ban the bots already

Or just have the bots post "np." with it, not that hard.

They already do - the "np" tag accomplishes almost nothing in practice.

oh

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You think the admins of this site haven't taken into consideration the creation of alts? If that were the case, someone who wanted to get their content to the top of the front page each and every time they submitted something, they could just open a hundred new browser windows and create a hundred new accounts. You yourself can test it right now -- create 2 or 3 throwaway accounts, after that they'll start getting shadowbanned automatically the second your IP address creates a new one.

The vast majority of anti-spam / vote manipulation / brigade punishment happens through algorithms, not the whims of an individual reddit admin.

Every time you click a link, your browser communicates to the server (re: reddit) that it came to that page by following a link.

When reddit's algorithm says "hmm, sure is fishy -- 300 people followed a link from subreddit X to subreddit Y, and 75% of them downvoted the post"? You're all going to get flagged for brigading.

The people who have alts on this sub are probably people who realize talking publicly about their bizarre theories could hurt their professional or private lives. An employer or a friend or a relative could see that they believe 9/11 was a Zionist conspiracy, so they want to keep things private.

I'm not blaming you -- a number of people across a string of subreddits I follow have recently revealed that they know little about the site-wide reddit admin's job, their capacity/resources, etc. It is pretty confusing.

But if you think that a reddit admin is sitting at a terminal and saying "hmmm, 400 of our site's 40B up/downvotes this year can be traced back to /r/conspiracy, we should ban them"?

That's magical thinking.

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Sorry, I forgot I was on /r/conspiracy

"Do your own research man! I won't break down this complex situation in to easily understood points tailored specifically to this conversation to help you understand my point of view or the facts that support my case, I'll just make a vague reference to something sinister sounding. The truth is out there, only the sheep don't understand the true rulers of reddit. reddit's admins have never published the long-form source code of the website, we don't know what truly happens beneath the hood. Probably something Jewey."

IP bans can easily be beaten thanks to the fact that almost everyone is using a rotating IP address through DHCP. Unplug your router for a minute and BAM new IP.

Stop being a bitter jackass.

Your best bet is to message the creator of the bot/bots. I know totes has it.

Link for you incase you have not already

I am a bot. Comments? Complaints?Message me here.I don't read PMs!

I recall oculus or something like that, but have not seen that one recently that I can recall.

I took him offline for a while. Started working on other bots and whatnot.

But I know that this is a problem. First thing I noticed when I launched the bot was that both sides do the same exact thing in regards to brigading.

I think that removing bots will help, but it's kind of a double edged sword. I don't want to sit here and argue with someone from /r/conspiratard because I know that they are probably set in their beliefs and it will just turn in to an argument. If the bot shows me that there has been a cross post I know there is a chance that I'm talking to a troll.

But Ocolus_the_bot should be down. If not, I'm willing to take him offline.

Edit: another solution would be to add disclaimers in the bots message stating not to vote on the links.

This. If people want to go to that hate-group normally and find the x-post themselves, then they won't be vulnerable to the fuzzily-defined "brigading" infraction. And if the bot announces that a raid is taking place in the thread then people will know to check usernames if someone's being trolly.

Just wondering, but why can you be shadow-banned for clicking one of the links?

Huh, that's pretty shitty.

Can't we just make a link bot that warns users whenever a bot posts here?

You're gonna get your new account banned as well, dude. Stop pestering the admins.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: BAN THE BOTS

/r/conspiratard should simply be ignored. We don't need to be informed each time that they crosspost one of our submissions. They only crosspost so they can mock the submission and the comments. We don't need to even know that they are crossposting. Ignore them and let them bore themselves.

PLEASE BAN THESE BOTS

Wait, but doesn't the bot in question post a no-participation link anyway? I was under the impression that user votes via the np.reddit.com didn't actually register, and therefore can't brigade?

Ohh. Very lame. Yeah, I still see up/downvote arrows, too.

Why is it hard to believe that people from subs dedicated to eradicate this sub have accounts here that are used to 'brigade' in order to sway perception?

EDIT: I was mistaken, thanks to those who corrected me.

Uh... Proof? If you check /r/reddit.com, you'll notice that the most recent posts were made in 2011.

If that's true, then I stand corrected regarding the /r/reddit.com thing.

Conspiritard wasn't around back then either, maybe it's just a default thing for admin messages or something.

Personally, I don't care. Vote brigade. Reveal personal info. Make alts. Use your botnets. Fuck this website.

Or just have the bots post "np." with it, not that hard.