I see bot accounts from username cm0002 on many different instances. At least on the communities I see/moderate, the content is legit, so this is not a complaint, just curiosity.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's someone who doesn't understand how the fediverse works and thinks bot spam is a we should be grateful for.

If you ask one of their ~20 accounts, you may get a copy/paste reply about how it's somehow fighting lemmy.ml

None of it really makes any sense.

But they're obviously not going to stop. So I just block them anytime I see one pop up.

The problem with what they're doing, is the repost bots may post an article, and everyone who blocks spam bots won't see it. If ahuman account posts it, it may be removed because the spam bot made a post no one saw because everyone blocked them already.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

AFAIK it's not a bot. Just a very peculiar individual with a lot of free time.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

bot spam

I will say the same thing I said when I was trashed for running the alien.top bots: it's not spam if the content is relevant to the community and if it's posted at an acceptable rate.

The communities I am seeing get at most one post per day from these bots, and all the links seem to be related. It is far from being called a "spammer", and by adding content to the niche communities they provide a lot more value to the Fediverse than the terminally online who do nothing but complain about the others and/or only post about Trump and politics.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

So I'm gonna ignore that weird insult tangent you went on....

The reason people consider it spam (even if a human clicks a button):

There are "services" that pull every post from somewhere, and either automatically post it, or put it into a queue that a human then decides if they want to hit "post".

When down from places like reddit, that is a problem because it drowns out every post a human saw organically and wanted to share. That is curation, that a live human on the site saw it and wanted to share

An account that posts everything it sees somewhere else, drowns that out and lowers the percentage of posts where genuine engagement will happen.

Especially on a small site, that fractures the user ase between all the threads. And the same amount of people are spread to thin.

When a fediverse account does that to repost stuff already on the fediverse but just a different instance, it's also unnecessarily propagating the server load, but still fracturing the user base.

Instead of a single conversation happening, now there's a dozen threads all of the place with one person feeling like the fediverse is empty.

I can answer more questions if you want, but if you just keep throwing around insults, I'm just going to block

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 2 points 1 week ago

Some people just blindly hate whatever they think communism so much, based on what fascist empires have vomited into their brains for a century, they will fanatically support that same fascism, despite it leaving them jobless, homeless, hungry, and dying from lack of affordable treatment for easily treated illness, without a tooth in their heads, because they can't afford regular dental care. Or if they are surviving, will condem their compatriots and neighboring ststes to that li because, "FU, I got mine!

[–] rglullis@communick.news 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

An account that posts everything it sees somewhere else, drowns that out and lowers the percentage of posts where genuine engagement will happen.

And this is not happening. cm0002 posts are not drowning anything.

Especially on a small site, that fractures the user ase between all the threads.

Not all users care about all the threads. Most users care about finding content that is relevant to their specific interests.

When a fediverse account does that to repost stuff already on the fediverse

Where in the Fediverse is that content? Again, the links I am seeing from cm0002 seem to be (a) relevant to the community and (b) bringing new content.

EDIT: you are right, the bot is pulling content from .ml communities and re-homing them. I wasn't this because my instance is not following that many stuff from .ml and I tend to favor the topic-specific instances. That explains why I wasn't seeing content as "duplicated". Sorry about that.

if you just keep throwing around insults

I honestly had not seen your profile before, and I had to check your history to see what about my comment would be insulting. I'm sorry. I would never guess that my example ended up describing you.

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago

EDIT: you are right, the bot is pulling content from .ml communities and re-homing them.

It has started doing other instances too. Unsure what the new criteria is, but it no longer is ml alone.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 1 week ago

Your example shouldn't describe anyone, and the world and opinions are larger than your carefully curated, insular bubble.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

It still qualifies as spam if the result of posting is to overwhelm and drown out authentic and organic behavior.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree, but I don't think it is what is happening here.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 0 points 1 week ago

no, you are the person I earlier described itt.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

it’s not spam if the content is relevant to the community and if it’s posted at an acceptable rate.

OP already covered that. I've placed the important part in bold for you.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Inauthentic and inorganic posts are always spam, the rate at which the spam is posted is not important.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

How do you know it is the intention in this spacific case?

[–] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.wtf 18 points 1 week ago

No idea but I just block them. Maybe their intentions are well-meaning, maybe not, but I don't want one person having so much say in what I see here.

[–] remon@ani.social 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I'd assume someone that goes by "cm0002". Not sure what you're looking for here ... their real name and address?

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

"I NEED SPIDERMANS IDENTITY! BRING ME SPIDERMAN!!!!"

Sorry. Your comment just made me think of OP as J Jonah Jameson. I think I'm excited because I'm seeing the new spiderman movie in 2 hours.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No, I would be fine with some alt account that would be willing to talk about why and how they are doing the bots.

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I didn't know they were using bots now, but I can probably answer the "why". They are on a crusade against .ml. It has being going on for a long time. Are a lot of the posts you see duplicates of content posted to some .ml community, but not using the actual cross-posting function?

[–] rglullis@communick.news 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ah, indeed! The bot is taking posts from .ml and re-homing them in different instances. So I guess now I understand the argument (but not accepting the conclusion) from @givesomefucks@lemmy.world.

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If they would just cross-post like a normal person I would take much less of an issue with it.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Funnily, I don't like how cross-posts are presented in Lemmy's UI. But I see why straight reposts would be poorly received.

I for one would like to have a "community following community" system, where moderators could subscribe to one community and then let the community actor send a post while keeping the original author. It would basically kill the need of what these bots are doing and it would keep attribution to the original poster.

[–] Quokka@quokk.au 1 points 1 week ago

There is no cross-posting like a normal person. Cross posts are formatted differently from interface to interface and app to app.

Some include a link in the body, others don’t. Nearly all software includes a way to see they’re related posts without needing it.

And if a user is trying to direct users away from an instance, I can’t see why they would want to link back to it.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

yeah so when this person started their stuff I thought they were a bot but after conversing with them a bit I just block em. They are somene with mental issues such that they are bot like in behaviour. It was kinda funny how I encountered them because it was due to them reposting a comic I did and I got sorta sick of it showing up in my feed over mine. The thing is they would only repost mine. I asked them if they would post it every day and thus I would just not need to and they were like. no. only repost.

[–] rimu@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago

There are a few of accounts like this - they're shared with a bot and their human operator. The operator does enough comments to provide a smokescreen for the bot's posts.

It is deceptive.

I have added several features to PieFed as a result of this kind of thing.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Holy crap, I am sorry you have to deal with this.

The more I hear stories like these, the less I believe that social media can ever be a net good to society.

I want to believe that the Fediverse could be a healthy alternative, but damn why is it that this place gets to be so much smaller than the corporate networks and yet feel just as toxic as them?

I started working on the Fediverse because I believed that normies could benefit from social media that is mot controlled by any corporation. Now I am starting to feel like the only winning move is not to play.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

myself and many people make our own experience. just block. think about real life. If someone was mean to you in real life do you regularly converse with them? Do you go to a bar where the bouncer at the door is a jerk to you and won't let you in half the time? Peruse all and just block both for those things or just things you don't care for. I block sports, meme, and communities in a language I don't understand. Blocking is not mean its just a way to filter. People will give bs about being in a bubble but I have a much better chance of finding quality posts im interested in if I get rid of the junk and look at all.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If I try to browse by all it feels even worse, because the frontpage is dominated by the anxieties and neuroses of the zeitgeist. The only solace I am getting is that some of communities in the topic-specific.instances I am running started to get some frequent posters, but to be honest to have 3-5 people participating in a community about e.g, basketball, just feels too little, too late.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

oh one thing and im not sure if its piefed or all the forum type front ends but like there is very little traction in pathfinder and startrekonline. there is a bell icon that you can activate to get notified about all posts. its been around a while but my brain did not take it in. Its massively good for niche things with few posts but you don't want to miss any. The other thing is the wikipedia guy has a thing called trust cafe. its claim to fame is you can rank everything and your feed will populate based on rankings. so basically everything defaults to 50 and you can rank it 0 to 100. people, communities, individual posts. so basically its an algorithm but it uses your choices for the weights. I would be using it but its not federated and I do like the philosophy around no central control. Hope you find what you want out there.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Just report to your admin the spam accounts problem solved (and report to the instance the account is hosted on)

[–] rglullis@communick.news 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am the admin of the instance. I don't think the posting is a problem.

[–] Kirk@startrek.website -3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

It's funny you described that account's behavior as so abhorrent it might cause you to quit the fediverse, but also that you don't have a problem with it.

I think it's crazy to expose yourself to content that makes you upset but to each their own.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You completely edited your comment to remove the offensive part. Ok. I will take that as an apology.

Replying to your new comment: you misunderstood.

I'm not the one being affected by cm0002's behavior. My rant is not "I want to quit because I am feeling bad about their particular actions - this doesn't affect me directly, I can tune it out just fine, I don't attach myself emotionally to anything here. My rant is to simply externalize this realization that social media seems to be a place that self-selects for fucked-up people, so there isn't much of a point in trying to build a "healthier alternative".

[–] rglullis@communick.news 1 points 1 week ago

I said at the original post...

At least on the communities I see/moderate, the content is legit, so this is not a complaint, just curiosity.

Ironically, I reported your comment due to your veiled implication I have mental issues.

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This thread is their main explanation for why they're reposting .ml communities:

https://lemmy.world/post/29072279

[–] cristian64@reddthat.com 2 points 1 week ago

I block this kind of users immediately; often also block the community to favour the one they were trying to diminish instead to keep the fediverse strong.

[–] newton@feddit.online 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I've counted 34 on separate platforms ,som aren't active.

[–] rimu@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

When you add up all the communities those accounts moderate it comes to 200+ communities, far more than anyone else.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why do you think this is a bot?

[–] rglullis@communick.news 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Because the accounts are listed as bots.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’ve seen them reply to comments with what appears to be a human response. Try looking at the comment history on some of those accounts. Maybe they will reply to you? Also I forget, does an @ mention work on Lemmy?

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 1 points 1 week ago

@ does work, you just need to put the full @username@instance.tld

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 1 week ago

If they were properly listed as bots, I shouldn't be able to see them since I have the hide bot account option ticked.