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Another argument is that it could lead to a bot problem 10x worse than twitters ever was.

by nuz 2y ago

Zetaphor 2y ago
One of the nice things that make Bluesky different is that there isn't really a single central algorithm that everyone is forced to use. This combined with the many novel moderations tools like feeds and labellers mean it's pretty trivial to filter out entire categories of spam/botting. As an example my feed is completely free of US politics, allowing me to curate an experience where I can go to enjoy myself instead of constantly being exposed to ragebait.
jsheard 2y ago
The Twitter bot situation only seems to have got worse since they shut down free API access. LLM engagement farming bots everywhere in replies, hordes of scam bots replying if you use certain keywords, porn bots following and DMing everyone non-stop... Evidently the people running the bots don't really care whether or not you give them an API to work with.
- Pxtl 2y ago
  Reminds me of this meme: https://www.reddit.com/r/webscraping/comments/w1ve97/virgin_api_consumer_vs_chad_thirdparty_scraper/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/webscraping/comments/w1ve97/virgin_...
  - Retr0id 2y ago
    Presumably the bots weren't using the "proper" APIs even when they existed, so as to be less easily detectable.
- extraduder_ire 2y ago
  I think that coincided with them removing phone number verification for accounts. Probably due to my browser looking unusual (content blocker, linux user-agent string, other addons) any time I set up a new account and used it for a few minutes a few years ago, it'd lock the account and redirect every logged in page to one demanding SMS verification to unlock the account. I would usually get support to manually unlock it after a few days by emailing them and mentioning why I didn't want to give them a phone number. Now the process only involves solving captchas. (and maybe some hidden waiting)
sneak 2y ago
Computers that are operated by humans that are using APIs designed for computers is not a bug, but a feature.
- nonethewiser 2y ago
  Well yeah that's why you can expect it to increase 10x
realusername 2y ago
I'm not sure you could be worse than Twitter right now on bots unless you are pursposely trying to be worse.
jazzyjackson 2y ago
Check out bluesky's "labeling services", I think it will be a very simple matter to crowdsource lists of obvious bots and prevent their having any reach. You can create bots that make as many posts as you want, but bots aren't entitled to being included in any feed. It comes down to the posts that the relay choose to aggregate, and what the appview chooses to display according to user preferences.
asdf123wtf 2y ago
They have shareable block lists - like starter packs, but for blocking accounts. We'll see how that works out as the network grows.

Another argument is that it could lead to a bot problem 10x worse than twitters ever was.

by nuz 2y ago

Another argument is that it could lead to a bot problem 10x worse than twitters ever was.

One of the nice things that make Bluesky different is that there isn't really a single central algorithm that everyone is forced to use. This combined with the many novel moderations tools like feeds and labellers mean it's pretty trivial to filter out entire categories of spam/botting. As an example my feed is completely free of US politics, allowing me to curate an experience where I can go to enjoy myself instead of constantly being exposed to ragebait.

jsheard 2y ago

The Twitter bot situation only seems to have got worse since they shut down free API access. LLM engagement farming bots everywhere in replies, hordes of scam bots replying if you use certain keywords, porn bots following and DMing everyone non-stop... Evidently the people running the bots don't really care whether or not you give them an API to work with.

Pxtl 2y ago
Reminds me of this meme: https://www.reddit.com/r/webscraping/comments/w1ve97/virgin_api_consumer_vs_chad_thirdparty_scraper/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/webscraping/comments/w1ve97/virgin_...
- Retr0id 2y ago
  Presumably the bots weren't using the "proper" APIs even when they existed, so as to be less easily detectable.
extraduder_ire 2y ago
I think that coincided with them removing phone number verification for accounts. Probably due to my browser looking unusual (content blocker, linux user-agent string, other addons) any time I set up a new account and used it for a few minutes a few years ago, it'd lock the account and redirect every logged in page to one demanding SMS verification to unlock the account. I would usually get support to manually unlock it after a few days by emailing them and mentioning why I didn't want to give them a phone number. Now the process only involves solving captchas. (and maybe some hidden waiting)

sneak 2y ago

Computers that are operated by humans that are using APIs designed for computers is not a bug, but a feature.

nonethewiser 2y ago
Well yeah that's why you can expect it to increase 10x

realusername 2y ago

I'm not sure you could be worse than Twitter right now on bots unless you are pursposely trying to be worse.

jazzyjackson 2y ago

Check out bluesky's "labeling services", I think it will be a very simple matter to crowdsource lists of obvious bots and prevent their having any reach. You can create bots that make as many posts as you want, but bots aren't entitled to being included in any feed. It comes down to the posts that the relay choose to aggregate, and what the appview chooses to display according to user preferences.

asdf123wtf 2y ago

They have shareable block lists - like starter packs, but for blocking accounts. We'll see how that works out as the network grows.