4 ms·

Oh... why... oh why... I will never understand such behavior. What are incentives here?

by gala8y 2y ago

Sayrus 2y ago
I'd imagine there are monetary incentives to having many accounts able to boost you and keep your post on the front page. Doing that with brand new accounts who have no comments and no karma is probably harder. In the cases listed, all the comments were heavily downvoted but there are other bots out there who have a positive karma.
- defrost 2y ago
  FWiW this network slid in unnoticed and unflagged in the past 20 days until someone noticed and pointed them out. eg: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41024612 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41024612 (9 days ago) Since then they're mostly rapidly auto-flagged.
grumple 2y ago
Gain reputation, use the account to manipulate us at a later time. HN is a high value target for the same regimes that use Reddit and other social media platforms to manipulate the US and Europe.
- gwervc 2y ago
  Interesting conspiracy theory, I'll now blame highly upvoted Rust stories as a Russian plot to make us lose time rewriting all our software.
  - grumple 2y ago
    We know nation states try to compromise social media platforms and Github; that isn't conspiracy, it's fact. Now whether this particular set of users serve that purpose, I cannot know. But why else would someone use a bot on this site, other than to gain reputation for the purpose of manipulation of some sort? Remember the recent xz utils compromise: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39865810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39865810 Recent use of Github for intelligence efforts by China: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/21/china-hacking-leak-documents-isoon/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/21/china-hackin... Iran on Reddit: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/volunteers-found-iran-s-propaganda-effort-reddit-their-warnings-were-n903486 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/volunteers-found-iran... Russia on Reddit: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43255285 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43255285 It is a certainty that you do interact with malicious actors representing hostile nation states on any large platform - HN is well beyond the size where it's an issue. I hope the HN team has some tools to detect and counter it, but given their small team size they probably can't do much.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    It's a Rustian plot! (Sorry for this reddit-level comment, feel free to burn it at the stake)
    - ClumsyPilot 2y ago
      Every plot is a Russian plot. Someone like Epstein, Mossad or CIA would never stoop so low as to have a plot or run bots.
deleted 2y ago
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apwell23 2y ago
To see how far way from AGI we are. Those comments get immedietly flagged but they probably hope one day they will be top voted comments.
lupusreal 2y ago
I think it's probably the same motivation as those people who post "I asked [chatbot] and it said:" comments. Granted those are more courteous, but I think both are motivated by people who are too easily impressed by the present capabilities of the chatbots and genuinely think they're making helpful contributions by inflicting the chatbot comments onto the rest of us.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

Oh... why... oh why... I will never understand such behavior. What are incentives here?

by gala8y 2y ago

Oh... why... oh why... I will never understand such behavior. What are incentives here?

I'd imagine there are monetary incentives to having many accounts able to boost you and keep your post on the front page. Doing that with brand new accounts who have no comments and no karma is probably harder. In the cases listed, all the comments were heavily downvoted but there are other bots out there who have a positive karma.

defrost 2y ago
FWiW this network slid in unnoticed and unflagged in the past 20 days until someone noticed and pointed them out. eg: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41024612 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41024612 (9 days ago) Since then they're mostly rapidly auto-flagged.

grumple 2y ago

Gain reputation, use the account to manipulate us at a later time. HN is a high value target for the same regimes that use Reddit and other social media platforms to manipulate the US and Europe.

gwervc 2y ago
Interesting conspiracy theory, I'll now blame highly upvoted Rust stories as a Russian plot to make us lose time rewriting all our software.
- grumple 2y ago
  We know nation states try to compromise social media platforms and Github; that isn't conspiracy, it's fact. Now whether this particular set of users serve that purpose, I cannot know. But why else would someone use a bot on this site, other than to gain reputation for the purpose of manipulation of some sort? Remember the recent xz utils compromise: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39865810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39865810 Recent use of Github for intelligence efforts by China: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/21/china-hacking-leak-documents-isoon/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/21/china-hackin... Iran on Reddit: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/volunteers-found-iran-s-propaganda-effort-reddit-their-warnings-were-n903486 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/volunteers-found-iran... Russia on Reddit: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43255285 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43255285 It is a certainty that you do interact with malicious actors representing hostile nation states on any large platform - HN is well beyond the size where it's an issue. I hope the HN team has some tools to detect and counter it, but given their small team size they probably can't do much.
- netsharc 2y ago
  It's a Rustian plot! (Sorry for this reddit-level comment, feel free to burn it at the stake)
  - ClumsyPilot 2y ago
    Every plot is a Russian plot. Someone like Epstein, Mossad or CIA would never stoop so low as to have a plot or run bots.

deleted 2y ago

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apwell23 2y ago

To see how far way from AGI we are. Those comments get immedietly flagged but they probably hope one day they will be top voted comments.

lupusreal 2y ago

I think it's probably the same motivation as those people who post "I asked [chatbot] and it said:" comments. Granted those are more courteous, but I think both are motivated by people who are too easily impressed by the present capabilities of the chatbots and genuinely think they're making helpful contributions by inflicting the chatbot comments onto the rest of us.

deleted 2y ago

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