Honestly I’m not sure where best to discuss this but I’ve been seeing a crazy rise in astroturfing lately.

A couple examples I’ve found that are boggling my mind: Antivirus https://old.reddit.com/r/GettingOverItGame/comments/165kgw7/best_antivirus_reddit_recommends_in_2023_for/ Here is a niche gaming subreddit crosspost of a post on a user whose posts are kinda… sus? They all seem like shit copy written by AI.

I mean who says

Reddit, with its vast user-driven content and unfiltered opinions, is a goldmine for genuine reviews. If you’re searching for the best antivirus Reddit users vouch for in 2023, you’re in the right place.

Hella questionable.

And the links? 1: removed post. 2: Links thru some redirecter that are all to the two VPNs being advertised by the post.

I mean it’s obviously an advertisement just from the fact that only the two shilled services are linked to.

Another example: https://old.reddit.com/r/Spyware/comments/159e2te/what_is_the_best_antivirus_of_2023/

Same products. Same links to only the shilled products. There’s also links to trustpilot but I did a bit of digging and it seems that they’re like yelp in that you can get reviews removed? sigh.

What I find interesting here is the fact that this spyware subreddit is new and tiny, and one of the moderators made this veryyyyy similar AI post.

I mean it even has almost the exact same “Other Subreddits to _____ Antivirus Software” section.

Frankly I’m wondering if I should break the links just so they don’t get extra weight on search engines.

I’ve also seen tons of sock puppet accounts for crappy dating apps, but honestly I’m more of a lurker and I’ve ran out of energy to write anything else here 😌

    • moohahaha@lemm.eeOP
      324·
      1 year ago

      Pretty much the only reason I still visit reddit is because there was in the past been such a wealth of genuine discussion. Like if I wanted to get the inside facts of “what’s the best mayonaise” I could find it on r/mayo posted 4 years ago.

      Lemmy is still a bit lacking in that regard, though I’m sure it will come soon enough.

      • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
        352·
        1 year ago

        Like if I wanted to get the inside facts of “what’s the best mayonaise” I could find it on r/mayo posted 4 years ago.

        The best mayo is the one that you whisk at home, using one raw yolk and one cooked yolk (yup). Mash them well together, add a bit of veg oil (just a bit! 1tbsp each time), whisk furiously, repeat until you have the desired amount (2 girls for 1 cup 2 yolks for 1 cup of oil seems sensible for me). Then finish off with some salt and a healthy amount of vinegar (it’s important to avoid bacteria).

        Done. Now you can find “what’s the best mayonnaise” in Lemmy too!

        I’m half-joking with the above (you mentioned mayo as an example, not the point). I agree with your point - Lemmy will miss that sort of knowledge for some time, while Reddit is drowning itself in a sea of noise.

          • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
            15·
            1 year ago

            If you want to replicate store-bought mayo:

            • skip the cooked yolk. I mentioned it because I think that it improves the taste, but it makes it more distinct from store-bought.
            • use citric acid diluted into warm water instead of vinegar. Add it to the yolk, then mix them well.
            • add a tiny dash of mustard. This is important: it should not taste like mustard, but it should get at least some.
            • add the oil and whisk as usual, then add salt.

            It won’t get identical but it’ll get closer in texture and taste. And colour if you use more water.

      • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
        9·
        1 year ago

        It’s almost as if there’s been some level of coordinated effort to disperse people away from public forums where discussion was made, preventing that discussion leading to mass organisation.

      • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
        103·
        1 year ago

        I still visit reddit is because there was in the past been such a wealth of genuine discussion.

        I think I found the cause of the issue.

        You are confusing the present with the past.

        That link is from 8 days ago… (Seriously, who has given a shit about AV in the last decade?)

        Personally, reddit has been a shithole of disinformation since the run up to the 2016 US election.

        I gave up on the place then, except for very specific small subs.

        • moohahaha@lemm.eeOP
          6·
          1 year ago

          You’re not wrong, but the habit still persists a bit :(

          Just have to accept that the thing I loved no longer exists.

          • Haui@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            5·
            1 year ago

            Well, the people who made it lovable are partly here, you can recreate that place here. Take up a community that you enjoyed on reddit and learn to mod. I modded subreddits for over a year. Let me know if you need help. :) we need more people to take up responsibility imo.

        • moohahaha@lemm.eeOP
          3·
          1 year ago

          Hahah… that’d be ridiculous.

          Pay no attention to the mayo bursting from my pockets…

      • cloudy1999@sh.itjust.works
        3·
        1 year ago

        The hope that Lemmy will grow to be and even exceed what Reddit was at its height is what keeps me coming here. I also have a hard time ignoring the mountain of historical Reddit posts for search results. There’s so much knowledge and discussion.

        • mriguy@lemmy.world
          6·
          1 year ago

          Kewpie. Good mayo flavor, convenient squeeze bottle, and not sweet (why do people have to sweeten everything!?)

    • GreenMario@lemm.ee
      242·
      1 year ago

      Neat joke, often repeated, but it is useful to discuss what’s happening on one of the biggest websites on the Internet, despite the mass amount of PTSD Reddit has generated to Lemmy users.

      Such as, the rise of AI posts on the internet is a big issue.

      • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
        94·
        1 year ago

        but it is useful to discuss what’s happening on one of the biggest websites on the Internet

        To who?

        Anyone here is already well aware.

        Those still on reddit? They are not me so I don’t care. Personal choice and all that. I am not my brother’s keeper.

        Those that never went on reddit? It already has a hive of scum and villainy reputation across a lot of other social media and with good reason in most cases.

        the rise of AI posts on the internet is a big issue.

        Meh. Again that will happen no matter what serious words you want to post here.

        We are all along for the ride, none of us is driving.

        • XEAL@lemm.ee
          5·
          1 year ago

          The absoulte, fucking irony of posting such a comment on a community titled “SNOOcalypse - document, discuss, and promote the downfall of Reddit.”

          Tell me you’re browsing “ALL” without telling me you’re broswing “ALL”

    • XEAL@lemm.ee
      20·
      1 year ago

      Great advice on a community that is:

      “SNOOcalypse - document, discuss, and promote the downfall of Reddit.”

    • reddig33@lemmy.worldEnglish
      32·
      1 year ago

      This is the answer. Most of the mods who actually gave a shit about moderating got tired of Reddit’s nonsense and left. So now the spammers and bots are free to post ad nauseum.

      • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
        15·
        1 year ago

        Many people predicted that the APIcalypse would make moderation more difficult and that would result in ad bots running wild. However, people didn’t think that the protest would keep on going an Reddit would kick all the dedicated mods out of the platform. The new mods aren’t doing a great job, and that’s why we have all this spam today.

        • gsa@kbin.social
          43·
          1 year ago

          The new mods aren’t doing a great job, and that’s why we have all this spam today.

          implying reddit mods were ever doing a good job

          lol, lmao even!

          • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
            5·
            1 year ago

            Adequate, is the term I would prefer to use in this case. May not be great, but in most cases it was good enough. There were also higly moderated subs such as r/science where the quality was a lot higher.

    • gsa@kbin.social
      220·
      1 year ago

      *Few mods quit. Most went back to jannying when their pathetic protest failed.

        • romaselli@lemmygrad.ml
          5·
          1 year ago

          Not proletarian heroes but two things can be true at the same time. People who voluntarily mod online communities pretty much are all your negative stereotypes of a nerd, but if they are competent and actually care about their communities they are absolutely integral to their well being, safety and culture.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
    33·
    1 year ago

    Usually, when there were blatant signs of astroturfing in an active sub, its users would report it to the mods, and the mods would remove it. And, when this would happen in an otherwise inactive community, more engaged users would report it to the admins, who clearly do not want people advertising in their platform without paying Reddit some cash.

    Except that Reddit showed a middle finger to both groups. A bunch of them left, and the ones behind will certainly not lift a single finger to help the platform. And that’s the result, you’ll get spam and shilling and users going rogue.

    • moohahaha@lemm.eeOP
      12·
      1 year ago

      I honestly can’t blame the mods after all the API bullshit. I can’t imagine moderating was particularly enjoyable beforehand, and without the tools to make things more convenient I’d definitely give up.

      • Lvxferre@lemmy.mlM
        7·
        1 year ago

        I don’t blame them, either.

        At the end of the day, moderation on its own is not enjoyable - it’s at the best repetitive chores, and at the worst dealing with nasty shit. Usually decent mods still do it because they want to contribute with something or some people. And yet Reddit has been consistently ruining that will to contribute for years, specially during/after the API bullshit.

        I’d definitely give up.

        I would, too. I gave up for far less than that.

      • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
        13·
        1 year ago

        How many tools and apps have actually had their API access revoked though? I know several apps have either shut down or moved to a subscription model, but I haven’t yet read about anyone being invoiced or paying reddit, and I haven’t used nor heard of any apps that have actually been blocked by reddit rather than just inhibited by an update.

        Two examples, Stealth continues to work just fine, and I just tried an older version of Relay and that had no issues.

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
      4·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, Reddit got to keep a lot of the people that were just mindlessly scrolling through. Active commentors would tend to file reports more often, and I do find that people over on Kbin/Lemmy are on average more engaged in keeping the site relatively clean from spam because of reporting.

  • thantik@lemmy.world
    13·
    1 year ago

    Reddit actually started off with bot accounts to begin with. Their site wasn’t gaining popularity in the early days and they had a bunch of scripts that went to other places and copied conversations to make the place look more lively than it actually was. I would not be surprised in the slightest if someone were to tell me that they still do it to this day in order to help drive engagement and the idea that everyone still uses it.

    • moohahaha@lemm.eeOP
      2·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, there’s a tendency among people to have trust for things that are popular. On the other hand if you see a lack of users on a service it makes you doubt how good something is.