Blatant bot account spotted

7  2018-02-01 by thrownaway1p270j

Idk if this is against the rules or not. If it is, I'm sorry. But I'm pretty sure I found a legit bot account today that copy/pastes other people's comments. It could just be for karma.. who knows. But I wanted to show it to everyone and get their opinions on it because it's pretty interesting. It posts all over the place.

It basically all started in a comment I posted: Not a bad idea actually. Regardless of where you ...

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/7ujv1c/pelosi_sends_letter_to_speaker_ryan_calling_for/dtkssce?utm_source=reddit-android

Edit 2: Finding more accounts as I search for copied comm...

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheseFuckingAccounts/comments/7u4j30/malfunction_in_renoughtrumpspam_when_3_accounts/dthira1?utm_source=reddit-android

27 comments

1  Balthanos 2018-02-01

Removed. Rule 11.

1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

SS: found a bot. i wanted to see what others thought about it and if they can dissect anything from it. I thought it was interesting how it just posted varying political opinions and stances. What could it be used for?

1  WarSanchez 2018-02-01

These type of accounts have been caught here before. Usually they were copying T_D posters. Now it seems they switched? Weird. Good catch.

1  TypeCorrectGetBanned 2018-02-01

Do you really think there is one 'side' using bots at a given time?

They are everywhere, all the time, arguing for every single interest that pays for them.

1  WarSanchez 2018-02-01

I was talking about the specific bots that copy pasted comments.

After I had pointed one out, those accounts copied my comments till some were banned sitewide.

I know not one side has a monopoly, I was just stating the usual M.O. of these bots.

1  SpinPHD480 2018-02-01

To me it looks like they are bots copying and pasting posts from other legitimate users, looking to farm karma. There doesn't appear to be any political reason, since they did it in subs on both sides.

1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

Somebody suggested that maybe this bot is in an "early phase" where it's just collecting karma so it can be activated later. I thought that was very interesting.

Man. You see bot and shill accusations all the time. When you actually see one face to face in real life and in real time. Wow. I always thought the bot thing was kinda over-hyped. Over blown.... I had never seen just how sophisticated they can be.

Im not tech savvy, so pardon my ignorance. But had the other user never brought it up and had it not been my own fucking comment, I would have upvoted this bot and been like, no way it's a bot. Seems like a rational enough comment.

I always assumed bots were the flamers. They intentionally made super ridiculous, trollish comments. This one seems like just an ordinary person with a mildly controversial comment.

But if you look at the other comments it copy/pasted, they're even more innocuous.

1  SpinPHD480 2018-02-01

Yeah I'm blown away by the sophistication. Especially the ones that can make it seem like they are having a full on conversation. I've mostly seen that on twitter.

Whatever the intention is, financial or political, it's good to see them called out.

I wish there was a "good bot" out there that would just reply to every post of a known bot like this, and let people know.

1  -covfefe 2018-02-01

It's just someone who copied a comment.

Bots don't argue.

1  TypeCorrectGetBanned 2018-02-01

Of course they do. That is nonsense.

1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

If you look closely at its submissions, you'll notice it doesn't argue. It doesn't reply back. It just keeps on posting.

You would think that, by now, a user simply copy/pasting would have fired back. But it's still active and chugging along, ignoring the people hounding it

1  -covfefe 2018-02-01

I thought you were the accused bot.

1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

Another user accused me of it. I thought it was him trying to set me up for a ban.

It's the u/socalhayd account. Somebody linked it to a second account too. Shit goes deep

1  heresmything 2018-02-01

You’d think thousands of bots would be spotted everyday the way the dems and media hype it up.

1  SpinPHD480 2018-02-01

You don't think bots exist in order to farm karma, so they can turn around and resell those accounts to people.

I know bot discussion is sensitive topic for some that look at everything through partisan lenses all the time, but what OP is showing here isn't a partisan reasons for bots. It's financial most likely, and should be called out

1  heresmything 2018-02-01

I deal with evidence, not speculation. It’s not about whether I think they exist or not. Anything is possible.

1  heresmything 2018-02-01

Bots downvoted me.

1  f_k_a_g_n 2018-02-01

/r/TheseFuckingAccounts

Specifically: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheseFuckingAccounts/comments/7u4j30/malfunction_in_renoughtrumpspam_when_3_accounts/dthira1/

There's been a surge in this kind of bot lately.

Karma farmers usually only do a few posts a day on each account. I suspect this is one person trying out their bot script.

I think this was their first attempt: u/karadzic95 (shadow banned)

Posted 500 comments a day https://imgur.com/a/4eHdp

1  AutoModerator 2018-02-01

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1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

Thank you for this post.

1  kittypryde123 2018-02-01

Here's the full list I've found so far. There may be more. I was kind of sloppily looking through recent histories for each using redditsearch.io

I really want documentation of the related subs they are posting to and from and how well the copied comments do. I think it will, at least, show how closely the subs are in attitudes.

cairadacb
Digonne
laisvintio6
redditaginfo
sesenagnams
socalhayd
bricolatsbf
Nozygyllan
bestngst
newsNotice
Mobiohor

Happy hunting!

1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

Thank you!

Of interest. Idk if they're both bots or if one is authentic and socalhayd copied it too. But maybe another lead

Not only did /u/griewsrhireapj and /u/socalhayd p...

https://www.reddit.com/r/esist/comments/7uk713/chiefs_of_three_russian_intelligence_agencies/dtkzafo?utm_source=reddit-android

1  AutoModerator 2018-02-01

While not required, you are requested to use the NP (No Participation) domain of reddit when crossposting. This helps to protect both your account, and the accounts of other users, from administrative shadowbans. The NP domain can be accessed by replacing the "www" in your reddit link with "np".

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1  kittypryde123 2018-02-01

/u/griewsrhireapj

I think you're right! https://imgur.com/a/iwm5g

1  mentionbeinglawyer 2018-02-01

It's pretty clearly a person copying links sometime. The dude responds to someone else calling him a bot in that link.

1  bogpiII 2018-02-01

How do you know it's a bot and not a person?

1  thrownaway1p270j 2018-02-01

I can't be sure. But I and some other users have collected a list of users engaging in the same exact behavior of copy/pasting comments all over Reddit. The list can be found in the text of this post, as well as in comments here.

Unusual behavior suggests these accounts are bots. For one, this post and previous posts stirred up an army of people who have dug deeper into the users profile and replied to its other comments, asking why it's botting and outright accusing them of being bots.

Not once have any of the accounts replied. It seems like they're only programmed to post, not reply. No matter how antagonizing other users can be to it. Not once have the accounts even whispered a response. It's as if they're not there at all. Nevertheless, we can all see they're active and continuing to post copy/pasted comments around various subreddits.

This is highly unusualy behavior. We can never be 100% sure they're bots. But it's a reasonable conclusion given the facts. I encourage you to investigate more yourself and see.

1  no_your_uh_shill 2018-02-01

No your uh shill

1  SpinPHD480 2018-02-01

Yeah I'm blown away by the sophistication. Especially the ones that can make it seem like they are having a full on conversation. I've mostly seen that on twitter.

Whatever the intention is, financial or political, it's good to see them called out.

I wish there was a "good bot" out there that would just reply to every post of a known bot like this, and let people know.