Official Twitter Thread (1 Viewer)

[massraider]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

 

[Capella]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

lol yea I remember that one. Just block 50M accounts and you’ll be all set!

 

[Mister CIA]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

I was introduced to a new term listening to Sam Harris' latest podcast interview with author Cal Newport, hyper-curation (I'm pretty sure that the term I heard, but old-age and all that...) Ive not finished the podcast yet, but it's pretty interesting and it's relevant to FBG FFA too, where an argument is made for more interaction on smaller social media platforms (the distributed trust model of curation) because they are the real town halls, while Twitter is best thought of as the Colosseum. He (Cal Newport) states that he is bearish on the future of large social media platforms.

Here's a link to the podcast: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/363-knowledge-work. I think the link will bypass the paywall.

Again, have not finished, but it's shaping up to be a pretty meaty conversation, as it touches on many popular topics in the FFA. Quoting from the summary, "They discuss the state of social media, the "academic-in-exile effect," free speech and moderation, the effect of the pandemic on knowledge work, slow productivity, the example of Jane Austen, managing up in an organization, defragmenting one's work life, doing fewer things, reasonable deadlines, trading money for time, finding meaning in a post-scarcity world, the anti-work movement, the effects of artificial intelligence on knowledge work, and other topics."

 

[IvanKaramazov]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

lol yea I remember that one. Just block 50M accounts and you’ll be all set!

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

For You tends to be a dumpster fire. If you're having a negative experience under that tab, I 100% believe you.

 

[the moops]

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

I only follow like 200 people. Gets pretty boring in the following tab

 

[belljr]

I have zero posts zero likes 1:follower and follow5.

My account doesn't even have a picture.

All of sudden I had 3; people follow me. I'm sure they are bots and insta blocked but no clue how they find me

 

[Joe Bryant]

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

 

[Capella]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

lol yea I remember that one. Just block 50M accounts and you’ll be all set!

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

For You tends to be a dumpster fire. If you're having a negative experience under that tab, I 100% believe you.

I don’t know which one it is, but it’s mostly in the comments, which yes are opt-in by nature but also you really can’t click on them much anymore. But whatever. It’s not going to improve.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

The bot farms must be crazy sophisticated these days because Twitter seems to really be going all out to make it difficult for them to sign-up but somehow they persist.

If you're in the US you have to register with a phone number now.

Outside of the US the captcha process is insane. You have to pass 20 captcha tests, each one that is a relatively slow captcha to solve, and if you miss even one you fail the entire thing.

I don't know if these bots just have farms of people in a warehouse somewhere solving captcha's all day or what, but you can't say Twitter isn't trying.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

lol yea I remember that one. Just block 50M accounts and you’ll be all set!

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

For You tends to be a dumpster fire. If you're having a negative experience under that tab, I 100% believe you.

I don’t know which one it is, but it’s mostly in the comments, which yes are opt-in by nature but also you really can’t click on them much anymore. But whatever. It’s not going to improve.

That's true. I was seeing these in basically every comment section for months.

 

[shuke]

Are we all already following each other?

 

[BlackCrowes]

Are we all already following each other?

I’m considering only following bots for a while.

 

[Battersbox]

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I rarely dive into the comments of any tweet. Like, almost never. I'm there to read what the tweeter has to say. Not much interested in any responses. Perhaps that's limiting, but for me Twitter is a portal to other things rather than something meant to be interactive.

 

[fatness]

It finally happened. I logged in yesterday to check some football stuff and got my first porn tweet on "my" page (which has nothing to do with me).

I look forward to feeling new urges, to my voice cracking, and to getting hair in new places.

 

[Desert_Power]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

It probably isn't that there are more porn bots as much as there is just so much less real interaction.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

 

[Ilov80s]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

 

[Capella]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

It probably isn't that there are more porn bots as much as there is just so much less real interaction.

No there’s way more. Musk has stated charging new users a nominal amount to tweet in order to combat all the bots.

 

[Ilov80s]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

Yeah it’s all meant to make money or sow seeds of hate.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

Yeah it’s all meant to make money or sow seeds of hate.

Do you mean the bots? Who in your opinion wants to sew seeds of hate? What is their goal and purpose?

 

[GroveDiesel]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

Yeah it’s all meant to make money or sow seeds of hate.

Do you mean the bots? Who in your opinion wants to sew seeds of hate? What is their goal and purpose?

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea all have huge cyber warfare groups that exist to do this in order to influence and destabilize countries they view as hostile to them.

Here are a few rather scholarly reports/investigations on this. Lots and lots to dig into, but really solid data/examples/analysis if you’re truly interested.

Study on social media manipulation by Oxford

Study in social media manipulation from NATO

Hostile social manipulation report from US Department of Defense’s

 

[Capella]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

Yeah it’s all meant to make money or sow seeds of hate.

Do you mean the bots? Who in your opinion wants to sew seeds of hate? What is their goal and purpose?

Joe I respect you greatly but you’ve never heard of this before??

 

[phandango]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

I have a friend who posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago about how he thought he nearly fell for an Apple ID phishing scam. Within a few hours, he had more than 150 comments, all from spambots that referenced the same "cybersecurity expert" who was very likely a scammer. It's insane scrolling through and seeing all the responses from the bots. Never seen anything like it before (though I try to stay off FB as much as possible).

 

[bigbottom]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

I have a friend who posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago about how he thought he nearly fell for an Apple ID phishing scam. Within a few hours, he had more than 150 comments, all from spambots that referenced the same "cybersecurity expert" who was very likely a scammer. It's insane scrolling through and seeing all the responses from the bots. Never seen anything like it before (though I try to stay off FB as much as possible).

I guess all his posts on FB are set to “public”?

 

[phandango]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

I have a friend who posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago about how he thought he nearly fell for an Apple ID phishing scam. Within a few hours, he had more than 150 comments, all from spambots that referenced the same "cybersecurity expert" who was very likely a scammer. It's insane scrolling through and seeing all the responses from the bots. Never seen anything like it before (though I try to stay off FB as much as possible).

I guess all his posts on FB are set to “public”?

Guess so. I just clicked "Who can see" his post, and it says, "Anyone on or off Facebook."

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

Yeah it’s all meant to make money or sow seeds of hate.

Do you mean the bots? Who in your opinion wants to sew seeds of hate? What is their goal and purpose?

Joe I respect you greatly but you’ve never heard of this before??

Yes, I know about this. I was asking for opinions here from people for discussion.

I haven’t heard nearly as much about the generic type posting bots that we have here. They are interesting to me as they’re different than the other types.

 

[djmich]

So after I read all the hot takes from my favorite follows I can jump to For You and I’ve got some have free porn feed to me. Media genius.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

I have a friend who posted on Facebook a couple weeks ago about how he thought he nearly fell for an Apple ID phishing scam. Within a few hours, he had more than 150 comments, all from spambots that referenced the same "cybersecurity expert" who was very likely a scammer. It's insane scrolling through and seeing all the responses from the bots. Never seen anything like it before (though I try to stay off FB as much as possible).

I guess all his posts on FB are set to “public”?

Guess so. I just clicked "Who can see" his post, and it says, "Anyone on or off Facebook."

I thought most people used facebook for sharing things with a limited audience that you approved.

 

[Ilov80s]

I've noticed a lot more bots in the comments on Facebook lately too, fwiw.

Thanks. Are they like the ones we sometimes get with a generic comment?

Sometimes generic but usually it's inflammatory, extremely politically bias, a link to porn or a link to some kind of scam. The comments used to be full of interesting discussion like you might see here but now it's just a dumpster fire.

Interesting. So it's a different plan than the bots we have that do the lame generic stuff.

Yeah it’s all meant to make money or sow seeds of hate.

Do you mean the bots? Who in your opinion wants to sew seeds of hate? What is their goal and purpose?

I have no idea who is behind the bots. I assume it's like GroveDiesel posted.

 

[urbanhack]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

lol yea I remember that one. Just block 50M accounts and you’ll be all set!

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

For You tends to be a dumpster fire. If you're having a negative experience under that tab, I 100% believe you.

I've found the For You has algorithm has been picking up my behavior pretty quickly and then showing me the appropriate content. Purdue in the final four, fantasy baseball, and a few other subjects have been pretty quick to update in that feed.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

It’s funny how we talked about the porn bots early in this thread a while ago and now there are 15x as many, easily. Spread like fleas.

No no no you need to curate

lol yea I remember that one. Just block 50M accounts and you’ll be all set!

Twitter is opt-in, so you don't need to block anybody as long as you're under the Following tab.

For You tends to be a dumpster fire. If you're having a negative experience under that tab, I 100% believe you.

I've found the For You has algorithm has been picking up my behavior pretty quickly and then showing me the appropriate content. Purdue in the final four, fantasy baseball, and a few other subjects have been pretty quick to update in that feed.

Yes, this is my experience too. The way it goes off the rails is that if you click on one political thread (doesn't matter what the topic is), the algorithm starts feeding you related content like a fire hose. And the content under "For You" is selected because it's getting engagement on the platform, which is often a negative indicator of quality. So For You feels like a funhouse mirror version of Following, where it's the same topics only dialed up to 11 and with more stupidity than usual.

I imagine that in a few days, that tab will be dominated by really dumb NFL draft takes, because that's where my attention is wandering.

 

[massraider]

When they get rid of the misinformation bots, they only misinformation bots with be: The in-house news division!

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok often takes jokes and displays them as real news headlines for paying X users.

At one point, Grok started producing some pretty dangerous misinformation about Iran striking Israel with heavy missiles. Grok got this info from accounts spreading misinformation in April.

 

[shuke]

I've found the For You has algorithm has been picking up my behavior pretty quickly and then showing me the appropriate content. Purdue in the final four, fantasy baseball, and a few other subjects have been pretty quick to update in that feed.

I think it's been a little overzealous. I clicked on one thread about that Kate Middleton photo thing happening a few weeks back, and all of a sudden my timeline was filled with all kinds of crazy conspiracy crap.