Oof… This makes the dystopian, highly censored, antithetical Star Trek subreddit make more sense…
Reddit feels less genuine for sure, than it would have even as far back as 3 years ago. The mod purge probably accelerated things greatly but in general it’s felt like Reddit was going corporate astroturfing route for a while. Real discussions are very sparse compared to the amount of people telling you “to solve problem, buy this expensive thing!”
At this point the only thing Reddit has is a numbers advantage. The videos are no huge loss because at this point since you’re forced to use their (god awful) mobile app they either autoplay obnoxiously or automatically popup obscuring the comments (discussion is 90% of why I go to a forum why make it harder to see comments?).
The desktop experience is still okay but the constant pushing to get you to enable notifications is very irritating.
Man. I zapped all my cookies the other day, and when I re-loaded reddit, it forced me into a new new version of the mobile site.
Now almost every single comment that isn’t top level is hidden behind the ‘more comments’ button. When I click it, the whole page reloads, with the top comment and the one response. And a button for the next reply. And so on.
I’ve noticed since this change, almost no posts have any discussion any more at all. Which honestly. Why would you bother?
Just the other day I thought about my old porn account and remembered the password! So I thought I’d check out the official app since I wouldn’t be giving them ad revenue. Holy cow, it really is as terrible as everyone says! The app and the site! Every third post on the scroll is an ad, until you show NSFW posts, then every third post is a random post from a random sub. The three times I’ve been there I get a notification from some random comment on a random sub. And some banana thing that pops up and won’t go away. All of it is so terrible, including the porn. It’s like going back to your hometown and seeing they bulldozed your old school and turned it into a meat rendering plant.
Reddit is clearly trying to make its mobile site as user-unfriendly and goddamn terrible as possible to direct people to use the official app instead. There’s no other explanation for a top 10 in the world site
Actually, looking at the rest of the top 10 sites, the only two with good mobile interfaces are the ones without apps: Google and pornhub lol
The pop-iver video player is an infuriating choice. I watched the video, scroll down and the fucking thing follows me?! Wtf?! Why?? Am I going to forget that I just watched that video two seconds ago?! Argh!
I popped over to Reddit for the first time since third party apps were cruelly shut down. It’s clear that Reddit has sunk to new lows. Obviously trolling and a marked decrease in the quality of content
what I noticed is that posts have huge amounts of upvotes, even from small communities, and often no comments or when it does have comments its often very basic stuff, almost AI like
Well, if you’re going to defraud investors by pumping up your numbers before your IPO, you might as well go all out.
They aren’t even trying with those usernames, lazy.
Yeah, looks like the default “word_wordnumbers” usernames that reddit gives you if don’t change them.
I wonder if that would be an easy way to detect botting by not filling in that field for them.
Had no idea they were generating names, joke of a site.
Yeah, looks like the default “word_wordnumbers” usernames that reddit gives you if don’t change them.
Funny enough, this started happening on YouTube (comments) as well, around the same time.
The issue with sites starting to use numbering as part of the default username only started happening after AI posting became a thing, because an Achilles heel is the fact that AI can’t come up with enough believable unique names for all the posts they want their AI bots to make.
an Achilles heel is the fact that AI can’t come up with enough believable unique names for all the posts you want your AI bots to make
That seems counterintuitive to me in the context of modern AI approaches. I’m wondering if you could elaborate on that a bit more.
That seems counterintuitive to me in the context of modern AI approaches.
How so? Elaborate?
I’m wondering if you could elaborate on that a bit more.
This seems sufficiently explanatory to me, especially the italicized part…
AI can’t come up with enough believable unique names for all the posts they want their AI bots to make
Unbelievable usernames becomes an easy identifier/tag for identifying bot post.
Edit: since this comment got downvoted (as the assumed reply) I thought I would elaborate a bit more.
Basically, we name our user accounts to fit the society we live in’s norms, it’s naming conventions.
If you just run a bunch of vowels and consonants together, that does not make a username, at least not one that people will recognize as a valid one created by a human being.
Part of how bots are effective is in the quantity of bots that are used. Since it’s near zero cost to spin up a new bot to make posts/comments, many can be made.
However people can track the validity of a user name as being a bot versus human by the quantity of the posts/comments the username makes (only so many hours in a day, and human beings are busy with other things besides just posting on Lemmy), so no one single bot can make too many posts/comments at one time.
Because of this, you need a large quantity of unique names, one for each of your bots, and they have to be believable ones by humans, so they’re not identified as bots.
Yeah, looks like the default “word_wordnumbers” usernames that reddit gives you if don’t change them.
This change is when I knew Reddit was going down the shitter. Automatically handing out default usernames instead of requiring you to pick your own. The only people that could possibly help are a) people with absolutely no imagination whatsoever, b) bots, and c) people making a dozen alts to puff up their main.
I can’t believe 8 people had the exact same idea for a post at the same time, that’s crazy
/s
Is that recent? I haven’t used Reddit since a few months and that phenomena was previously only on promoted posts (read, ads)
like 2 months ago
I think it was there for a while, it’s just gone full mask off mode and become particularly noticeable now
You know what else is random and probably related to their paid content? Their sorting doesn’t work right anymore. Posts in “hot” are regularly like more than a day old but then also some are brand new like minutes old. But if you sort by top 24 hours…same posts. Sometimes the order is different but easily 75% of the posts are the same. A 24 hour old post with no new comments is “hot”? A one hour old post with 20 comments is in the top posts of the past day?..OKAY
It could be incompetence. Lemmy.world has similar and significant issues with sorting as well and I presume you’re not also implying that paid content has anything to do with lemmy sorting.
Go back to Reddit astroturfer.
It’s not like one of the six biggest power janitors of Reddit has been caught multiple times wrongfully deleting posts, using bot armies to manipulate votes and accepting money from marketing agencies for “consultancy” in social media guerilla marketing.
It’s almost like the company doesn’t give a fuck what their unpaid help does to the userbase or content because they still gets investments regardless.
Fuck spez, fuck GallowBoob, fuck awkwardtheturtle and fuck Sam Altman.
It’s amazing how quickly the admins came down on some subs after the trench titty drama broke. He was basically reddit’s MrBabyMan. And he’s probably not the only one.
Trench ritty drama? Dare I even
Google thatDuckDuckGo that…
What’s Sam Altman’s connection to Reddit?
He was an angel investor and also onboarded a bunch of celebrity investors.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they are trying to whitewash this, since it became a minor point of contention a few months ago
Was also interim CEO for 8 days, to give you an idea of how involved he was. I’ll update with more info and sources later if I have time, otherwise Wayback Machine is your friend
How is Sam Altman related to Reddit?
I was really surprised recently when I was searching for some help with a mod for a videogame and a result popped up on my duckduckgo search page for a thread on reddit about it, so I clicked it and BAM: “error, this subreddit has not been reviewed, so it is not possible to view it. Either use the app or go to home page” … wtf? I mean, this basically destroys the entire site right? I was 100% unable to view whatever content had been posted in that subreddit. So I just closed it and went somewhere else. I don’t see how reddit can even continue to exist if they don’t allow people to view the site. How did this happen?
There’s a theory that certain emails scams are so obvious and easy to spot because that acts as a self-selection mechanism. A person who sees the obvious scam and immediately recognizes it as such was probably never going to fall for it. The ones that respond in spite of all the signs tend to be easier or more lucrative targets.
I could see forcing people to download an app just to see the content as operating on a similar (but not 100% analogous) principle. The type of person who willingly installs the app to see the content (without knowing if it was worthwhile/relevant beforehand) may be exactly the type of person that they prefer to join their site. Perhaps they are easier targets for marketing, less likely to understand /complain about the ramifications of changes to the site that are user adverse, care less about privacy, etc and that makes them more lucrative?
I mean I guess that could be right, but in the end this scenario also spells doom for the company. There is no way that reddit continues to stay relevant as a meaningful place in the future. It’ll be relegated to the garbage dump where yahoo and digg and tumblr somehow still exist in zombie fashion. Sad.
In the 2000s we thought user-generated content would lead to a utopian future where we got our opinions from each other rather than from big companies.
Turns out: big companies, governments and other institutions with money are perfectly capable of paying people to be “users” who are “generating content”. Now we get (at least some of) our opinions from them and don’t even know it.
It is incredibly cheap and easy to artificially bump a post to the top of a decent sized subreddit. I’ve seen it done before and the cost per impression/click puts most advertising to shame. And this was being done unsophisticatedly by some dude and a cheap bot. Now imagine what major corporations can do with all the resources to burn.
And another 50% is trolls working probono to be try and convince people that racism is the only way forward
And the other 50% is AI bots, just trying to keep people engaged.
That’s a 115% - dayum, that’s a lot of users! :D
I know it’s crazy.
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I always thought there were corporate trolls on there just not so many
When I stopped over there, it looked like reddit is running some sort of suggestion algorithm like youtube for posts. It mostly seems to be promoting right wing outrage bait. We might not have videos but I’m very happy not being subjected to that shit anymore from some of the more popular video/gif subs. It’s strange they’d want to lean into it further. Baiting engagement that way will just degrade your ability to host interesting conversations and continue being the top result for many questions on google.
That title is clickbait.
From the article:
In 2020, the Computers in Human Behavior study provided additional insights into the tactics employed by corporate trolls on Reddit. The study focused on the top 100 subreddits, analyzing the content posted within these influential communities. The results were alarming, with 15% of the top 100 subreddits found to have content that was likely posted by bots or corporate trolls, specifically aimed at promoting certain companies or organizations.
That’s 15% of the top 100 subreddits contained some content that was likely posted by bots or corporate trolls.
This title is one of the 15%
Even just calling it a “new study” is already a lie
From the article…
The study’s demographic analysis further highlighted the targeted nature of corporate trolling. Younger users, particularly those aged 18–29, were significantly more likely to be contacted by corporate trolls, with 17% of them reporting such experiences, compared to only 7% of users aged 65 and over. This age-based discrepancy underscores the strategic approach of corporate trolls in engaging with a demographic that is often more susceptible to their influence.
Wow. Corporations are tagging younger generations as dumb shits. That is not cool.
Wow. Corporations are tagging younger generations as dumb shits.
I mean, I wouldn’t use that language, but yeah of course. They don’t have firm beliefs yet, in most cases, and their worldviews are more likely to be shaped by memes, whereas the older generations adopt the memes that appeal to their worldview.
If you want to shape people, you want to ideally target young adults.
I mean, I wouldn’t use that language, but yeah of course. They don’t have firm beliefs yet, in most cases, and their worldviews are more likely to be shaped by memes, whereas the older generations adopt the memes that appeal to their worldview.
I don’t think it’s just about how memes are processed. I think they really consider them less aware, less intelligent, than older generations.
And I was pointing that out is a ‘rallying cry’ to the younger generations, that this is the level respect they’re getting, and that they should do something about it, hence the stronger language.
less aware, less intelligent, than older generations.
This is true, but not generationally. Rather, the younger someone is, the less they generally know, and the more.opinions can be shaped.
There’s a reason all radical movements throughout history have been driven by the young, and it isn’t because the young thought up the ideas. Younger people generally have a different view on new information, especially information that points to problems they perceive, than older people.
If you’re trying to have a social media presence you are de facto targeting a younger audience
This is true, but not generationally. Rather, the younger someone is, the less they generally know, and the more.opinions can be shaped.
You’re not wrong, but you’re also wrong. :p
What I mean is that normally, youth is less “wise” than elders, because of how long they’ve been alive. The more mileage you put into Life the more you figure out. Its one of the great ironies of the human species that just as we finally start to get wise enough to figure out WTF is really going on, we drop dead. And even worse, trying to pass off some of that wisdom to the previous generation usually falls on deaf ears, because its seen as ‘old person yells at clouds to get off of their lawn’ by the younger generation.
Having said that, I’m still going to disagree with you in that the original comment is specificially (IMO) targeting the newest generations as specific entities onto themselves, and not just more youthful; the first post-new Internet generation, as being less informed/aware.
If you’re trying to have a social media presence you are de facto targeting a younger audience
One does not beget the other though, its just a coincidence. The ‘de facto’ is targeting the dummer/spends more crowd, not a specific age crowd. If older generations were ‘dumb’ and spent more, they would be the ones targeted.
. If older generations were ‘dumb’ and spent more, they would be the ones targeted.
You can see this playing out now in the grifting ecosystem built around Trump and the “alternative news” crowd. Again, this targets people with set opinions, seeking to double down on them.
The claim here is that companies are specifically aiming to shape opinions rather than exploit existing ones.
I think this is a meaningful difference
Inexperience leads to easier marks. Someone who is otherwise markedly intelligent will fall for the silliest things on impulse.
That number has got to be higher than 15%. Everywhere.
That’s all? woulda guessed higher
Is all bad online behavior “trolling” now? Isn’t “shill” a better word for someone who is paid to surreptitiously promote something?
No, all bad online behavior now is “bots.”
At least that’s how people in the comments on lemmy and Reddit label them.
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I always saw it as someone who only repeats talking points verbatim is essentially a robot. If I can’t tell if you are a human posting, or an automated response is there a meaningful difference?
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It seems to correlate with the rise in general awareness of LLMs like ChatGPT. It seems like just the threat/possibility of ChatGPT being used has already distorted discourse online.
Shut up, bot!
Edit: Shitty typo
He’d probably need a strong sphincter muscle to manage that.
Lol, how did I miss that
No, all bad online behavior now is “bots.”
At least that’s how people in the comments on lemmy and Reddit label them.
I, and others, have distinguish between shills and bots.
Usually people use shilling as an alternative to astroturfing by paid human beings, while bots are just AI/programming posting.
Back in my day trolling meant something. It meant you cared enough to actually form a real argument that withstands scrutiny, just to setup for the rug pull. The better your polemic, the more engagement as people debated if you were for real or not.
Shitposting controversial hot takes or dog whistle memes is mid af, do better
polemic
po·lem·ic /pəˈlemik/ noun a speech or piece of writing expressing a strongly critical attack on or controversial opinion about someone or something. “his polemic against the cultural relativism of the Sixties”
mid
From my understanding trolling meant exactly what it says it is: Trolling. I think people for some reason get this mixed up with trolls - as in the fantasy type monster. But I think it actually has to do with the fishing termtrolling where you cast out your line, and see if you can get somebody to take the bait. Once they take the bait, you take em for a ride.
From my understanding trolling meant exactly what it says it is: Trolling. I think people for some reason get this mixed up with trolls - as in the fantasy type monster. But I think it actually has to do with the fishing termtrolling where you cast out your line, and see if you can get somebody to take the bait. Once they take the bait, you take em for a ride.
When the word is used on the Internet it’s meant in the fantasy monster way. Specifically it comes from the story of the troll underneath the bridge, interfering with people trying to cross the bridge.
Actually, that’s also where the name of the mythical creature comes from. They’d set up bridges that offer convenient shortcuts as bait for humans
You can just add “troll” to the pile of words twisted into meaning “people I don’t like”.
it is not “now”. It is exactly as it was being used in 2020, when the article was written, by the mass media. They were calling “troll” everyone they were disagreeing with.
Is all bad online behavior “trolling” now?
People like throwing buzzwords regardless of their meaning.
Shill is a banned word on reddit still right?
No idea!
There’s no way it’s a banned word. /r/neoliberal has a “neoliberal shill of the year” award where they vote for their favorite economist based on social media posts, books released that year, etc.
There was a time when you’d get hit with a [Removed by Reddit] for calling people shills but that was a while back I guess
