While browsing the fediverse I come across more and more accounts that seem … a bit off, a little uncanny. The stuff they post seems random, their comments slightly weird. What’s going on, is the fediverse being overrun by bots? Or am I as a fanatic anti-AI person just losing my mind and seeing the enemy everywhere?

I hate the fact that I now question every interaction that seems a bit off - it seems such a stupid waste of my time and I’m afraid I might just end up blocking real people who happen to express themselves in a strange way - as a neurodivergent person I know how bad I would feel about being ostracized as ‘too strange to be real’. How would you handle this?

  • JRaccoon@discuss.tchncs.de
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    14 hours ago

    Every account on reddit fediverse is a bot except you.

    Jokes aside, I haven’t noticed anything. I don’t really see what would anyone gain by setting up bots posing as real humans. Especially on Fediverse. I’m not saying it’s never happening but I don’t think it’s very common.

    • schmorp@slrpnk.netOP
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      14 hours ago

      The ‘why’ is what I am wondering about. If I were an evil fascist I would fill this place with bots to keep the lefties arguing with the void instead of going outside for direct action. Other than that, curious programmers watching their creations interact in the wild?

      • blarghly@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Lemmy is seriously not large or organized enough for anyone to consider it. An evil fascist organization has shit to do, like real oppression - not piddling about with a bunch of autists who call for revolution from their moms basements.

      • Forester@pawb.social
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        13 hours ago

        Out of curiosity is your instance still federated with .ml or that other tankie haven I forget the name of. If so, yes you probably are seeing a lot of bots. It’s quite obvious when you look at downvote and upvoter brigades. Pretty unusual for five people to all vote within half a second of each other. Then to not see any other votes for a while.

        • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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          7 hours ago

          This post is a great reminder that when you people say “bot”, you just mean “people who disagree with me”

          • Forester@pawb.social
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            7 hours ago

            Wonderful way to put words in someone else’s mouth. Shift those goal posts a little further. I’m sure nobody will notice.

            • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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              6 hours ago

              Shift those goal posts a little further. I’m sure nobody will notice.

              Lol, you don’t even know what the phrase “shift the goalpost” means, do you? You just saw it used on Reddit and think it’s some kind of magic spell that wins arguments

              • Forester@pawb.social
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                5 hours ago

                Low effort, replies. Garner low effort replies

                I’ll let Google answer this one for you

                Shifting the goalposts" is an idiom that means changing the rules or conditions of a situation, often in a way that is unfair or designed to make it more difficult for someone to achieve their goal. It implies that someone is deliberately making it harder for another person to succeed by moving the target or changing the requirements after the activity has already begun, according to several online dictionaries. Here’s a breakdown of what it means in different contexts: In general: It signifies a change in expectations or standards, often to the disadvantage of someone else. Imagine playing a game where the rules keep changing mid-game, making it harder to win. In an argument: It can refer to someone who keeps changing their stance or demands during a discussion to avoid conceding or to keep arguing. For example, if someone keeps adding new requirements after an agreement has been reached, they are shifting the goalposts. In the workplace: It can mean a manager changing performance expectations or job duties after the work has already started, without proper justification or compensation, says a business blog. In politics: It can describe a situation where a political party or leader changes their position or priorities to suit their current needs, potentially misleading the public or undermining previous promises, reports Forbes. In everyday language: It’s a negative term, implying unfairness and manipulation. People generally dislike when goalposts are moved because it creates a sense of instability and distrust.

                • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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                  5 hours ago

                  I’ll let Google answer this one for you

                  Answer what? I wasn’t asking you, I can see clearly you don’t know what it means, which is why you’re copy pasting walls of ai text (like a literal bot) to distract from the fact that you tried to invoke the phrase where it wasn’t remotely applicable because you think of it as essentially a magic incantation.

        • LemmeAtEm@lemmy.ml
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          9 hours ago

          The “tankie” instances are the least likely to have bots. They’re the most vehemently anti-AI and the moderators most active in banning any kind of bot-like activity. Hexbear, the one that all the dronies clutch their pearls about most and accuse of brigading the most doesn’t even have downvotes - they are incapable of mass downvoting.

        • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
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          12 hours ago

          Pretty unusual for five people to all vote within half a second of each other

          This is actually a consequence of how votes federate out. They go out in batches, all at once, after a little bit of a delay.

          I actually do also think that people are artificially trying to rig the votes about particular things (and frequently the admins catch some people doing it with careless obviousness), but this isn’t an indication, it’s more difficult to detect than that.

        • BroBot9000@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          It’s lemmy.dbzer0.com

          Last interaction with one had them calling for genocide of all with dissenting opinions to dbzer0 🤮

          You’ll want to block them and .ml

          • _cryptagion [he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 hours ago

            oh, ffs, you’re being hysterical.

            if you read that and think it’s anything but satire, you’re an idiot. which was why your comment was removed, and mine wasn’t.

            • BroBot9000@lemmy.world
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              2 hours ago

              Awwwwweeee you’re goose stepping around behind me how cute. Miss me? Came back for sloppy seconds?

              Go play pretend middle manager with your racist pile of linear algebra somewhere else.

              And I thought Reddit mods had no life

      • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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        9 hours ago

        If I were an evil fascist I would fill this place with bots to keep the lefties arguing with the void instead of going outside for direct action.

        Sadly, there aren’t enough people here to make that worthwhile.

        Other than that, curious programmers watching their creations interact in the wild?

        Even with LLMs, getting appropriate responses is a bit of an effort. So is integrating with Lemmy. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just that we’re really lazy, and it’s unlikely that there’s a significant volume of bot coders here.

        Just Google the number of Lemmy bots. There are disappointingly few.