bots are becoming a bigger thing on this platform now. not as bad as twitter, but it’s a shame that no matter what, we’re forced into experiencing the internet technological rot that infests online spaces now
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The only thing is, it took me quite a while to figure out how to make a post. This is from 2 months ago. I was here before the election and the great stampede.
However, you fulfill the markers of humanity! A bio, an avatar image, original posts or reposts with comments - and it's all interesting, awake and full of energy! You get a follow.
That about sums it up. Bots, trolls, crypto, sex. It’s all here and they’re pretty easy to filter out. I had to block close to 75 of my followers that were crypto punks etc
I don't have my photo or real name for a reason. I had a major amount of problems on Facebook. I was never on Twitter. I think bots are on Facebook, too.
Before I came to Bluesky, I had never before seen sexbots posting Bible quotes in the same breath that they peddle their wares, but I’ve encountered four of them just today. I hate deception in general with a passion, but deception like THIS has me seeing nuclear.
I've had +1000 accounts follow mine since the US election. I resent the chore of vetting them, so I'm procrastinating doing it. I liked it better here when it was by invite only.
Not everyone cares about having a lot of followers.
I block any followers (it's the only way currently to remove them as a follower) who are bots or whose content I have no interest in.
I don't give a damn if anyone follows me or not.
I'm here for content & information, not some laughable hey I have a lot of followers ego stroke.
I don't give a flying fuck if someone blocks me.
Oh no! I have very little to post originally because, well, my life isn't very interesting. But I have a lot of reposts because others have either a post-worthy life or good posts that I share. Also, I never used the blue bird or the x so am rather new to the workings.
It's worse than X. If I get 10 requests to follow back, at least 6 will be bots. It was never that bad on the other platform. Funny get me wrong, I love it here but the bot problem is out of hand.
I have noticed many single or widowed men follow me and when I follow back I get an instant dm saying "Hi, how are you?" I see them as a prelude to a scam. Even when you go to follow back, they have no posts so you can't make an informed decision.
Fair enough, but you don't *need* to follow people just because they follow you, but you can just as easily block them once they dm you something rude so it's up to you ofc
You may be surprised that it doesn't take a lot of time to build upon followers here. I have been averaging 1,000 followers a week in the short time I've been here. Bluesky friendlies are supportive, engaged and follow back.
beyond what hank and that commenter said i see something else that‘s worrying here
the bots also technically profit from people proactively blocking dissenters out of a fear those COULD be bots, basically trying to push people into overblocking and shutting themselves off from others completely
That's definitely a possibility but I'm optimistic that the opposite will happen. That people will become more media literate and evolve (the way people become immune to advertising efforts and force the ad industry to change.) Already countries are starting to implement media literacy in schools.
i really hope so too, but then sometimes on my way to uni i‘ll see someone on the bus discussing the most shallow, obvious ai-generated bullshit they fell for and my hope starts waning for a little, so my optimism in that regard is… cautious ^^;
There will always be exceptions and governments who will want a simple minded and controllable population. Being educated is a form of dissent, we must strive to push forward and when we see stuff like that - sometimes the most effective tool is to call it out (if possible)
I see 2 options when I click report--one to Bluesky and one to a moderator group. If someone is impersonating a real person, I report to Bluesky, but who should I report to if I think they are a bot or obvious scammer?
So true. Daily, I get either porn bots or dick pics. I consider all of this a form of sexual assault.true it's not as bad as Twitter but it's getting closer everyday
The fact that the bots are here, tells me that Bluesky is working. The day I got follows from like 12 different friendly women just looking for a friend, I knew Bluesky was here to stay.
You just described the Mission Statement of the entire MAGAt Republican Party, profit off of people suffering. Of course scumbag grifters would follow best practices.
i’ve gotten a bunch of them too unfortunately =/ it’s odd that no one talks about it but it’s a thing bc it’s like trillions of accounts if you try to support someone’s gfm
Bots were going to exist as soon as they released their API. And bots don't necessarily mean bad. Sadly that's how it tends to play out though. For every one Big Ben bot there's 50 propaganda accounts spewing vitriol.
I don't mind the simple automation like "bodega cats" and "fuck everything" but I do mind the ones that pretend to be humans
I want to _know_ that it's a bot and if it is a bot then I want to _know_ its intent. And I want a bluesky blocklist that I can add to easily block them all 😇
I had a bot try to dox me. They were making fun of me for identifying as a cat. Then they told me that I'm not a real woman because I'm trans. I was so traumatized I had to take a double dose of Xanax
The mods have been really good at getting rid of these accounts, so the list is down to one right now, but if you send me any that you come across, I will keep adding them.
Hate to tell you this, but back in the early 90s and before, even, we had flame wars and all kinds of crap to deal with, and automation wasn't like it is now.
And thinking about, shouldn't this be something social media companies should prioritize on their platforms, eliminating bots and trolls and people that are not real or trying to rig their algorithms ?
Elon promised to solve this when he bought Twitter ...
Unfortunately, the same algorithm on Facebook that is responsible for prioritizing information it knows to be controversial or upsetting is heavily used by the bots and trolls. It made Zuckerberg richer, so I doubt we'll see real efforts to ban them on other platforms.
Ya good point. Don't have a solution yet for that. Need to find a way to handle this situation. Let's think about it ... AI Language sentiment analysis ? Any ideas folks ?
In Norway we are now getting a social network, Hudd, were you can only have one account and it is linked to your payment profile (Vipps) and uses the name from the vipps profile.
seems like a good time to minimize use of it! and use encrypted everything, increase password security and check all your accounts and presence and shut down and close as much as you can. Been meaning to do it for a long time but feels a teeny bit more urgent these days 🤷♂️
To go back to the weeding analogy--keep pulling them out when you see them before they have a chance to take root and get embedded in networks of real users.
I do agree with you though it’s definitely better to block. Though sometimes I let them really build up a suspension level of posts before blocking them and getting them suspended
I'm getting more of those OF women liking and following me than I did on Twixxter. I'm blocking them all but I wish BS could find a way to prevent them from even starting an account.
My profile says I enjoy Broadway. Someone I recently followed sent me a DM and asked if Broadway still has shows! Has to be a bot, since no human could be that ignorant.
It's not stupidity to not have interest in something, although it's pretty stupid to feel contempt for people who don't care about the things you care about just because they don't.
When there's a will - there's means. Bots are apparently very difficult to swat down. Easiest way is to investigate what topics they flock to. Then do a wide sweep with the mosquitoe catcher. 🛑
The bots will be moved to wherever their creators think they can have the most influence. Or create the most damage. The best we can hope for in the short term is a transparent curtain.
Have you (or any of y'all!) gotten the beefy tattooed white dudes with empty/mostly empty profiles? They creep me out because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what they're gonna try to sell. I'm obviously not in the market for protein powder!
Probably romance scammers. They try and establish an online romance with you and then start asking for money. They steal photos of men (and women) they think are attractive. Never send money or gift cards to anyone you have never met.
Those are all tell-tale signs. On X I always looked to see when they joined and what, if any, posts they had. Many of the offenders aren't bots and trolls though. Lots are just MAGA types. I
Same here, and when I do a follow back and they DM me, I literally want to yank my hair out. I have in my bio, no DMs unless people know me, and these people DO NOT know me.
Same! I’d have 2-3x’s as many followers, but i don’t care about followers. If they are trying to read my sign/horoscope, financial stuff, or no posts/replies but have followers, you’re getting blocked. I report frequently as well.
This is where those moderation lists come in. Share the bot list with others. Subscribe to the list to block them all. Point out which accounts are bots.
A communal effort can easily keep up with new bot accounts and greatly reduce their reach.
FYI, when you look at someone's replies and the person they replied to has blocked them, it still shows the reply and that they were blocked--nice shortcut to find trolls and bots that someone else has already identified.
True. At least on X they get community noted so you can wade a little easier through the misinformation. X is also starting to check to see if people are bots and making them not appear so easily until they're sure.
Amen. And with more intuitive technology, the bots are seeming more human. Well at least more MAGA human. So, we still can block them due to obvious incorrect info. ;)
-No financial incentive to just post whatever (well unless Elon's paying them but not like what's on Twitter)
-Blocking works! And is super nuclear so you don't have to see them and they won't be able to see you. They apparently even disappear from your posts entirely
Eventually someone will. I can see an AI model being trained on the data from suspended bot accounts, and using that AI to identify the baddie-bots much more rapidly...
A reminder that folks who are leaving "X" (Twitter) are doing so not because they were not permitted to express their opinion, but because YOU are permitted to express yours.
this one covers a fair few of those, although it's worth checking through replies by hand - sometimes trans people get brigade-added so they get caught by auto blocks
As someone in tech, I know for a fact that there are really cool and useful things that people can do with bots, but it’s disappointing when they are just there for spam/scams. I did see one the other day that can generate alt-text for images though
There are many different types of bots. Ones that provide some kind of service (i.e. the one mentioned above that provides posts with Alt-text for low vision users), but there are other uses for automation of repetitive tasks or just entertainment. There are certainly malicious uses
But it’s up to the developers and users to use them responsibly. It’s just unfortunate that they are so regularly abused (mostly because people will pay for it)
Yeah, it's more troubling than propaganda. It's like bots are being friendly so we won't suspect them. When I read those replies the hair stands up on the back of my neck. Uncanny valley stuff.
This is the internet research agency.
It is situated in russia.
This is where the trolls are from.
There are many troll-factory like this and they need to be shut down.
It starts by exposing and naming them.
They are waging hybrid warfare upon the world.
Yes we must fight! We must fight the bots, the patriarchy, the Nazis, the racists, and all those people who use verbal violence against people who they don't agree with. Great! Now I'm upset again. I'll just get a kombucha enema to calm down
It paves the way for political figures and power brokers.
So nothing will change without manner being applied. The Musk rat said it himself that once AI is let out of the box it’s impossible to put back.
I saw a show that said people aren't going to know what to do with AI because it will happen so fast, and it's like nothing we've seen. I believe it. It was like a 60-minute program.
I just got called a political bot for answering my very first politics post since i came here! Are ya sure those you think are bots are really bots? I sure as hell am not that i can claim! 😀
I’ve kinda noticed that EVERYTHING that humans create that starts out so helpful and full of potential ends up getting at least partially infested…and often just bulldozed into stuff that gives you The Ick.
Sigh.
Humans…
Years ago, I had a friend tell me he met some aliens during a ketamine-trip who explained to him that humans were a failed genetic experiment, and while they’re too pacifist to just destroy us outright, apparently they feel very, very sad about it.
Been thinking about that convo a lot lately.
I am, yes. My friend wasn’t, but a similar scenario IS in the actual plot of a novel (or maybe just series of short-stories) I’ve been trying to work on for decades. :-)
Bots often have minimal or generic profile pictures, bios, and usernames. And can have repetitive posts. I'd avoid any asking for gofundme, bitcoin, lottery winners. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is!
my husband and i legitimately need help, but every time i post our gofundme, i get a handful of responses that i am pretty sure are just bots because they all do the same thing. they offer to help for a fee or ask a similar question about ownership of our gofundme. same crap happens on xhitter.
I had one today, thought it was just some indie music guy until he messaged me telling me I was truly talking to the person himself. Apparently the guy is famous in Ecuador, has an IG post addressing fake profiles. Almost comical the way they assured me it was real, as though that wasn't a tip off.
Thing is too many people on here toss around the words "bot" & "MAGA" & "Trumper" to a point where they used those terms for anyone who doesn't agree with them or who doesn't buy into the Democratic Party line. That's not right. Some DO want to create an echo chamber. Hope it doesn't come to that.
This grandfather has quite a few follows from young women looking for travel and a soulmate. These “women” or bots are not interested in my charm and good looks!
For example, if we could get an AI model trained on the data from the bot-accounts that Bluesky Moderation Team suspends... then we would have an AI model capable of somewhat reliably identifying bot accounts.
(And with correction + more training on more data, we'd get more reliability.)
Absolutely. Do not deny them agency! Some are folks with MS, for example. They can do sexwork when they are functional enough but there is no fear of being fired if you cannot for a few days. Many others have similar disabilities. Some just like the freedom.
There is nothing at all wrong with sexworkers, however, you are totally free to block them! There is at least one blocklist specializing in that. Join them!
However, laws have made it dangerous and difficult to be a sexworker in the current era, and they need our RESPECT as any worker does
I don’t think sex work is wrong. But I don’t like them following me. It’s a pain blocking them.
And Holland just completely decriminalised sex work & made discrimination against sex workers criminal.
So “laws” are (obviously) geographical.
It’s really is for me I’d sooner not interact with them.
Use one of the lists and you will mostly avoid them. Saying "Sexwork" in a post, BTW, attracts such attention. Also note please that MANY of those accounts are scams. They have an OF page which rips off another worker's OF page. They are probably part of a bot farm.
But in the pre-internet days, you could wander into a pub and there would be some wanker at the end of the bar, wanging on about the government or aliens or the moon landing hoax.
Tech has just given that wanker global reach.
And an electric car company.
I am so sick of getting messages from Illuminati and the same person following me with 30 different names but the same sexual picture, oh and the crypto stuff is very annoying too. I keep blocking and reporting but they keep coming
I manage a friends website for him. Just an ecommerce site with nothing of interest to hackers but daily bots attempt to breach the security and create accounts to get in the system. I mean 1000's it is fn irritating I have to beef up security yet again because they get past the first barrier now.
realistically this is solved with labelers and subscribing to blocklists. bsky is designed to have a way more open API than twitter, and there is an extremely low chance heavy anti-bot action is taken.
Comments
damn it
https://bsky.app/profile/shaynel.bsky.social/post/3lclaljmln22c
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
unfortunate
- Jebus and Bible verses beside their sexybody skimpypants
I block any followers (it's the only way currently to remove them as a follower) who are bots or whose content I have no interest in.
Do you only follow people who are interested in your content cause otherwise imagine if they just randomly blocked you lol.
I've been blocked by ppl whose content I'm interested in, and I don't really care.
I'm here for content & information, not some laughable hey I have a lot of followers ego stroke.
I don't give a flying fuck if someone blocks me.
https://bsky.app/profile/hunphreysdad.bsky.social/post/3lcldmlsb7s2f
It’s a mission.
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
But HERE has blocklists.
Sir Turd of Squirrel @squirrelturd.bsky.social
He has lists and he helps us to block them.
the bots also technically profit from people proactively blocking dissenters out of a fear those COULD be bots, basically trying to push people into overblocking and shutting themselves off from others completely
Actively blocking has helped
I block at least 10 to 15 every day.
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgy4a5t2x
Gambia!
I want to _know_ that it's a bot and if it is a bot then I want to _know_ its intent. And I want a bluesky blocklist that I can add to easily block them all 😇
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cl73tlnvt7qrvcnpzxfm4bwp/lists/3lcjpyfymlv2i
Don't feed them
Starve them
It's the price we pay for being humans.
Bring on the 'block list' starter packs.
Elon promised to solve this when he bought Twitter ...
Also holy fuck why are there no notification settings???
https://youtu.be/JrcbH0ge2WE?si=63UyC_4xuUNwfwLl
I am moderately enthusiastic about it.
But seriously, this would be huge. I'm curious as to how that will play out. (Will people sign up? Will this prevent scammers/spam/bots? Yay if so!)
There is a reason why I am only moderately enthusiastic about it despite not seeing a single russian bot there yet.
My last name is shared by way less than 100 people, most of which are my close relatives, and none of them share my first name.
Juuust a tip
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgy4a5v2x
Uhm
Uh
Um
More comments to make content outta?
We're watching, little man behind the curtain.
Okay, I'll look at the boobs and then block.
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
Anyone
Absolutely ridiculous shit
A communal effort can easily keep up with new bot accounts and greatly reduce their reach.
Tracking cookies can track individual irl people across apps & websites, but no one can detect fake accounts?
That's why we have to identify, report, and block. Just make it a waste of time.
-No financial incentive to just post whatever (well unless Elon's paying them but not like what's on Twitter)
-Blocking works! And is super nuclear so you don't have to see them and they won't be able to see you. They apparently even disappear from your posts entirely
But in the meantime:
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/belledejour.bsky.social/post/3lcehd36dvk2v
#FuckBots
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/rvjcthm2n543.bsky.social
It is situated in russia.
This is where the trolls are from.
There are many troll-factory like this and they need to be shut down.
It starts by exposing and naming them.
They are waging hybrid warfare upon the world.
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwaqtk2x
So nothing will change without manner being applied. The Musk rat said it himself that once AI is let out of the box it’s impossible to put back.
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
Reporting them first (before blocking) helps too!
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgy4a5x2x
And yeah, many folks aren't really sure how to identify bots yet. Hopefully more folks making guides will help.
Here's one attempt:
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/rvjcthm2n543.bsky.social
Sigh.
Humans…
Yes!
I’m not sure that’s the word I’d choose these days, but it’s nice to be on the side of kinder…
Been thinking about that convo a lot lately.
You a writer, I hope?
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
Lets enjoy THID bot world. The future for mass social media is fucked.
You won't be easily able to distinguish real or fake humans in the future.
I suspect they are and will be constantly tweaking to reduce bot numbers once they hit their stride.
1/5
2/5
3/5
4/5
5!5
Consider taking shelter, it's gonna look real fuckin' bad.
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgwae5c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/lelindepage.bsky.social/post/3lcnbgy4a5v2x
For example, if we could get an AI model trained on the data from the bot-accounts that Bluesky Moderation Team suspends... then we would have an AI model capable of somewhat reliably identifying bot accounts.
(And with correction + more training on more data, we'd get more reliability.)
However, laws have made it dangerous and difficult to be a sexworker in the current era, and they need our RESPECT as any worker does
And Holland just completely decriminalised sex work & made discrimination against sex workers criminal.
So “laws” are (obviously) geographical.
It’s really is for me I’d sooner not interact with them.
Tech has just given that wanker global reach.
And an electric car company.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:o6rblzlvfboib5bsxudienj6/lists/3lciu6ztjcr2s
it's sort of the same with the post scrapers.