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Yes, I am perplexed by this. I have noted an insane number of bots commenting positively on Donald Trump's twitter account. It's obvious they're bots because of

by osrec 7y ago

Yes, I am perplexed by this. I have noted an insane number of bots commenting positively on Donald Trump's twitter account. It's obvious they're bots because of the username, lack of other activity, spelling and grammatical mistakes (due to phrases being directly translated from Russian). P.S. Whenever I mention the above on here, I am subject to a barrage of down votes. Almost as if bots are searching HN comments and trying to down vote anything that is negative towards Trump. If this gets down voted heavily, it'll confirm my suspicions yet again...

dhosek 7y ago
I've seen that in some comments I made on another story. Not sure whether it's Russians or Russian bots or just HN-reading Trump fans.
- dhosek 7y ago
  Downvoted already. On further reflection, I think it must be the last category since it would be a challenge for a Russian [bot] account to get the karma to be able to downvote.
  - osrec 7y ago
    You'd be surprised. I can imagine they've got a bit of link submission karma, which allows them to downvote. For what it's worth, I'm upvoting you!
- osrec 7y ago
  The down voting has begun! @dang, I wonder if this is something you can address somehow?!
  - thefreeman 7y ago
    Did you ever consider people don't agree with your opinion? I am anti Trump but not everybody is. Also there are bots on all sides of the political spectrum as evidenced by the article you are commenting on which dealt with an account pumping Bernie.
    - osrec 7y ago
      Yes, I have considered that, however the downvote patterns on those topics are unusual for HN. I've been here a few years, and know when something feels a bit off. Also, I'm not saying something that is wildly incorrect - just go on Twitter onto DT's account - what I'm reporting is self-evident. Do you disagree? Edit: also, if I don't mention DT's name, but refer to him in other more cryptic ways, I (and other HN users I know) get upvoted. Basically if you mention his name, it seems to get flagged up to bots/users to investigate...
      - vertis 7y ago
        I didn't realize I could potentially get free karma by saying Donald Trump is a legend. Good to know.
    - vertis 7y ago
      It's a well-reasoned respectful comment though. It has been the HN way that downvoting is really to punish overtly bad comments and a lack of upvoting boring comments.
      - jsjddbbwj 7y ago
        Here it is okay to downvote if you disagree.
      - krapp 7y ago
        >It has been the HN way that downvoting is really to punish overtly bad comments and a lack of upvoting boring comments. That's the way people want HN to be, but not the way it is.
        vertis 7y ago
        Perhaps I should say "That's how it used to be".
      - notahacker 7y ago
        It's also the HN way to downvote comments which include complaints about the comment being downvoted though [more so if they speculate the comment is being downvoted due to bots and followup with a request for moderator intervention]. Suspect that's the wider issue here. More generally, political comments are bound to attract some downvotes from people who either support the other side or don't like politics on HN, although you'd normally expect more upvotes on a comment which is on-topic, only tangentially related to the figure's politics and well-reasoned and civil

by osrec 7y ago

dhosek 7y ago

I've seen that in some comments I made on another story. Not sure whether it's Russians or Russian bots or just HN-reading Trump fans.

dhosek 7y ago
Downvoted already. On further reflection, I think it must be the last category since it would be a challenge for a Russian [bot] account to get the karma to be able to downvote.
- osrec 7y ago
  You'd be surprised. I can imagine they've got a bit of link submission karma, which allows them to downvote. For what it's worth, I'm upvoting you!
osrec 7y ago
The down voting has begun! @dang, I wonder if this is something you can address somehow?!
- thefreeman 7y ago
  Did you ever consider people don't agree with your opinion? I am anti Trump but not everybody is. Also there are bots on all sides of the political spectrum as evidenced by the article you are commenting on which dealt with an account pumping Bernie.
  - osrec 7y ago
    Yes, I have considered that, however the downvote patterns on those topics are unusual for HN. I've been here a few years, and know when something feels a bit off. Also, I'm not saying something that is wildly incorrect - just go on Twitter onto DT's account - what I'm reporting is self-evident. Do you disagree? Edit: also, if I don't mention DT's name, but refer to him in other more cryptic ways, I (and other HN users I know) get upvoted. Basically if you mention his name, it seems to get flagged up to bots/users to investigate...
    - vertis 7y ago
      I didn't realize I could potentially get free karma by saying Donald Trump is a legend. Good to know.
  - vertis 7y ago
    It's a well-reasoned respectful comment though. It has been the HN way that downvoting is really to punish overtly bad comments and a lack of upvoting boring comments.
    - jsjddbbwj 7y ago
      Here it is okay to downvote if you disagree.
    - krapp 7y ago
      >It has been the HN way that downvoting is really to punish overtly bad comments and a lack of upvoting boring comments. That's the way people want HN to be, but not the way it is.
      - vertis 7y ago
        Perhaps I should say "That's how it used to be".
    - notahacker 7y ago
      It's also the HN way to downvote comments which include complaints about the comment being downvoted though [more so if they speculate the comment is being downvoted due to bots and followup with a request for moderator intervention]. Suspect that's the wider issue here. More generally, political comments are bound to attract some downvotes from people who either support the other side or don't like politics on HN, although you'd normally expect more upvotes on a comment which is on-topic, only tangentially related to the figure's politics and well-reasoned and civil