this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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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.
Comment length. Their comments are always less than two lines long.
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."
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.
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.
Also punctuation and usage of commas, apostrophes etc. Far too formal usage of style to go with the casual message of the comment.
You used commas, capitalization, and periods here. Therefore you are a bot exposing yourself!
I don’t usually drop punctuation unless I’m on text message or Discord. Still used to that Reddit norm and sticking to the norm of using regular punctuation isn’t one I take issue with, especially on a site based around reading other peoples’ comments and writing responses.
To be fair, a lot of people also use proper spelling and punctuation.
This just gives away they're not a human from the hood.
All of hexbear is bots, confirmed.
Emoticons ≠ emojis.
I dunno that's a conspiracy that feels like it might be true. One guy and his communist bots.
At least you know they are thinking as one that way.
This is dystopian
Yeah they always sound like the overenthusiastic 45y/o HR lady.
Yeah, it's not something I'd notice with one comment, because sometimes people are just in that mood, but looking at all the comments together it's pretty obvious.
Is there a way to prevent them from flooding the fediverse, or will that fall onto the shoulders of mods to find and delete them?
No clue.
They can defederate from hexbear. But that's up to each instance individually.
Hopefully we're just never big enough to matter.
Hey btw, the vocabulary used is often spontaneous - something a human on the internet never really uses
As for point #3...a lot of people on reddit have poor reading comprehension.
Okay, or maybe they're bots, but FFS, how do you tell the difference? A lot of people have short attention spans. (See the prevalence of TLDR.) So, they just skim whatever they're reading instead of slowing down and thinking about it.
Someone missing context doesn't make them a bot. To be a part of this particular bot network, all 4 points will be present.
what is a TEMU subreddit?
A subreddit about TEMU.
Wow, alright. Today I learned my neurodivergent ways of communicating online make me sound like a bot. On one hand, booo. On the other, well I did always want to become a robot-human hybrid so... win?
Nah, I scrolled through your recent comments and you're fine. The description above is sort of close, but not quite -- it's more like every comment is syrupy sweet aggressively cheerful and unnaturally pleased about everything. Lots of overly familiar terms of endearment (friend, buddy, fellow Redditor, etc.). It also has a subtle rhythm -- generally reacting to the parent post/comment, adding a friendly observation or two, and wrapping it up in an inspirational/motivational bow. Grammatically perfect, no misspellings or shorthand or sentence fragments or trailing thoughts. Zero negativity. Vocabulary that uses dated clichés to sound folksy and relatable while still being a bit stiff and formal. "Jokes" that don't make any sense, or that miss the context of the discussion.
Like, here are three ChatGPT responses to your comment when given the prompt "write a friendly reply to this Reddit comment" (which I suspect is similar to the prompt these spammers use):
There's nothing technically wrong with these lines, but no real person who isn't a corporate social media PR manager actually talks like this.
Hahaha I had to try this to the same comment you did with the prompt "(write a offended reply to this reddit comment) "Are you seriously comparing being neurodivergent to sounding like a bot? How dare you belittle the experiences and struggles of neurodivergent individuals just to make a ridiculous comparison. Your comment reeks of insensitivity and ignorance. Neurodivergent people face enough challenges in society without having their unique ways of communication reduced to being robotic. It's truly disappointing to see such a disrespectful attitude."
That is spot fucking on Reddit
Right, but there's a lot of people who don't (or won't) think that in depth into it. Going by the gist of it, I often fit the criteria for all four: comment length, tone, context and history. Especially with the 'ending your text with an emoji thing' lol. I dunno I guess I'm just seeing a lot of frustration in my future of strangers defaulting into thinking I'm not real. I've got some childhood trauma with feeling like I don't exist and I really don't need more of that soooo... THANKS BOTS. 👍