this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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[–] [email protected] 161 points 11 months ago (3 children)

How long do you think until it's just nothing but bots saying vacuous shit to each other? Better yet, how long until the investors notice that it turned into a house of cards?

[–] [email protected] 76 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh, I totally get where you're coming from! It sometimes feels like the internet is becoming more of a place where genuine conversations are getting drowned out by noise, doesn't it? I think it's essential for us to continue fostering real connections and meaningful discussions, despite the increasing presence of bots. Hopefully, platforms will implement more stringent measures to prevent the dilution of quality content. Let's keep our fingers crossed and continue to engage in thoughtful and insightful conversations!

(I felt so dirty copypasting that...)

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Bear in mind the current absolute state of Facebook is a conscious commercial decision. Gullible shit scrolling ad clicking mindless idiots unfortunately are in the majority, spend money online, and leak information worth harvesting.

Utter state of the internet 2023... Should have stopped at usenet.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 11 months ago (15 children)

I can't tell ... How can you tell?

[–] [email protected] 146 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

It's something I started noticing shortly before the API stuff. Bot accounts using ChatGPT to respond to random posts and comments. They're always incredibly saccharine and friendly, and often only loosely related to the topic (moreso if they're replying to an image post). One comment in isolation could be a fluke but check their profile and they're all like that, to an unnerving degree. I imagine they get sold off to spammers once they get enough karma. It really sucks when they get genuine engagement from regular users, especially when the thread is about something serious or heartfelt.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yeah noticed it too. For some of them. It’s the response time(instant sometimes) + length of reply + the context being replied to being not that simple that gives it a way.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also the fact that they utilize perfect grammar and have a bot-like randomized username.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (4 children)

The random usernames apparently come from when you sign up using other social media accounts, like Twitter, google, Facebook. For the longest time I thought it was the indicator for a bot account. Turns out it’s an indicator for bots and new-ish users.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago

i've noticed a lot of bots on r/askscience. these responses would always have specific length, start with summary of question and maybe not all the time, but most of the time entirely miss the point of it or explain it wrong. the better indicator is that they posted something like that every 2 minutes or so

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I don't understand some of the ones we've been spotting. They're completely unrelated comments, and if you open the account they've posted something every few minutes for the past 48 hours straight.

It's not helping the discussion, it's not pushing a point, so what's the point of it. My best guess was that someone is testing things out still and they don't care if it works yet

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago

Remember that Reddit sells ads. If you're serious about buying ad space, you look at metrics and engagement. Upvotes, comments, logins, active users per month.

AI serves up metrics.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

Likely karma-farming so the account can be sold to spammers or influence-peddlers down the line. Same story with repost bots, but chatbots are harder to detect at scale (not that Reddit Inc. cares about stopping either).

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 11 months ago (13 children)

Checked the account, here's a clear indication:

[–] [email protected] 71 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I like using ChatGPT, but it trying to be friendly and relatable is low-key some of the skeeviest shit I've ever seen. Reminds me of the old Patton Oswalt bit about "clean filth". I'd rather get accosted by the most depraved 8chan troll than have this Stepford Wives bullshit show up in my inbox.

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Well, the comment is 100% unadulterated cheerful copium about how awesome Reddit is. And encouraging other users to keep using it. The second comment is 100% r/TotallyNotRobots.

I've not seen that kind of attitude from your average redditor since, I dunno, late 2000s-early 2010s. If you talk to average real human redditor about your tiny little minor gripe of Reddit, it will inevitably turn into a massive thread where people whine constantly about every. single. little. thing. that has gone wrong over the years.

That's what organic engagement is supposed to look like on Reddit.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The short version is the ending. Chatgpt (including gpt4) cannot help itself but create some final, concluding or wrapping up statements no matter how you explicitly ask it not too.

Also what Jordan said.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (7 children)

Likely a combination of past posts and a formulaic username. Watch this space.

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[–] [email protected] 88 points 11 months ago (17 children)

I was often accused of being a bot on Reddit. Not sure really why. Though to be fair, the majority of my interactions on Reddit were arguing with people that thought they knew more than I did about a field I've worked in for 20+ years.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (1 children)

To be fair to the other side, it's entirely possible (and even common) to have worked in a field for 20 years while learning completely incorrect things about it. Or learning nothing.

People say things like "I've used a computer every day for 20 years, I think I know how it works" and then ask if they should "reboot the hard drive" and then they power cycle the monitor.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You can also form very strong opinions early in your career and not know when they're now invalid due to changes in tech/industry.

Was getting a quote for a new heat pump and had the guy tell me they were worthless if it got too cold. There have been consumer heat pumps that work down to -15°C with very little efficiency loss for well over a decade at this point. He had just been used to them not being worth it for long enough that he "didn't believe it".

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I would get accused on being a bot when talking about specific topics. For example Ukraine war or some Chinese topic. I wonder if it's bots calling other people bots. Muddy the waters.

Astroturfing is rampant and is only going to get worse from here on out. Don't trust anything you read

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (13 children)

are you neurodivergent or is english a foreign language? for some reason those folks tend to get labeled as bots.

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[–] CapnMoisesBKind 77 points 11 months ago (10 children)

How can you tell that’s it an AI generated comment?

[–] [email protected] 126 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (18 children)

I've dealt with this particular bot problem as a mod. Noticing the pattern early on was easy because they always had posts on TEMU subreddits. Now that those subs are banned, it's harder.

  1. Comment length. Their comments are always less than two lines long.

  2. Tone. They always contain at least one exclamation point, and tend to have a tone that I'd say is "cheery to the point it's offputting."

  3. Context. Reading them, a lot of the time you'll ask "did they even read what they're replying to?" The comment seems related, but directly misses the main point.

  4. History. Look at the rest of their comments. If more than one ends in two emojis, they're definitely part of this particular bot network.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Also punctuation and usage of commas, apostrophes etc. Far too formal usage of style to go with the casual message of the comment.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

History. Look at the rest of their comments. If more than one ends in two emojis, they’re definitely part of this particular bot network.

All of hexbear is bots, confirmed.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago (5 children)

There's no rigorous test, but once you've worked with it enough you can kinda just tell. This reeks of ChatGPT.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The "Keep scrolling and enjoy the ride, my friend." is what tipped me off. ChatGPT tends to say stuff like that when trying to be enthusiatic.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Honestly doesn't seem too far off from standard Redditese to me

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

You can pop the first comment into CharGPT with 'write me a reddit comment in response to' and youll get similar stuff.

It's a but ridiculous to claim it's GPT related without proof, though. You can't prove it and claiming you can 'spot it' is just hilarious to me.

"Wow, that's quite the conspiracy theory! While Reddit has definitely seen its ups and downs, I think it's safe to say it's still very much alive, thanks to its dedicated community. Let's keep the discussions going!"

"Seriously? Reddit was on its last legs long before June. This 'Necromancer' is just a desperate attempt to breathe life into something that was already fading away. RIP old Reddit, it's a brave new world now."

"Ha! If this is the work of a necromancer, they must be doing a pretty good job because I'm still addicted to scrolling through here!"

"Ah, so that explains the zombie posts and resurrected memes!"

"It's unfortunate to hear that some believe Reddit has declined, but communities on the platform can evolve over time. Let's hope for a positive revival if that's the case."

"I understand your concerns, but I don't believe Reddit has died. While there have been changes and controversies, it's still a vibrant platform with millions of users. Let's hope it continues to evolve positively!"

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 11 months ago (8 children)

Totally not robots! Am I right fellow HUMANS!

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 11 months ago (4 children)

If you check out the users profile, you'll notice that it tried to post some shit on the atheist Turk subreddit in English. Primo bot behavior and dead giveaway. Also the Turks didn't seem to enjoy it much.

By perusing further, you might notice that the majority of people don't notice that they are conversing with a fucking bot. This is profoundly upsetting shit

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Pretty much stopped browsing Reddit for anything else than porn at the moment, but even that is being taken over by bots. Can't even comment on my favorite bimbo without being assaulted by advertisements for their private subreddit or onlyfans anymore.

Bring back the old /r/gonewild

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (5 children)

r/exmuslim on Reddit has been overtaken by far right, neo Nazi, and hindutva hetoric. Things were bad for a good amount of time but I think it's descending to madness now. Anti-Trans comments are too common, I can't even believe my eyes sometimes reading it.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (8 children)

Remember kids:

everyone in reddit is a bot except you.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

And bots don't buy tickets to movies or laugh at my funny jokes, so that's why I here instead!

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago (5 children)

They should at least try harder on the names if they're going to use a bot. That username is obviously just one of the auto generated ones.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (7 children)
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[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I never thought the AI Uprising would benefeit corproate

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

AI will probably benefit big corporations the most.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

For real. Fuck Reddit. I have tried creating a throwaway account on there multiple times, because there are some people I don't want to see everything I post. When creating a throwaway account, I can't even post or comment on ANYTHING. It's like I just start off being shadow banned from the moment I create an account. I'm tired of Reddit's damn bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

"you must have this much karma before you can interact with this subreddit"

Well how can I get any fucking karma if I can't interact with any subs?!

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