this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2023
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I’ve heard rumors of this coming but with this influx of SPAM Reddit bots, I need a solution. I can’t keep up with the number of communities to block them all individually. Without self-hosting, what options do I have?

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[–] neme@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can’t keep up with the number of communities to block them all individually

Block the bot instead?

[–] TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

That’s kinda of a shitty answer imo.

  1. The sheer volume of spam from repost posts crashes some app/browsers if you try to open their profiles. The bot from zerobytes is particularly egregious, because it posts hundreds of posts an hour and they’re direct links to Reddit. It took me opening the profile in a browser tab and waiting ten minutes to block it. New users will just leave.

  2. It shouldn’t be user’s responsibility to filter spam from a given platform. That’s why Facebook died. That’s why MySpace died, at least partially. There has to be a bare minimum from a content:engagement ratio and repost spam bots ruin that

  3. The content just sucks. Hundreds on posts with no comments or context are lame, it’s inhuman. If I was here to talk to bots I’d be on Reddit. Creating bots that flood the all feed with endless nonsensical bullshit with no comments and the no incentive to engage is fucking stupid, and anybody that supports or uses those bots is an active detriment to the community. Here in the near future I’ll be spinning up my own instance where repost bots, and anybody who uses/subscribes to them will be banned.

Maybe I’m a bit of a zealot about this, but it’s so painfully simple how damaging it is to the growth of lemme as an independent social environment I can’t helped but be angry.

[–] ME5SENGER_24@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like I’m being forced fed Reddit posts, after I left Reddit for Lemmy. If all my posts are going to be external links to Reddit I might as well return to Reddit (I won’t but that’s how it feels)

[–] TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah it’s dumb as fuck and the people that support them are stupid, just my opinion.

[–] neme@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

You don't need to open their profile to block them, click the three dot menu in their posts/comments and there should be "Block user" option.

[–] Spzi@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

It's refreshing to see someone hate these abominations with the same passion I do, and bring up very similar points. Thanks.

[–] ME5SENGER_24@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can’t get the bot’s profile to load on my app or desktop, so I can’t block them. I also don’t want to blanket ban all bots in my settings either

[–] neme@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

You don’t need to open their profile to block them, click the three dot menu in their posts/comments and there should be “Block user” option.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Temporarily, if you use one of the apps that offer filtering, it does the job fine.

I use sync and connect, depending on which accounts I'm using (each has benefits for various needs for me that the other doesn't have). Both of their filtering options are solid. No extras creeping through.

I can't recall all of the apps, nor which ones do and don't have filters, but it's a very popular feature, so most of them were planning on it.

Otherwise, you'd need to jump through hoops blocking them in other ways, and that's more trouble than it's worth. Like, you can usually add domains to ad block filters manually. So anything that allows such will beef the job done, but that may be undesirable.

[–] posthexbearposting@hexbear.net -2 points 1 year ago

Switch to an instance that isn't federated with all instances by default. For example, hexbear uses an Allowlist not a Blocklist