new site is better than it used to be.