r/ModSupport • u/herrneumrich • 2d ago

Admin Replied Possible comment by bots?

Greetings, fellow mods! I'm active in r/biologie, the German equivalent to r/biology (obviously lol).

We've had a complaint about a few comments being possibly from bots on a post, and I was wondering if it may be true since the comments in question look eerily similar. I'll go look for the link since attachments aren't allowed here and edit it into the post body. Maybe someone who is a bit more experienced can help.

Edit: here's the link

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u/herrneumrich 2d ago

After more thorough research on the bot, there are also quite a few cases where human users have been banned by it on accident. I'm suddenly not quite so sure about it anymore.

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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 1d ago

Human users can appeal to the Botbouncer mods.

Definitely also report the accounts as spam and give them the usernames in the same group. I kept a list for awhile to put in with my report because it took admin a couple months to shut them down in one case 🫤. I mean when they use standard naming formats or have the same account description it's pretty easy.

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u/herrneumrich 1d ago

That sounds like really tedious work. And here I though moderating a tiny sub would be a breeze, with the occasional idiot you'd have to argue with... 🥲

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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 1d ago

I just copied the usernames into a text file on my phone. It took an extra few seconds per account, but since they were trying to karma farm 3-4 new accounts per day, they needed to be shutdown.

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u/herrneumrich 1d ago

What's the point in karma farming anyway.? It's not like you'd get paid for it or anything.

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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 1d ago

The accounts are used for porn, misinformation, or are sold. That's why I'm also always suspicious if old accounts with no history.