5 ms·

I think it's only a matter of time before this becomes kinda mainstream, and reddit too will be 'optimized' like google.

throw10920 4y ago
It's already happening - marketers are creating sockpuppet accounts on Reddit to promote their products. This approach isn't sustainable.
- owlninja 4y ago
  Do you have any examples of what this looks like?
  - SamBam 4y ago
    It's fairly well-known that some accounts "karma farm" by posting comment designed to be upvoted, and then use the credibility to sell themselves to marketers. Also, I believe it's fairly straightforward to buy votes in your posts from sock puppet farms. Here's an old post from a security researcher that wrote papers on this topic, and also experimented with buying votes: https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/38wl43/we_used_sock_puppets_in_rnetsec_last_year_and_are/ https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/38wl43/we_used_sock... I am unsure what the current field is like.
    - giancarlostoro 4y ago
      If you moderate large enough subs you see this just often enough. They'll find another sub to farm karma on, then come to yours to spam their random new domain. I wish reddit automod could check the age of the domain since it was registered, could help, although it could also be straining on reddits part, but I've seen some weirdo who gets a new domain and spams blogspam thats just ripped off articles with ads all over. I'm surprised they're turning a profit wasting money on so many domains. Before ever being a submod anywhere, I had no idea of half of what goes on in reddit.
  - pueblito 4y ago
    r/oilpen is mostly Yocan bots, any hearing aid related subreddit etc
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    This person drives in a small car in other drivers' blind spots, waits for them to try to merge in front of them, then uses a novelty car horn. Then they upload the video, which Reddit loves because it is watching someone else possibly make an error thereby making the viewer feel better about themselves, and then they get an opportunity to share a link for the horn in the comments when people (or maybe the original poster’s alternative accounts) inevitably ask where they can also get a horn like it: https://www.reddit.com/user/Muscles_Metal_Miata/ https://www.reddit.com/user/Muscles_Metal_Miata/ I do not see what other explanation there could be for why a person is recording and uploading so many incidents of the same type within such a short timespan.
    - renewiltord 4y ago
      That sort of incident happens every day in the Bay Area, but people just yield or pre-emptively make room when they see the other guy is going to do this. This guy has decided not to and so he's got a lot of videos. That's literally it. If you decided to hardball every driver interaction you'd have enough of this content too.
- bonoboTP 4y ago
  Doesn't matter, you just have to be one step ahead. There will surely be something else next and as long as average people haven't caught up to the "new method", it will work. Life is a constant test of whether you are able to swim at the front.
- ck2 4y ago
  Oh it's not something new, many larger subreddits require year+ old accounts, so farms have people create accounts for years now, get a little karma, let it sit for awhile then resell it. Next presidential campaign is going to be brutal to reddit spam/noise filters, I hope they are ready somehow.
  - rnd0 4y ago
    >I hope they are ready somehow. It seems unlikely. It's more likely they'll find a way to use the noise as a revenue source of some sort.

throw10920 4y ago

It's already happening - marketers are creating sockpuppet accounts on Reddit to promote their products. This approach isn't sustainable.

owlninja 4y ago
Do you have any examples of what this looks like?
- SamBam 4y ago
  It's fairly well-known that some accounts "karma farm" by posting comment designed to be upvoted, and then use the credibility to sell themselves to marketers. Also, I believe it's fairly straightforward to buy votes in your posts from sock puppet farms. Here's an old post from a security researcher that wrote papers on this topic, and also experimented with buying votes: https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/38wl43/we_used_sock_puppets_in_rnetsec_last_year_and_are/ https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/38wl43/we_used_sock... I am unsure what the current field is like.
  - giancarlostoro 4y ago
    If you moderate large enough subs you see this just often enough. They'll find another sub to farm karma on, then come to yours to spam their random new domain. I wish reddit automod could check the age of the domain since it was registered, could help, although it could also be straining on reddits part, but I've seen some weirdo who gets a new domain and spams blogspam thats just ripped off articles with ads all over. I'm surprised they're turning a profit wasting money on so many domains. Before ever being a submod anywhere, I had no idea of half of what goes on in reddit.
- pueblito 4y ago
  r/oilpen is mostly Yocan bots, any hearing aid related subreddit etc
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  This person drives in a small car in other drivers' blind spots, waits for them to try to merge in front of them, then uses a novelty car horn. Then they upload the video, which Reddit loves because it is watching someone else possibly make an error thereby making the viewer feel better about themselves, and then they get an opportunity to share a link for the horn in the comments when people (or maybe the original poster’s alternative accounts) inevitably ask where they can also get a horn like it: https://www.reddit.com/user/Muscles_Metal_Miata/ https://www.reddit.com/user/Muscles_Metal_Miata/ I do not see what other explanation there could be for why a person is recording and uploading so many incidents of the same type within such a short timespan.
  - renewiltord 4y ago
    That sort of incident happens every day in the Bay Area, but people just yield or pre-emptively make room when they see the other guy is going to do this. This guy has decided not to and so he's got a lot of videos. That's literally it. If you decided to hardball every driver interaction you'd have enough of this content too.
bonoboTP 4y ago
Doesn't matter, you just have to be one step ahead. There will surely be something else next and as long as average people haven't caught up to the "new method", it will work. Life is a constant test of whether you are able to swim at the front.
ck2 4y ago
Oh it's not something new, many larger subreddits require year+ old accounts, so farms have people create accounts for years now, get a little karma, let it sit for awhile then resell it. Next presidential campaign is going to be brutal to reddit spam/noise filters, I hope they are ready somehow.
- rnd0 4y ago
  >I hope they are ready somehow. It seems unlikely. It's more likely they'll find a way to use the noise as a revenue source of some sort.