4 ms·

> usernames are a big tell, a lot of them seem to be relying on the same script to generate usernames Regarding this, I also noticed a pattern in usernames onc

> usernames are a big tell, a lot of them seem to be relying on the same script to generate usernames Regarding this, I also noticed a pattern in usernames once, but realized that Reddit itself generates these usernames for new users, who often just accept it because they don’t care about their nicks. So usernames like Green-Biscuit398 are often real users! I don’t know if that’s the pattern you’re referring to. But for me it makes it even harder to make any claims about the user from the obvious artificial name.

waboremo 3y ago
Yeah Reddit autogenerates names now, somehow they thought signing up for an account was too difficult and wanted to make it easier. That policy is why a lot of posts on the linked subs try to avoid purely going off username unless there's another larger pattern linking them such as all of them repeating the same comment, or sharing the same link across subs in short time. Ignoring the scripts that generate names like elizabeth99057524 that exceed Reddit's username pattern (which seems to limit itself to two words, optional symbol dividers, 2-4 digits, and properly capitalized). One of the more odd patterns, is dormant/hacked/purchased accounts. Reddit has a somewhat aggressive commenting policy for new accounts and the community at large seems to treat them differently - so you'll see in those bot tracking subs that a lot of accounts highlighted aren't new but quite old and were likely purchased or hacked. I suppose someone sees value in doing so, and I guess with enough of them purchased you can plant enough votes to encourage Reddit to do the rest (ie upvote a thread enough to get it to the front page of the sub, but not enough to alert people, letting actual users mindlessly upvote it as well).

4 ms·

> usernames are a big tell, a lot of them seem to be relying on the same script to generate usernames Regarding this, I also noticed a pattern in usernames onc

by function_seven 3y ago

waboremo 3y ago
Yeah Reddit autogenerates names now, somehow they thought signing up for an account was too difficult and wanted to make it easier. That policy is why a lot of posts on the linked subs try to avoid purely going off username unless there's another larger pattern linking them such as all of them repeating the same comment, or sharing the same link across subs in short time. Ignoring the scripts that generate names like elizabeth99057524 that exceed Reddit's username pattern (which seems to limit itself to two words, optional symbol dividers, 2-4 digits, and properly capitalized). One of the more odd patterns, is dormant/hacked/purchased accounts. Reddit has a somewhat aggressive commenting policy for new accounts and the community at large seems to treat them differently - so you'll see in those bot tracking subs that a lot of accounts highlighted aren't new but quite old and were likely purchased or hacked. I suppose someone sees value in doing so, and I guess with enough of them purchased you can plant enough votes to encourage Reddit to do the rest (ie upvote a thread enough to get it to the front page of the sub, but not enough to alert people, letting actual users mindlessly upvote it as well).