I was wondering this yesterday when I saw 15 messages in my inbox with only quotes off what I said. I thought it was a sub bot, but in an earlier post yesterday night asking the same question, someone claimed they got a message from a topic that was another sub reddit. I'm really concerned because all of the quotes that I was quoted on was from a thread I started calling for all of /r/conspiricy to organize and "take this bitch back by force" (after they masses the streets)
actually, I'm a little bit more than concerned I'm downright afraid
I wrote the bot and no don't worry. Conspirobot isn't messaging you, it's another bot called MentionBot which has nothing to do with me. All I'm doing is building a statistical web for identifying shills. I think there's something to the theory of paid shills on reddit and I'm just compiling information to validate the hypothesis.
woah i was staring at that in my inbox...i didnt know what it was so i clicked all three options and went to the link of the website..where i had no idea what anything meant.
also..keep up the good work i would love to identify the shills so i can see their arguments in defense of such and such things so i know to believe the opposite of what they are saying(if this made any sense whatsoever) and see for a fact that they do exist.. :D cool stuff
It's all public information. Look, if I can build the bot alone in about 8 hours of actual work, anybody else with even the slightest knowledge of programming can do it as well. Image what the government can do. This is just a small tool to fight fire with fire. =)
Hey guys, I wrote the bot. I'm trying to figure out what happened. But, I don't think it's conspirobot that's sending you guys messages spamming you. A few days ago someone, or the reddit admins, created a bot called MentionBot, it seems to look for anymention of your "/u/username" link on reddit and lets you know where that comment is.
Apparently it's some sort of new feature. I removed the "/u/username" from conspiro comments and you should no longer be seeing these spam messages from MentionBot.
If the problem persists let me know because there maybe some bug I'm not aware of.
Detect shills and trolls. It's doing a wonderful job. I just haven't been in town to update the bot and have it include new information in it's posts. I'll get around to it when I clear some of my work load.
Yeah, I was worried conspirobot had gone crazy and was spamming people. That's the worst thing ever. I actually published a paper years ago on spam. I literally spent a year or more tracking and fighting spammers. It would have been quite ironic if I ended up spamming people myself, even if inadvertently.
It's nothing secret. It's just analyzing everyone's comments and computing their "discourse" level and "shill" level. People with aggressive communication are logged and their aggressive communications count against the discourse level of a post. The shill level detects the number of posts by "shills/trolls" on a given post based on some secret sauce.
I recommend you check out posts in /r/conspiro, once their updated, and take a look at the two indicators being computed. You will spot trends in exactly which, when, and what posts spark the interest of shill/derailers and conspiritards/trolls. I think it's an amazing tool. Not so user friendly, yet, but it will get better once I have the time.
We have no reasonable expectation of privacy, when posting on reddit or other social media. This is a public space, therefore everyone should know that his comments are surely being monitored by keyword driven programs and put into a profile for everyone.
Once they track your alter ego to your real identity, the profile is being updated.
This will end in the governments preventative detention, if they catch you speaking freely against them, therefore I am against any kind of monitoring because it prevents people from free expression.
Could a corporate/government shill bot be made? Something that could track user locations and notify whenever a post is made from a known corporate or government facility.
I commented on a post that talked about pro-Monsanto shills and my comment got a score of -15. Then the bot messaged me. Maybe it's a bot that tracks users who have their comments heavily downvoted to identify them as potential shills?
I wrote the bot and no don't worry. Conspirobot isn't messaging you, it's another bot called MentionBot which has nothing to do with me. All I'm doing is building a statistical web for identifying shills. I think there's something to the theory of paid shills on reddit and I'm just compiling information to validate the hypothesis.
37 comments
12 Zenof 2013-06-04
I was wondering this yesterday when I saw 15 messages in my inbox with only quotes off what I said. I thought it was a sub bot, but in an earlier post yesterday night asking the same question, someone claimed they got a message from a topic that was another sub reddit. I'm really concerned because all of the quotes that I was quoted on was from a thread I started calling for all of /r/conspiricy to organize and "take this bitch back by force" (after they masses the streets)
actually, I'm a little bit more than concerned I'm downright afraid
5 [deleted] 2013-06-04
Maybe someone is trying to save money. If this bot does what I think it does, we will be infiltrated by machines rather than paid shills.
Non the less. As I understand it correctly, it collects just data at the moment, which it is maybe going to use at some point, to appear human.
Or it is just a bad joke.
3 Zenof 2013-06-04
Who owns it and will they erase logs from it?
4 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
I wrote the bot and no don't worry. Conspirobot isn't messaging you, it's another bot called MentionBot which has nothing to do with me. All I'm doing is building a statistical web for identifying shills. I think there's something to the theory of paid shills on reddit and I'm just compiling information to validate the hypothesis.
2 totaluser 2013-06-04
woah i was staring at that in my inbox...i didnt know what it was so i clicked all three options and went to the link of the website..where i had no idea what anything meant.
1 totaluser 2013-06-04
also..keep up the good work i would love to identify the shills so i can see their arguments in defense of such and such things so i know to believe the opposite of what they are saying(if this made any sense whatsoever) and see for a fact that they do exist.. :D cool stuff
1 Zenof 2013-06-04
ok. Just make sure info it captures doesn't fall into the wrong hands...
1 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
It's all public information. Look, if I can build the bot alone in about 8 hours of actual work, anybody else with even the slightest knowledge of programming can do it as well. Image what the government can do. This is just a small tool to fight fire with fire. =)
1 [deleted] 2013-06-04
[deleted]
1 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
Why would we get shutdown?
1 Zenof 2013-06-04
forgot to delete that comment.
1 ronintetsuro 2013-06-04
Remember when the government got caught paying a third party contractor to forum slide Americans all over the net?
HB Gary remembers.
2 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
Very very true.
10 bumblingmumbling 2013-06-04
Big Brother. A pain in the ass that fills up your inbox.
6 Zenof 2013-06-04
Who owns the bot? Can we find out?
4 bumblingmumbling 2013-06-04
I don't know. We will have to wait and see who or what group makes use of it. I just blocked it.
4 streetyouth 2013-06-04
how do i do this
3 bumblingmumbling 2013-06-04
Hit the block user tab when it shows up in your inbox.
permalink report block user mark unread reply
2 Zenof 2013-06-04
ooo good idea
2 xenoglossus 2013-06-04
The user who owns the bot also is a moderator of /r/conspiro. I think his name is funimanisee or something like that.
1 Zenof 2013-06-04
correct but funnymanisi
7 antyone 2013-06-04
forbidden (reddit.com)
you are not allowed to do that
can someone explain or show in a screenshot what is going on?
3 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
Hey guys, I wrote the bot. I'm trying to figure out what happened. But, I don't think it's conspirobot that's sending you guys messages spamming you. A few days ago someone, or the reddit admins, created a bot called MentionBot, it seems to look for anymention of your "/u/username" link on reddit and lets you know where that comment is.
Apparently it's some sort of new feature. I removed the "/u/username" from conspiro comments and you should no longer be seeing these spam messages from MentionBot.
If the problem persists let me know because there maybe some bug I'm not aware of.
2 gatsbyofgreatness 2013-06-04
Why does your sub arcieve everything posted here?
At first I thought you were doing this as an proactive attempt at thwarting censorship, but over the past few days I have gotten a bit worried.
Before I go full out and try to make the mods ban the bot I just want to know why you made the thing.
1 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
Detect shills and trolls. It's doing a wonderful job. I just haven't been in town to update the bot and have it include new information in it's posts. I'll get around to it when I clear some of my work load.
Vacations sometimes aren't worth it. =(
1 gatsbyofgreatness 2013-06-04
Shit, I should have remembered that from the "discourse level" thing you had going.
I'm actually down to help out if you need any extra eyes, I'd love to work on refining the discourse level algorithm.
I think you took a lot of shit because the admins green lighted mention bot yesterday before doing some bug fixes.
Currently on vacation as well, I wish I could free my mind from the sinkhole that is reddit haha.
1 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
Yeah, I was worried conspirobot had gone crazy and was spamming people. That's the worst thing ever. I actually published a paper years ago on spam. I literally spent a year or more tracking and fighting spammers. It would have been quite ironic if I ended up spamming people myself, even if inadvertently.
2 [deleted] 2013-06-04
What is the purpose of copying all of our comments?
0 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
It's nothing secret. It's just analyzing everyone's comments and computing their "discourse" level and "shill" level. People with aggressive communication are logged and their aggressive communications count against the discourse level of a post. The shill level detects the number of posts by "shills/trolls" on a given post based on some secret sauce.
I recommend you check out posts in /r/conspiro, once their updated, and take a look at the two indicators being computed. You will spot trends in exactly which, when, and what posts spark the interest of shill/derailers and conspiritards/trolls. I think it's an amazing tool. Not so user friendly, yet, but it will get better once I have the time.
2 h8sgonah8 2013-06-04
Thank you for asking, I was afraid from fear of being ridiculed.
This is what I found but I don't Understand the Technical part of it.
http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1fm2ti/what_is_the_point_of_conspirobot_it_appears_to_be/
4 [deleted] 2013-06-04
To be honest.
We have no reasonable expectation of privacy, when posting on reddit or other social media. This is a public space, therefore everyone should know that his comments are surely being monitored by keyword driven programs and put into a profile for everyone.
Once they track your alter ego to your real identity, the profile is being updated.
This will end in the governments preventative detention, if they catch you speaking freely against them, therefore I am against any kind of monitoring because it prevents people from free expression.
2 onlysaneman_ 2013-06-04
Skynet.
1 BLA5PHEMY 2013-06-04
Could a corporate/government shill bot be made? Something that could track user locations and notify whenever a post is made from a known corporate or government facility.
1 remove_bagel 2013-06-04
I'll bet that software and others like it exists
0 [deleted] 2013-06-04
[deleted]
6 [deleted] 2013-06-04
[deleted]
3 HillZone 2013-06-04
Also they're nowhere near that efficient to replace human labor with a bot. Gotta keep dem jerbz.
0 YouthInRevolt 2013-06-04
I commented on a post that talked about pro-Monsanto shills and my comment got a score of -15. Then the bot messaged me. Maybe it's a bot that tracks users who have their comments heavily downvoted to identify them as potential shills?
2 [deleted] 2013-06-04
Coincidentally I first was tracked, after I made a comment about Monsanto.
http://www.reddit.com/message/messages/vzk77
1 moparornocar 2013-06-04
Eh, I have had some upvoted comments also cross posted by the bot. I didn't notice it as only downvoted comments.
4 funnymanisi 2013-06-04
I wrote the bot and no don't worry. Conspirobot isn't messaging you, it's another bot called MentionBot which has nothing to do with me. All I'm doing is building a statistical web for identifying shills. I think there's something to the theory of paid shills on reddit and I'm just compiling information to validate the hypothesis.