10 ms·

(comment)

by brm 7y ago

partiallypro 7y ago
"Bots" are such a boogeyman on Twitter, usually from older folks that just don't understand the nature of the internet. I've seen threads where completely legitimate people are accused of being "bots." If the problem were so extreme, it would be much more pronounced. It's incredibly hard to police, and it happens on every single platform.
- standardUser 7y ago
  Some people may be conflating bots with paid trolls, which are a real and pervasive problem across many platforms.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- tracker1 7y ago
  Bots are also, generally, echo chambers that are easily detected.
- proverbialbunny 7y ago
  Bots on Twitter thankfully are rare, but on Youtube, for example, there is quite a bit of bot activity.
rm_-rf_slash 7y ago
They’ve been working on this for years. It’s a hard problem. How would you solve it?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
ilikehurdles 7y ago
So given that there are bots they can't detect, should they just ban all political speech to prevent any bots from abusing their platform?
- nexuist 7y ago
  I think the majority of people on Twitter would be happy if any political conversation simply disappeared. The vocal minority would never let this happen as they would take it as being silenced for their views.
  - ilikehurdles 7y ago
    Free speech is not a minority only issue, and just about all expression is political to someone. As a heads up, there is no need to educate me on free speech expectations as they pertain to private entities versus the state, it is still reprehensible to me that people accustomed to living in a free society advocate for this kind wide-scale silencing of views they disagree with.
    - nexuist 7y ago
      >it is still reprehensible to me that people accustomed to living in a free society advocate for this kind wide-scale silencing of views they disagree with. I absolutely agree with you.
SamReidHughes 7y ago
You can just not follow the bot account.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  That's not sufficient. Twitter surfaces tweets from people you're not following in their UI. You may get notified, for example, if one of the people you follow interacts with the bot's tweet.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
unpwn 7y ago
Every time I see someone complaining about bots, its because there are a lot of likes for something they personally dislike. Not saying bots on the internet are not a problem, but I think lots of people are quick to blame bots instead of conceding that others may disagree with them. Its also virtually impossible to prove accounts as "real" or "bots" without some ID verification in place. People kinda do it via clustering/graph analysis, but I think even those are iffy at best.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

(comment)

by brm 7y ago

"Bots" are such a boogeyman on Twitter, usually from older folks that just don't understand the nature of the internet. I've seen threads where completely legitimate people are accused of being "bots." If the problem were so extreme, it would be much more pronounced. It's incredibly hard to police, and it happens on every single platform.

standardUser 7y ago
Some people may be conflating bots with paid trolls, which are a real and pervasive problem across many platforms.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
tracker1 7y ago
Bots are also, generally, echo chambers that are easily detected.
proverbialbunny 7y ago
Bots on Twitter thankfully are rare, but on Youtube, for example, there is quite a bit of bot activity.

rm_-rf_slash 7y ago

They’ve been working on this for years. It’s a hard problem. How would you solve it?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

ilikehurdles 7y ago

So given that there are bots they can't detect, should they just ban all political speech to prevent any bots from abusing their platform?

nexuist 7y ago
I think the majority of people on Twitter would be happy if any political conversation simply disappeared. The vocal minority would never let this happen as they would take it as being silenced for their views.
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  Free speech is not a minority only issue, and just about all expression is political to someone. As a heads up, there is no need to educate me on free speech expectations as they pertain to private entities versus the state, it is still reprehensible to me that people accustomed to living in a free society advocate for this kind wide-scale silencing of views they disagree with.
  - nexuist 7y ago
    >it is still reprehensible to me that people accustomed to living in a free society advocate for this kind wide-scale silencing of views they disagree with. I absolutely agree with you.

SamReidHughes 7y ago

You can just not follow the bot account.

ceejayoz 7y ago
That's not sufficient. Twitter surfaces tweets from people you're not following in their UI. You may get notified, for example, if one of the people you follow interacts with the bot's tweet.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

unpwn 7y ago

Every time I see someone complaining about bots, its because there are a lot of likes for something they personally dislike. Not saying bots on the internet are not a problem, but I think lots of people are quick to blame bots instead of conceding that others may disagree with them. Its also virtually impossible to prove accounts as "real" or "bots" without some ID verification in place. People kinda do it via clustering/graph analysis, but I think even those are iffy at best.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]