About using bots on lemmy.today
There has been quite a few reports lately about people using bots and llms to create and upvote content. I wanted to make a post to discuss this.
In my opinion, bots are a tool to quickly create or repost content. And its how users use that tool that is important for whether or not it will make lemmy a better or worse place.
Two examples:
User A
- User A frequently visits reddit and would like to quickly share content that he thinks is actually good and would be liked on lemmy.
- He uses a bot or some other tool to do this quickly and conveniently.
- Most of the posts are generally liked by the community, sometimes ending up on the frontpage, with many comments from many different users.
- A few users are complaining about bot content but the majority seems to appreciate the posts.
User B
- User B also uses a similar repost bot or a llm to generate content, but they decide that lemmy needs a lot of content and it doesnt matter so much weather or not its actually good.
- The main idea is to repost or generate as much as possible and lets users decide what they like.
- They create 30 posts in a day, where almost none of them are actually interesting for the lemmy community. Posts have no comments, and most of them are only upvoted by other bot users.
- Many users are complaining that they now see tons of low quality posts in their feeds because of this user.
How will we moderate this
In my mind, the lemmy community is fine with user A but not user B. So it requires moderators to make a decision about the content someone is creating. Does it make lemmy better or worse for the majority?
Thats how Im thinking about this, and if you want to share your own ideas or comments, I would love reading them. If you agree, easiest way is to upvote. If you dont, I would love a comment even more so I can understand some other point of view. :)
Thanks!
I think all bots should be marked as such. The User B type bots are basically the only things I block on here, but I would like to know if I'm responding to someone who will engage or just an unmonitored bot posting whatever.
I would like this concept also, but what do you call someone who uses an automated tool to post content and who reads the comments on his posts?
I mean, if someone makes a browser plugin that can one-click share content from other platforms (maybe it exists, I dont know), should it be banned? I think what we all want is quality content, no matter if its from an automated tool or manually created.
It depends on the level of automation, and I want to preface this by saying I don't believe bot accounts are bad.
Someone who selects and schedules posts for later or has a one-click-posting tool shouldn't be considered a bot account. However, there's a community for Propublica where an account automatically posts all new articles (or at least it did a while ago) and that should be labelled. The difference is whether a human selected the content or not.
I appreciate a bot that posts everything from a specific news site, but I'd still like to see it tagged.
Maybe that would help ease the reports on accounts that post a high volume of content but are independently curated, if people know that admins are looking into and labeling accounts appropriately.
Yeah I totally agree with you, I think the problem is mainly when someone reposts all new articles very quickly and doesnt screen them for quality or even read them. Thats when it becomes super annoying for users to have to see all the crap. Its the typical User B scenario above.
The problem with marking someone as a bot account is that they cant post their content anymore. Many communities have rules against all bots by default it seems. And if we put someone using a tool in that category, it will kill most of their posts.
In the case of the Propublica account, it seemed to have one purpose and lived in a community specifically for it. Since Propublica publishes sporadic investigative journalism, it worked well for that purpose without looking spammy. In that case it makes sense for the user to have another account for engagement, or rather that's my solution. I would still want to see the bot account labelled.
Otherwise, individual communities should be run however they see fit, even if it excludes bots or if their understanding of bots is incorrect. Anyone who really wants to post there can either follow their rules or DM the mods about changing their guidelines. In any case, everyone is free to make their own community here.
I agree with this. Quality is key, but I also get that it's subjective. But if people see a lot of posts they don't like in a certain community, then they are free to block that user or community. So I don't see any issues with this.
I should look for this. I read a lot of articles, and it'd be great if after I read it, I could click a button and the content gets posted here.
but people are confused - they dont understand automation vs bot and constantly accuse people using automation being bots.
lemmy.world expressly allows automation for example
Sure, but what does that have to do with my comment?
my point is - people cant tell the difference and falsely accuse others of being a bot.
You should talk to them about it.
thats the problem - complainers wont complain publicly so people accused of being a bot cant respond.
those reddit agents with 0 posts themselves - they will complain privately to either a community moderator or server admin - and get active contributors effectively banned.
There wont be a jury, people accused of being bot wont be able to defend themselves.
My point is - lets not add those rules requiring bot labels as it cannot be effectively and judiciously enforced
Thats actually why I started this discussion and why im reading every comment. Many people have complained about the sanitation account over the last few months, but I have seen some good content from it that I believe makes lemmy better. As long as there is some screening going on. I think you are User A in the example - someone who picks content you believe will be interesting to the community.
The upvotes on this post also confirms that many others agree that User A is acceptable. I know you are not a bot in the way people think of bots - you are using a tool to quickly repost content. Its not the same as a bot.
I have no idea why you're telling this to me.
Edit: Since you edited your comment after I responded, my answer is in my reply to Mr. Manager.
I just want to give a quick shout-out to you and say that I appreciate you and your content. :)
Thank you!