Okay, Bot....

Know Wii dew knot

Hmm, op claiming the bots have taken over sounds exactly what a bot would say to make us think that there are more of them out there than we could imagine. The bots are legion. Nice try op-bot.

I actually think there are generally more malicious users than regulars. But posts like these are the dumbest FUD. But I like to think most of the regulars recognize the real folks around here at this point.

I actually think there are generally more malicious users/bots/etc than regulars

Yeah, the bots are pretty good at making posts and manipulating the voting, but they still suck at commenting on reddit.

But you could be a ... counter-bot!

Yes. And for the past week this sub seems like it has ADD. It's all over the place. It seems to be a mix of advertisement-ish posts, and lamer conspiracies (like sports)

A comment for me today disappeared for the first time. And I think there is some pretty heavy down voting on what seems like worth while posts.

Shills seem to be fairly easy to spot and bots seem to spam r/new.

I have been noticing This past month the_dotards is getting an up tick in bots as well with the same repeated comments. I suspect they are preparing the hive mind for 2018.

Notice account age

Not much younger than mine

Fucking lol

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Judging people and hating them by calling them derogatory names is not cool.

Wow, it's so realistic how they insult your mother when you shitpost on their threads.

Hey, leave my Muh outta dis....😂😂😂

I think there's even an AI creating memes, look at "Angery" meme collection. It's so alien and without a trace of humor, yet they're technically properly made (graphically edited to a high quality). I can't believe anyone is laughing to them, it's just an attempt to see how well an AI would blend into the audience.

I need to look into that

Look at all the butthurt AIs downvoting! Get good silicon shitters!

Haha.

There was a really good post on CIA brainwashing 10 steps which is basically how they structure their posts.

Link?

Seconded

Would a simple word captcha define humans from bots and clean up this place like Mayor Goldie Wilson?

Yes, but that will not happen. It's not about content, it's about perception and driving opinions with groupthink.

So... you're a robot?

I was out cutting firewood...I have not adapted to some humanoid activities...yet.

The hive mindset has always been tribal here. (in my 6 years)

It has, I have been on about that long, had another u/n but had to bail because I was being brigaded by leftist radicals.

Libertarian, here. Right between the hives.

Here's a though. A way to build an impersonation bot is to build a neural net and expose it to the content it should have written via back propagation.

Now you add that nearly 1/3 of comments get deleted on this site by moderators and you are talking about neural nets, you, being exposed to selected content.

The people are the impersonation bots. Better yet, those bots take their programming outside of reddit.

I have yet to have a comment deleted unless I was banned, for rule breaking.

Still, this is becoming less informative and more annoying.

already unsubbed from many - just a matter of time ill stop participating at all.

These reddit clowns are fools killing the golden goose (unless they are externally funded, which I suppose they are.)

You may not know the extent. You may not know your comment was deleted, or that a comment above yours was deleted censoring the entire converstion.

I wish ceddit.com was working. Most people report that it works but I can't get it to run in my browser.

it works for me. My comment critical of Kneel Degrassie was removed within seconds of posting.

I won't be using this, who cares? Reddit has turned to bullshit to maintain its political fortunes.

No. Captcha has been solved for a long time, and it's completely trivial to add captcha-solving functionality to a bot.

4chan has bots so probably not

I believe that there are more "fake" users than real users, but I suspect they rely just as much on traditional sockpuppets and coordinated talking points. The bots are for vote manipulation and automated detection of "unacceptable" comments.

Now the controversial part: I believe the primary group targeting this subreddit is ShareBlue. I've been here for 8 years speaking out about the false left-right paradigm, and my gut is speaking so loudly that I'm willing to choose a side on this.

Nah! I think it's the paid russian trolls and bots, the same ones that run the_dotards

It’s so strange that your account popped up around the same time as the “russian bot” trope started really catching on.

I believe that there are more "fake" users than real users, but I suspect they rely just as much on traditional sockpuppets and coordinated talking points. The bots are for vote manipulation and automated detection of "unacceptable" comments.

Now the controversial part: I believe the primary group targeting this subreddit is ShareBlue.

I think you're absolutely correct on all points.

When people say "muh Russia" is a good example.

I see it all the time, I post a brief and concise opinion. One keyword apparently triggers [what must be a bot] and the response is a boilerplate, for instance:

I say, It is not reasonable or rational to judge someone based on their opinion about X, that does not necessarily mean that Y."

The response, is always something like this:

Lol, so you don't think that X is a bad thing.

I make one effort to explain* and then when I get another robotic reply, I report, block, and move on....

It is more than shills - it's shillbots.

*However, I am going to stop reporting and responding, because all I am doing is feeding the bot for response improvement.

It's possible, but a lot of people are just easily triggered and a nuanced opinion is just lost on them.

It has happened too many times, although I agree that it could explain a few of them...

The similarities, the sophistication, & the progression of negative responses is quite suspect.

You ever post something on a technical or car sub and have a bot post a wikipedia summary?

It happens to me all the time.

If someone made this effort for a sub about curiosities, certainly we would expect powerful organizations and political entities to do the same.

I think that wikipedia thing actually is a bot that is meant to do that. It hasn't happened to me but I've seen it a lot. I think it's meant to give a brief overview of what you're writing about.
But anyway, whether it's bots or people it's already established that there are troll farms. I'm sure these people are provided a script with the important points they are supposed to cover. Bots or lazy shills would just copy and paste.
But fighting them can turn into another whole distraction. If I'm Mr Illuminati or whatever and you're about to expose how I did 9/11 and suddenly you're talking about bots and shills I'm winning. I think the best thing to do is state your case plainly. If you think someone arguing with you is going off track, don't respond to the parts that are irrelevant. If they repeat themselves point it out and move on.
I see a lot of posts about controlling this sub, but really that shouldn't be such a concern. It sucks to have good discussions ruined by bots and shills, but just learn to shine them on.
I have been called a shill. I wish I could get paid to post crazy shit in here. lol See, and someone who is paranoid will use that as evidence against me.
Anyway, my point is that they do exist, but they aren't that important. If you are here to exchange ideas and you find yourself talking to someone that seems to be a parrot, shill, bot, etc, just move on. Usually people only read the first couple of comments in a thread anyway. If you're going ten deep arguing with someone, you're losing even if you "win" the argument. Connect to real people and ignore fakes.

Agree that wiki thing is a bot, and sort of okay with it. It added value to a few posts.

Totally agree that arguing beyond making a succinct point is a waste of time; have gotten into that and some people are so corrupt or thick, there is no point...you might as well be bickering over grammar.

Do you think that the order (top) of posts is intentionally distracting, as I do? More often than not, the discussion goes off the rails over a pun or a side note, which might even be the point of some distractive algorithm.

Thanks a lot.

Do you think that the order (top) of posts is intentionally distracting, as I do? More often than not, the discussion goes off the rails over a pun or a side note, which might even be the point of some distractive algorithm.

I don't know. I do think that lots of times it's hard to complete a conversation because of things going off topic and that probably is a technique that would be used.
They will try to say that they have personal experience so they know what you're saying isn't true, but they say it in a polite way. They want to seem like a reasonable person. They aren't trying to convince you as much as they are people that might read the conversation. So if it's about Monsanto and you make a claim, they don't sound like a Monsanto lawyer and they won't start posting links. They'll just undermine what you're saying in a friendly way. Then if you start posting links to back up what you're saying they will argue a bit and you can see the nice guy act dissolve. And if someone else enters the conversation they will start talking to them instead, and take any opportunity to change the conversation like you say, and talk about anything else.
Because, like with Monsanto, sometimes the information is out there and they really don't want it reposted. It's not that it's hidden but people don't bother to search for it. So if you talk about Monsanto and cause people to think about it, that person's job is to change the subject.
I remember the conversation now. I was saying that genetically modified food could have problems that we don't know about because it hasn't been around long enough for the effects to be known. So the guy says that food has been genetically modified since forever and that it's part of evolution that plants will mix. You know, if you have two kinds of apples and you give it the thousand years or whatever you might wind up with a third kind because they cross-breed. So I said that is not what genetic modification is. Then I started talking about how the plants that they create are made to withstand their herbicides and pesticides. "Well, don't you want it to withstand the herbicides? lol" Yeah, but then the problem is when ALL THE OTHER PLANTS DIE we only have Monsanto, and they won't even let farmers replant the seeds that come from their plants. In effect Monsanto owns the seeds and the plants and the farmer is allowed to sell the crops.
Eventually you can see that what this leads to is one corporation who is in charge of the food supply. And if you notice, if you've ever had an heirloom tomato or if you can remember ever having a garden or knew someone that did, there is a huge difference between food that has been grown through selection based on taste using natural means, by replanting the seeds from the good fruit, and food like you find in most of the supermarket, that is grown based on having a thick skin to withstand loss by machine harvest and that can withstand being packed in trucks and shipped.
Anyway, if you start talking to them about how, if they were allowed to proceed the end result is that within a few generations they would be in charge of the food supply, they don't want to talk about that. And if someone comes into the conversation and makes a joke about what you're saying or offers any chance to talk about something else they definitely do that.
My deal about what your say, this idea about an algorithm is that it's good to have an open mind about things like that. It's very possibly true, and of course the top posts are the ones they would post in. On the other hand always leave a little wiggle room and be slightly skeptical. Robert Anton Wilson called everyone's viewpoint a Belief System, abbreviated BS, and it's healthy to know that we're all susceptible to following our own BS.

Thanks, everything you wrote is right on. These certain groups are certainly infiltrated with bots and corporate/ideology whores.

I had a person tell me the debate was over and then called me a terrible human for not agreeing that his opinion was the only acceptable one.

It doesn't matter the topic, it's always the same with these whores.

BTW, all I said was this: All vaccinations are not safe and/or effective for all people.

They went off

Thanks.

The vaccination one is interesting. I can't really talk about vaccines. I'd just be repeating things I read somewhere. But "anti-vaxxer" is about the worst thing you can call someone. I understand the theory behind vaccines and how people don't get the diseases that used to be common. I can understand why people are pro-vaccination. But I can't really understand the anger against those who disagree. Besides that it seems to come up in the media so much. If I was the slightest bit paranoid... I could think that pushing vaccines and ridiculing anti-vaxxers was part of some kind of, you know, conspiracy.
I mean forget the medical part. I'm just talking about the media. It's really a big deal and "they" are definitely trying to push the idea it's safe and necessary.

This year they picked the wrong strain, but continue to throw out the caveat at the end of the local news casts that the "other" strains are also on the rise.

It's meaningless.

This person decided that I was a part of "The Anti-vaxxing Movement. I reminded him that the greater "movement" is MSM Government agencies, Medical-community and big Pharma all pushing vaccination. I am not telling anyone not to get vaccinated it they want to. I am telling them I am not going to have some one tell me I must.

I don't recall a response.

Yes, grouping people together and labeling them is not cool, say the far left (racism, sexism, LGTBQ) and yet there are numerous examples of this very thing going on and if you make a reasonable argument against it - you're branded a devil.

Some of these people are truly mentally ill - or stupid - or whores for the status quo.

The next time you find a specific example, could you send it my way? While spambots are easy to recognize, any "conversation bots" out there have slipped under my radar.

I will make a note of doing that. Thanks.

Here's a few I suspect - who knows, some older ones are even more like bait...

Lol you don’t think a leader’s character is important? Trump is trash.

Oprah is just Obama in a female costume

The number of pro vaccination "conspiracy theorists" around here is very telling lol.

There are definitely people who are paid to argue pro-Monsanto. I haven't posted against Monsanto here but I have on Facebook.
And I believe there are people who are paid to post that Bill Cosby is not a rapist and Woody Allen did not molest his daughter. If you have enough money and want to influence public opinion you can definitely hire people to do this.
But I think they come on as very reasonable people, use good grammar, and know how to spell. If someone can barely write and starts talking about your mother I don't think it's a bot. It's someone who probably really believes what they are saying.

Well this probably isn't true. I could possibly see more bots voting, but not commenting

Is one of the AIs located on that airforce base with the high level of reddit traffic?

www.washingtonsblog.com%2F2014%2F07%2Feglin-air-force-base-busted-gaming-reddit.html

I think it is more complicated. Not saying there aren't a lot of bots and operatives. There are enough and they easily manipulate votes with anonymous accounts.

But the best way to do it, would be to go another sub, create an echo chamber, hype them up, and then set them lose. People are easily herded and then your ops can just seed links and and ride herd to make sure everything stays on message.

It's a trap! Particular keywords, sensitive links, I like the way you think

Hi. I am not a not. I am please to meet you.

The repeaters, Novelty is in short supply.

I don't doubt it. There was around 10+ posts about the exact same topic in a single day.

Hi all. Long time /r/conspiracy lurker, but first-time poster. Please be gentle with my ass... ;-)

I don’t think that most posters here are Bots. Sheep, noobs, and hangers on (as well as the required amount of governmental operatives?) Yes. Bots? No.

My reasoning is that as follows: why sends out Bots, when regular people are seriously clueless on most of the topics that are discussed here? Plus, the Microsoft Twitterbot Tay is a good reminder of how Bots break when interacting with content outside the range of their programming.

So, in conclusion, if I’m wrong, and there are Bots, let’s keep sharing the truth and blow their circuits! ;-) <evil grin>

I love the idea that someone, somewhere, has created a more-or-less consistently convincing program that can pass the Turing Test on most occasions, and can engage in complex argument, and has chosen to let it loose among a bunch of constantly-squabbling conspiracy theorists on Reddit.

Rather than, you know, using it to do something purposeful and important that might have some kind of actual payoff as a result.

Personally, I suspect that the people who constantly propose that the place is overrun with 'bots are themselves paid disruption agents, who are perpetually stirring up mutual suspicion and fomenting division and conflict by encouraging as many r/conspiracy users as possible to regard their ideological opponents as 'inhuman'.

Well, that's not an entirely serious statement. But even if they aren't doing it deliberately, that's exactly what this sort of proposition achieves anyway.

They're definitely out there

That said, I don't think they out number real users. I think this sub has taken a sharp turn towards partisan politics over the last few years, and a combination of people thinking anyone who subscribes to a different brand of partisanship is often viewed as a bot/shill.

Also, there are a wide variety of conspiracies out there. Some people will accuse you of being a shill just because you don't believe in their preferred conspiracies. I hit this litmus test where some people accuse you of being a shill just because you think the whole chemtrails conspiracy is based on a misunderstanding of physics, or that you point out that somebody's "free energy" device isn't free energy, it's a battery based on a chemical reaction.

WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HERE HUMAN.

01000111 01101111 00100000 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 01100101 01101100 01100110 00101100 00100000 01001111 01010000

Binary translated: Go fuck yourself, OP

Ah come on I don't want another ban

K. Editing...

Skynet, is that you?

i thought it was because redditors like to parrot one another & rehash ancient jokes for karma

Nice try bot

First shills... Now bots... Reddit A.I is next.. batten down the hatches and bust out the foil hats.. there here∆¥¶℃π£

There aren't bots. The idea that there are bots is a psyop to get you to accept massive amounts of censorship.

Notice account age

Judging people and hating them by calling them derogatory names is not cool.

I was out cutting firewood...I have not adapted to some humanoid activities...yet.

You may not know the extent. You may not know your comment was deleted, or that a comment above yours was deleted censoring the entire converstion.

I wish ceddit.com was working. Most people report that it works but I can't get it to run in my browser.