119

Bots copy pasting Reddit - is there a method to block them all? (lemm.ee)

submitted 8 months ago by lemmyingly@lemm.ee to c/fediverse@lemmy.world

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've noticed we have bots copy pasting Reddit submissions. Is there a method to block them all?

I assume they mean good by 'generating' content in communities, but I don't see a reason why anyone would comment on them since the OP is on Reddit and will never read them.

I know I can block each individual account as I come across them but I'd just prefer to block them all so I don't see their content at all.

They appear to do the nice thing by adding a line in the submissions about it being an automated submission. Is there a filter for words/phrase found in the body of a submission?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Chozo@kbin.social 5 points 8 months ago

The lack of discussion isn't due to the bots, though. That's due to the users simply not participating. There's no technical difference between a bot-posted thread and a human-posted one; users can still engage in the comments section all the same.

Personally, I don't mind the bot accounts for the most part. There aren't enough humans posting new threads in some communities, so the bots at least offer the potential for discussions to occur, but it's up to the users to actually engage.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

That’s due to the users simply not participating. There’s no technical difference between a bot-posted thread and a human-posted one...

Sure there is: when it's a human-posted thread, it means at least one person participated. The difference between one and zero -- between talking to a single other person and talking to an empty room -- is very large.

[-] Fizz@lemmy.nz 3 points 8 months ago

There is more content posted to reddit so when that's reflected to lemmy I find that I miss lemmy threads. That made me block the reddit bots.

[-] Die4Ever@programming.dev 3 points 8 months ago

The big difference is a human OP gets a notification when someone comments, and presumably the OP is usually interested in discussing the thing they posted