3 ms·
you under estimate human population in certain countries, literally
by kingleopold 5mo ago
you under estimate human population in certain countries, literally
- Karrot_Kream 5mo agoI just don't see a world where a small community ends up having to deal with a dedicated set of potentially spoofed identities. There are already tools like slow-downs and post limits for new members that can protect against this. HN is the biggest community I'm in by an order of magnitude and it's the only community I know that can't just use a slow mode type mechanic to halt this kind of attack.
- nemomarx 5mo agoHave you considered sock puppets? It's not out of the question to handle with human mods but detecting them automatically is pretty bad if someone is supplying credentials to each one, and sometimes it does take months or years to notice that new user Y is banned user X.
- Karrot_Kream 5mo agoI think sockpuppets are only useful in a community with non-text signals like upvotes and downvotes or likes. These kinds of signals are not necessary and often plain corrosive to small communities. In a larger community they're a great feedback mechanism, but large communities are fundamentally different spaces than small ones and need a fundamentally different moderation approach IMO.
- IcyWindows 5mo agoI think sock puppets that reply with text are a lot persuasive than just "likes". However, I might be not typical in that I don't look at vote scores very often.
- nemomarx 5mo agoI've seen them used to dogpile in arguments (harder to do since you need to keep writing styles distinct), game votes in forum games or quests, etc. And of course you don't need to use multiple at once if you just switch to a sock puppet every time you're suspended or banned.