Reddit repost bots are spam, and that needs to be stopped.
Reddit repost bots are spam, and that needs to be stopped.
Ok, imagine this, you are on reddit (say, a slow hobby focused subreddit), everybody there is nice and knowledgeable, and one day, the mods there announced that since there is not enough "content" on the sub, they are going to use a bot to repost content from 9gag in order to "bolster engagement" and "grow the community".
How would you feel about that?
If you feel upset and grossed out, you're exactly right.
I don't think there is a single non-spam subreddit where that kind of behavior would be tolerated without being called out for blatant mod abuse. No community in the world would ever tolerate automated reposting from another website, not reddit, not 4chan, not any forums of any size, even 9gag, I repeat, BLOODY 9GAG, was tired of being called out for reddit reposting and started making original content.
So why exactly should this kind of behavior be tolerated here?
Now, I'm sure some mods here did it with good intentions, but again, the road to the hell that is modern reddit is PAVED with good intentions. Content for the sake of content is bad, and we already knew it is bad, which is why Gallowboob was so thoroughly disliked, he generates """"""content"""""", in other words, spam that drowns out the normal people who can't compete with a professional marketer, much less a bot, which is exactly the reason why "Just block the bots" doesn't work, because it ruins the genuine engagements on a forum by drawing people to the lowest common denominator of """""""""""content""""""""""""".
Reddit, over the years, has turned into a platform for "bolstering engagement" for advertisers, and it does that by algorithmically stoking conflicts between people so they would endlessly argue and doomscroll. Why would we want that here? Now, I think most of us like the Lemmy/kbin right now because of the lack of bots here, and the conversations happen naturally and genuinely. I've even seen people here try to engage the bots, not realizing that they would never get a response out of them, because it felt normal to just talk about things.
(Eat your robot hearts out, @L4s and @BotIt)
Suppose then, if this repost bot situation was indeed temporary, why would people want to make original content if they are just going to be drowned out by bots? What's to stop someone from turning on bots from /r/dankmemes or /r/tiktokcringe? The bots are not members of the community, because they are not people (save the /r/botsright joke for more appropriate times), and over time, we will just become dependent on the bots hosing us down directly from that burning dumpster fire and become doomscrolling addicts again.
That's the number two lesson from the failure of Voat: that repost bots, like hate, should also not be tolerated, and Reddit will never die if we keep feeding it.
Everybody here are still currently all "Oh fuck reddit, fuck spez, I deleted my reddit account and all of my comments and will never go back again", but after finally getting away from reddit, why are you so insistent on trying to turn this place back to the worst part of reddit again?
And if the reddit migration on July 1st does indeed occur, do you think they would be ecstatic to see a place that's mostly reddit reposts, but with less """""""""""""""""""content"""""""""""""""""""? If they wanted reddit, why wouldn't they just go back to reddit?
When will we finally be rid of reddit, if we are the ones keeping it on life support?
I will say, if I sound frustrated, it's because I am frustrated, because I actually can't believe I even had to say this. Judging from the comments on this thread yesterday, I think a majority of people here would agree with me. We have something good here, and I'd like to keep it that way a bit longer.
Now, I very much appreciate that our admins here at lemmy.world and their amazing job of preemptively blocking suspicious bot infested instances, so I'm asking politely for @ruud, @Antik and the rest of our good admin team here to put their foot down on not allowing reddit repost spambots and nip this problem in the bud before it takes root, so I can get back to shitposting in peace.
Be better than reddit.
Burn reddit down.
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I will talk because lifting content from Reddit is how mildly Infuriating got its feet off the ground in the first place, and has the subscriber count it has.
It hasn't relied only on that, I have been finding my own original content and posting it there myself but it's hard when I feel I am the only one actively contributing. Many people here still are very much lurkers and will only want to scroll through what other people post and not make their own content.
There isn't anything wrong with that, but you are going to find people won't keep coming back without things to keep them interested.
That said context matters, there is a difference between a hobbiest community, and somewhere like mildly Infuriating where it's a place to just share things that mildly Infuriates people. Whether right or wrong, I do not see an issue with Reddit reposts or reposts from anywhere but I hope more people do actually create content... And I also hope the people in this thread who are against Reddit reposts are actively engaging communities themselves or you aren't really setting up these communities for success.
I do not agree with bot reposting, I feel that would end in diminishing returns anyway, whilst you have mountains of content, you have too much content and it doesn't give people enough time to build up discussions and drowns out people who will legitimately post their own threads. Meaning you will likely not see anyone bother posting at all.
In the end... Banning outright, doesn't feel right. Having them exist as their own places, whilst not something I 100% agree with don't think getting the pitchforks out and wanting them to disappear is the answer when you can make your own community on another instance and grow it organically. Then block ones that you don't like. Which you will be doing regardless as we have federated instances that will not align with you morally/ethically anyway until they are eventually defederated if at all.
Not having Karma also didn't feel right originally either. But it ended up making this place way better.
I don't want to be rude, but let me ask you this question: Why should I move to another instance instead of doing all we can to stop this place from turning into reddit? Why should I move to Mars instead of trying to stop climate change from destroying us all?
To be a redditor is to despair. Despair is the enemy of progress.
In a place as vast as the fediverse can be and at such early stages you have the power to make bigger changes than you would on Reddit.
You have the power to shape the culture of Lemmy, can you ask the owners of these communities to change course? Absolutely.
Do they have to oblige? No, not unless the instance rules dictate they have to, but that is entirely at the discretion of the instance admins. Then there are a lot of instances each with their own rules and culture.
I think you're being hyperbolic, but you will have diverse opinions on this matter, and the only right answer is what results in foot traffic for the Fediverse and drives interest. In the end our goals are the same but done differently.
My answer to why should you move is, you are going to need to change the mind of every potential new person who joins with an idea to lift content from Reddit, I commend you if you have the time to do that, but I personally don't. It's easier to shape the culture of a website when you have a level of influence to be an example to what is the gold standard so to speak.
You also have to be very careful because there is an elitest attitude that might push people away from Lemmy entirely.
I respectfully disagree, as I think you are mistaken. I cannot change the mind of everyone, and I know I can't change the minds of everyone.
But I will not let attempts at perfection stop progress, because to do so is to be a defeatist, so even if I helped just one person, it would have been worth it to me, and I've been very consistent on that here.
I've stated my points and I have nothing more to add. This is an impass in my eyes. There are multiple methods but we both have the same goal to preserve and bolster the Lemmy platform as a whole which there is nothing wrong with but I am hard set on where I stand on this. Good talk
Understandable. Have a nice rest of your day.