6 ms·

It seems to me like some people made it their business to "hack" Reddit with automated scripts. Taking over subreddits, promoting content to the front page, tha

by dTal 6y ago

It seems to me like some people made it their business to "hack" Reddit with automated scripts. Taking over subreddits, promoting content to the front page, that sort of thing. Once they got good at that, they had a saleable product, as well as a worldview that treats online discussion as a resource strata to be exploited and shepherded, not nurtured. Here's a comment thread about "Gallowboob" which documents all this to a T: https://snew.notabug.io/r/interestingasfuck/comments/gitwbo/pointing_out_how_much_power_few_people_have_gets/fqgw86e/ https://snew.notabug.io/r/interestingasfuck/comments/gitwbo/...

stockavuryah 6y ago
Now wholly deleted by moderators.
streb-lo 6y ago
I find it crazy people care about this. A guys takes over some subreddits... unless you're a Reddit admin who cares? There's so much content on the web just avoid the stuff you don't like.
- soulofmischief 6y ago
  Reddit is one of the largest international websites in the world and many careers, lifestyles and organizations have sprung up from it. If millions of dollars are being spent on this and the industry continues to swell, blaming passive observers for being concerned seems to be backwards.
- tasty_freeze 6y ago
  Governments have the resources to dedicate people to doing things like this. Once they have the ability to shape discussions, they will. Russia doesn't care if Black Lives Matter or not. They promoted inflammatory postings on both sides of the issue simply because chaos and weaking public trust is a goal for them. Sure, you might not care about the issue and don't visit those subreddits, but it still affects you because the community you live in.
  - streb-lo 6y ago
    I don't think this is a very strong point. In this case we're talking about a Reddit user who has been an active redditor for a long time moderating various subreddits. What's the issue exactly? That he may sell his account or otherwise be influenced by state agents? That also applies to the CEOs and board members of Reddit, the regulators and lobbyists, and polticians. There are plenty of worse things to be concerned about than how many subreddits Gallowboob is moderating.
    - mkr-hn 6y ago
      Someone watching that many subreddits can't have a good grasp on context. They'll end up moderating in a way that seems fine if they don't understand the culture of the subreddit. Realistic example: someone makes a comment about something nice his boyfriend did. Someone else replies "sounds pretty gay, dude." Could one of these supermods understand that this is a normal and silly thing for queers of a certain age to say to each other? Maybe. I wouldn't count on it. They can't go and dig into each poster's history to see that they post in the same communities and often swap silly comments. The volume in their mod inbox is just too high.
      - salawat 6y ago
        You assume that the user account is anything more than a user-Agent. Accounts do not at all bind one-to-one with people. They never have, never will, and the push to try to make it so is a fool's errand. That account could just be the tip of the spear of an entire department of information warfare specialists. This is why the old tongue in cheek wisdom "On the Internet, no one knows you're a {dog,child,FBI Agent,Special Information Warfare Directorate Agent,Nymphomaniacal Grandma} " never stopped being relevant. User-Agents!=Users. Don't get into the habit, lest the ones who don't run circles around you.
  - White_Wolf 6y ago
    In all fairness this can be abused by any country not just Russia or China. US and Israel could just as well use it to shape and support the endless wars and warmongering. It could be used by left/right wing extemists just as well to push their own narative. The fact that it can shape what is seen by your average joe to that extent is the problem regardless of who does it.
- dredmorbius 6y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23184110 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23184110
taurath 6y ago
Reddit itself is tracked as a social platform in the same vein as twitter or FB. Its astroturfed to hell and back, and there's no way to know who is posting what.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
mundo 6y ago
Could you summarize it? All I see in that thread is people complaining about a popular user they don't like.
fredsted 6y ago
Reminds me of taking over channels on IRC :)
- ObsoleteNerd 6y ago
  Oh man, those were some fun days. I remember taking over a top 10 channel on Efnet because the owner went on holidays and forgot to get someone to keep their account active.
  - fredsted 6y ago
    Ha, I imagine it would have been almost a fulltime job to prevent takeovers on large Efnet channels!
    - ShannonGrant 6y ago
      It took an army of eggdrop bots for me and Kyle to hold #games on Efnet for years.

by dTal 6y ago

stockavuryah 6y ago

Now wholly deleted by moderators.

streb-lo 6y ago

I find it crazy people care about this. A guys takes over some subreddits... unless you're a Reddit admin who cares? There's so much content on the web just avoid the stuff you don't like.

soulofmischief 6y ago
Reddit is one of the largest international websites in the world and many careers, lifestyles and organizations have sprung up from it. If millions of dollars are being spent on this and the industry continues to swell, blaming passive observers for being concerned seems to be backwards.
tasty_freeze 6y ago
Governments have the resources to dedicate people to doing things like this. Once they have the ability to shape discussions, they will. Russia doesn't care if Black Lives Matter or not. They promoted inflammatory postings on both sides of the issue simply because chaos and weaking public trust is a goal for them. Sure, you might not care about the issue and don't visit those subreddits, but it still affects you because the community you live in.
- streb-lo 6y ago
  I don't think this is a very strong point. In this case we're talking about a Reddit user who has been an active redditor for a long time moderating various subreddits. What's the issue exactly? That he may sell his account or otherwise be influenced by state agents? That also applies to the CEOs and board members of Reddit, the regulators and lobbyists, and polticians. There are plenty of worse things to be concerned about than how many subreddits Gallowboob is moderating.
  - mkr-hn 6y ago
    Someone watching that many subreddits can't have a good grasp on context. They'll end up moderating in a way that seems fine if they don't understand the culture of the subreddit. Realistic example: someone makes a comment about something nice his boyfriend did. Someone else replies "sounds pretty gay, dude." Could one of these supermods understand that this is a normal and silly thing for queers of a certain age to say to each other? Maybe. I wouldn't count on it. They can't go and dig into each poster's history to see that they post in the same communities and often swap silly comments. The volume in their mod inbox is just too high.
    - salawat 6y ago
      You assume that the user account is anything more than a user-Agent. Accounts do not at all bind one-to-one with people. They never have, never will, and the push to try to make it so is a fool's errand. That account could just be the tip of the spear of an entire department of information warfare specialists. This is why the old tongue in cheek wisdom "On the Internet, no one knows you're a {dog,child,FBI Agent,Special Information Warfare Directorate Agent,Nymphomaniacal Grandma} " never stopped being relevant. User-Agents!=Users. Don't get into the habit, lest the ones who don't run circles around you.
- White_Wolf 6y ago
  In all fairness this can be abused by any country not just Russia or China. US and Israel could just as well use it to shape and support the endless wars and warmongering. It could be used by left/right wing extemists just as well to push their own narative. The fact that it can shape what is seen by your average joe to that extent is the problem regardless of who does it.
dredmorbius 6y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23184110 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23184110

taurath 6y ago

Reddit itself is tracked as a social platform in the same vein as twitter or FB. Its astroturfed to hell and back, and there's no way to know who is posting what.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

mundo 6y ago

Could you summarize it? All I see in that thread is people complaining about a popular user they don't like.

fredsted 6y ago

Reminds me of taking over channels on IRC :)

ObsoleteNerd 6y ago
Oh man, those were some fun days. I remember taking over a top 10 channel on Efnet because the owner went on holidays and forgot to get someone to keep their account active.
- fredsted 6y ago
  Ha, I imagine it would have been almost a fulltime job to prevent takeovers on large Efnet channels!
  - ShannonGrant 6y ago
    It took an army of eggdrop bots for me and Kyle to hold #games on Efnet for years.