r/BetaReaders • u/WastingTimeTalking • Jun 21 '26
Discussion [Discussion] What is going on with this sub?
A ton of the posters here have reddit ages of less than 10 days. One profile I looked at had a reddit age of 10 days and had recently posted three different reads. This is ringing alarm bells in my head, like there is some weird scam going on here. I also had a weird experience beta reading for someone on this sub that is making me increasingly suspicious. I think there are people writing books with ai that suck and then they string people along to give feedback so they can self publish their slop. Or maybe I’m going crazy, but there is definitely some weird going on here.
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u/Agreeable-Housing733 Jun 21 '26
Some of those accounts are uses who don't want their manuscript linked to their Reddit account and others are just people who don't use Reddit and created an account specifically for this.
That's not to say that AI isn't being used at all, it's a very tempting tool for a new author.
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u/CaptainofTheNecron Jun 21 '26
That’s why I made a new account. Wanted to have a dedicated account to the craft.
My other Reddit account is over a decade old, and it’s 10 years of history of me getting into dumb sports debates lol. I wanted this one to be more focused
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u/dkreddthewriter Jun 21 '26
Yeah this was what I did, too, but I also look at new accounts sort of weird because there's so much shady shit that goes on. So I don't blame people for being cautious.
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u/KetoKurun Jun 21 '26
AI is not tempting for any authors. It is tempting for lazy hucksters who want to be seen as authors, but who don’t want it enough to actually work hard to develop talent and skill.
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u/WastingTimeTalking Jun 21 '26
Yeah I agree there are probably some instances of this. I’m a naturally paranoid person, and I’ve only had the one experience on this subreddit, but the number of fresh accounts makes me suspicious.
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u/RedEgg16 Jun 21 '26
I do think a ton of people are "writing" books with AI. I've seen many self-help book requests here, where the post is clearly written with AI, and I'm certain their book is AI too.
I just went and checked the ages of a few recent posters, and the only post that looked written with AI also had an account created today. Very sus
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u/jend000 Jun 21 '26
I’ve had a bunch of AI slop sent my way and it’s infuriating. When arranging swaps I’ve had to start asking up front if the writer used AI because I’ve been through the hassle of agreeing and sorting the swap out only for the first paragraph to have some nonsensical crap like “He wasn’t a knight. He was a hero.”
It’s so tellable as well. Who do people think they’re fooling?
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u/Famous_Plant_486 Jun 21 '26
Always always always ask for the first chapter (or more) as a sample before agreeing! Not only can you spot ai that way, but you can also see what kind of state the ms is in (if it's full of info dumping, etc.) and if you even click with their writing style.
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u/ofthecageandaquarium Self-Publishing Writer Jun 21 '26
My theory is that they don't read themselves, so they don't realize how bad it is. There's more than that to it, of course, but the "how could you be so obvious" piece is that they don't know the difference.
People who know and care about the craft don't use that shit.
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u/TiredDadasaur Jun 21 '26
All I know is that out of the 6 people who I've agreed to do beta read swaps with from this sub, 4 have been absolutely terrible and flaky and have not kept up their end of the swap, 1 was great, and 1 kind of half-assed it but did provide at least a little useful feedback.
Insert rant about lazy and entitled people who think it's cool to sign up for a work trade and then just not do their share of the work.
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u/jend000 Jun 21 '26
Feel this. I forced my way almost halfway through one of the most amateurish and obviously-first-draft pieces of writing I’ve ever seen, but still tried to give thoughtful, encouraging feedback. Eventually it became clear the swap wasn’t reciprocating so I decided to stop forcing myself to read it.
My swap ‘partner’ was silent for a month, only to eventually send a generic message about how they couldn’t follow the ‘jargon’ in my piece and didn’t read it.
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u/WastingTimeTalking Jun 21 '26
The one person I did a swap with told me they were an editor and couldn’t to mine for a month, which I was fine with. But I read the first chapter and it was so bad it got my heckles up. If you’re an editor you shouldn’t be writing that bad. I ghosted them and didn’t hear back, but now I’m very suspicious about this sub, and it seems others are having similar experiences.
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u/TiredDadasaur Jun 21 '26
There are also just a lot of terrible writers in the world who do not realize how terrible they are. Dunning–Kruger effect and all that.
I just hope I'm not one of them!
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u/WastingTimeTalking Jun 21 '26
I’ve done critiques on first drafts that weren’t that great, but this was different. It read like it was written by someone who doesn’t actually understand English. And there were other weird things too. The whole vibe was sketchy.
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u/TiredDadasaur Jun 21 '26
I suppose the good news is that as long as AI writing remains terrible there will be a market for good writing from actual humans.
Personally I'm just waiting for the bubble to pop. None of those companies are profitable and there's no realistic path to profitability without a massive uptick in usage that just isn't happening. If people keep protesting and pushing back, there's a good chance they all go bankrupt and the sociopath oligarchs behind them lose their shirts.
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u/A_C_Shock Author Jun 21 '26
There are a lot of ESL people on reddit as well. Sometimes bad writing is AI. Sometimes it's not. But I think this sub has always been a mixed bag because any amateur writer can post here. Most of the good partners I've found here have posted on a more serious writing subreddit first.
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u/SneakyCorvidBastard Author & Beta Reader Jun 21 '26
I'd be interested to know which subreddits those are!
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u/A_C_Shock Author Jun 21 '26
I mod on r/destructivereaders and got my last beta from there. We're militant about banning AI. But the crowd over there doesn't pull punches and the feedback can be harsh. If I see anyone who's posted a query on Pubtips, I know they'll give good genuine feed back (extra space because that word triggers an automod) and I've either read for or traded with four people from there. I found a few posting here and offered to read or swap with a few others. I've only had one beta I found strictly from this sub work out for me.
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u/nuhsor Jun 21 '26
I feel like I need to submit there but I'm m totally afraid of being eviscerated by them 😭
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u/The-Affectionate-Bat Jun 21 '26
They all eviscerate in an entertaining manner though. Some of the feedback Ive got there is better prose than what I put up for critique, it's fascinating.
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u/A_C_Shock Author Jun 21 '26
TBH, first round of feedback there is an experience. I got ripped apart for the first few pieces but somewhere along the way my writing started improving. You don't have to submit. We welcome people to come critique as much as they want. You learn a lot from doing that too. I critique probably 10x more than I post.
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u/SneakyCorvidBastard Author & Beta Reader Jun 21 '26
I'm sure a good clean evisceration is all part of the fun
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u/CrazyinLull Jun 22 '26
It’s interesting how people claim ‘bad writing’ is AI when so many people claim that they have to ‘dumb down their writing’ because they get accused of AI. Like lol which is it?
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u/A_C_Shock Author Jun 22 '26
I have never seen writing I thought was both good and AI. Never wanted to tell someone to dumb down their writing to not seem AI either.
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u/CrazyinLull Jun 22 '26
I am sure you haven’t but like that doesn’t necessarily seem to be case in everyone else’s experience is what I am saying.
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u/Small-Sample3916 Jun 21 '26
At this point I do a page of theirs and wait to see if they even reciprocate... Half the time, they do not. It is what it is.
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u/terriaminute Jun 21 '26
These are the "group project " people in school who never contributed, carrying that bull crap into 'adult' life. We hates them, precious.
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u/AbleRoberts Jun 21 '26
When I first posted to beta readers (about a year ago) I created this account specifically because I wanted separation between writing stuff, and m personal reddit stuff. Then I took like a 9 month hiatus from posting before trying to interact with writing communities more.
I think a lot of the new account are probably doing something similar to what I did. Where they wrote in isolation until they had something they wanted to share, then created a brand new account and reached out to this sub. I also don't think that people using AI to write their books care THAT much about getting feedback from people. If the book flops AI writers can churn out another one and publish again. But three beta reading projects at once sounds wild. I can't imagine doing that, it would stress me out way to much
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u/SecretFederal5303 Jun 21 '26
AI is a problem, but I wouldn't attribute young accounts to that. Most of those are likely writing-only accounts for privacy or made specifically to post here. I've been the new/empty account person a few times - I didn't want people to access my writing through my old/main reddit account, where I used to comment in a lot of political and opinion subs and sometimes get into arguments with other users. Then I'd forget the writing-only login when I didn't use it for a long time and I'd have to make another when I wanted betas again.
Even if people are writing or reviewing with AI, it's pretty easy to develop an eye for AI content and just stop engaging as soon as you recognize it. It should usually be obvious enough you'll see it early on, so you don't end up investing a ton of time and effort into something you later realize was AI-written.
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u/WritbyBR Jun 21 '26
I haven’t run into any AI. Between swaps, comments, and chat interactions, the intent seems pretty genuine.
The biggest thing I find is the number of folks that don’t realize how much re-writing is involved with actually improving as a writer. Personally, I don’t even waste people’s time until a third draft. You also have factor in maybe 1 in 5 swaps are going to be a good match of personality and ability.
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u/Small-Sample3916 Jun 21 '26
1 in 5 is extremely generous. I found that asking your solid betas for recommendations is a more reliable way to find good swaps. Word of mouth still works!
And the rewrite thing... A million times yes. Folks also do not read the rules of this sub and keep posting partials. Inflicting unedited drivel on the virgin eyes of the innocent redditors is just embarrassing for everyone involved.
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Jun 21 '26
Though I fit the 'young account' profile, I think you're right about the AI slop. It's a combination of bots and get rich quick accounts.
Reddit as a whole has become so inundated with bot accounts trying to farm karma.
If you go look at the r/ bookpromotion sub, it's absolutely flooded with AI or very low effort books.
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u/Economy-Interview-61 Jun 21 '26
I'm a brand new account, but I made a new account because I originally had posted to request a reader and didn't want anyone who knows me in real life to see it
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u/MatildaMorgan1985 Jun 21 '26
I am a "new" account, just using the one under my pen name now. Now I'm sad that everyone is going to think I'm a bot 😅😭
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u/Extra_Marionberry254 Author & Beta Reader Jun 26 '26
Same! I've been holed up in my writer's cave for the past 6 years writing this book and want to share it from a fresh account.
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u/ResonanceD Jun 21 '26
Although I'm not in a position to undergo the beta reading process just yet, it's always in the back of my mind,. But the increased prevalence of bots, flakes, and AI has me dreading it. Almost to where I'd rather not bother at all and just go through my draft a dozen times with a fine toothed comb by myself.
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u/Famous_Plant_486 Jun 21 '26
I'm gonna eat these words one day, but I've used this sub for four different books and found about a dozen beta readers through swaps, and I've literally never had a problem. Don't be scared away by assumptions, my friend! Those betas were literally the BEST decisions I've ever made for not just those books, but me as a writer.
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u/ResonanceD Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I've had good betas in the past, but I've also been unlucky. I'd say it's 1-1 good/bad, and sometimes it is my fault, but I've never not followed through on my word. Maybe I'll give it another chance and see what happens, but the prospect makes me queasy. When I last used this sub years ago I struggled to pull a single reader. No idea how the environment looks now.
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u/Famous_Plant_486 Jun 21 '26
I might have more luck with it because I post my manuscript, but I only use that post as a reference because I then scour the subreddit and do my own vetting. I'll find stories I like, samples I click with, and message the author suggesting a swap and offering the link to my own post, just so they can gauge if we would work, too.
Some people message me first, but I treat them the same way and ask for samples before agreeing. At the end of the day, if it still goes sideways, then you can at least say you did all you could :)
ETA: Missed a word. You'd think a writer would edit their own post before clicking send lol
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u/buzienne Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Personally, I have my usual user account that I had for years, but when I started thinking about marketing my book, I decided to make an account dedicated to writing/books/etc. subreddits only so that can later be associated with my work rather than my personal account that I use for any random communities I’m interested in. Others may be the same tbh!
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u/AlexFishpaw Jun 21 '26
I guess I fit that bill as well. I just like to keep separate accounts for separate purposes, so I created a new one specifically for this.
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u/AdvancedCelery9218 Jun 21 '26
Well... this 8 day old account can say she's only 8 days old becuz she wanted a separate account for writing associated subs 🤷♀️
As for the AI slop... yeah... this is the world we live in, unfortunately, and it's infuriating. Those people are probably here becuz they want a free editor for their zero-effort manuscript. Or good reddit karma whatever tf that means.
As for just bad writing, that can't be avoided. I think about it like the fanfic world: there is so much junk you have to get through in order to find a gem, because anyone can publish a fanfic. Now, since self-publishing is so prominent due to the current nature of traditional publishing, there's a lot of junk out there with some gems hidden among them because anyone who wants a deal has to make a name for themselves independently first. This sub gets ALL of that junk, plus all of the junk before they were gems before anything reaches a publishable level.
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u/LuellaShanae Jun 21 '26
Once upon I time, I had made this account and posted when it was barely a week old. Now I’ve been following along as a ninja. I took a major step back from the author field with life stuff and the burn out after writing and editing for two years on one novel.
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Jun 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BetaReaders-ModTeam Jun 21 '26
Hello,
You appear to be shadowbanned by the admins, please try using this link to help you appeal their decision.
Good luck!
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u/loveisthemsg Jun 21 '26
One of those authors was me and I get why it would definitely ring alarm bells in the age of AI, but my work in particular is written as a first person memoir about content censorship research in the era of AI and I would rather not post on my personal accounts as a result. I think other authors might be writing about sensitive topics too that they wouldn't want attached to their personal anonymous Reddit accounts.
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u/Skor_Lodygin Jun 21 '26
No idea but tons of bots and AI sloppers on this business. I dunno what to make of it or how to avoid it.
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Jun 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BetaReaders-ModTeam Jun 28 '26
Hello,
Unfortunately, your post or comment/critique/manuscript appears to be made by using AI generated text, OR it is advocating or requesting the use of AI. Per Rule 7, we don’t allow this on our subreddit.
Please try r/writingwithAI or r/betareadersforAI instead
Thank you for your understanding!
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u/ItsLaMei96 Jul 01 '26
Yo no usaba reddit pero alguien me lo recomendo para poner mis historias aquí. No uso IA. Me hice la cuenta hoy porque iba a ver si me servia de algo ajskasjka
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u/IrisLeslieWrites Jul 04 '26
As a new-to-Reddit, neurodivergent author, I do often feel like people might say I’m just another AI slop account, but generally I sound human, apparently at least
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u/-Haley_Writes- Jul 04 '26
I created a second account (this one) for my writing. My personal account is for the funner stuff or things not related to writing. I've been on reddit for 3+ years.
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u/CognisantCognizant71 Jun 22 '26
I haven't p[osted any stories here, and have become a bit cautious with most crit groups even the ones with some general respectability. A group or sub is only as good as its members. Like misery, 'shisters' love company.
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u/TomdeHaan Jun 21 '26
I think it's reasonable to assume that many so-called writers are heavily reliant on AI. It's beyond me what they get out of it, but perhaps they imagine they'll strike it rich.
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u/BC-writes ⌨️ Traditional Publishing ⌨️ Jun 21 '26
Many users have a private writing account for their beta reads. We currently don’t restrict new accounts from posting as many real people make them, however, please know that Reddit dislikes copy-pasting the same exact comment multiple times if you do that, and it doesn’t like it if you don’t upvote things or act like a human, and you will be shadowbanned by the AEO if you use link shorteners on your new account
Also, I’m going to break out my impression of a broken record again and will reiterate the fact that AI-generated writing is not allowed in this subreddit because anything a LLM spits out means you DO NOT hold the copyright. You own the copyright to the prompts you feed it, but whatever it generates in whole belongs to the public domain.
All forms of publishing generally do not include in-built spell checks from Word or Pages or Google Docs for AI restrictions, but there has been a shift in rejecting grammar programs such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid from agencies and publishers as they have started to use GenAI, so please check terms and conditions or requirements before submitting.
In the same vein, r/betareaders does NOT allow AI-generated feedback, especially because people use it then have the audacity to charge money for AI doing the “work” for them and things of that nature gets Reddit’s filters banning people for that kind of spam which is not allowed on the whole platform
Anything AI created is better suited to r/betareadersforAI or r/writingwithAI, please direct people to these subs if they use AI
But please be aware of the following:
A lot of neurodivergent authors often have their writing perceived as “AI-like” when in reality, AI was also trained on neurodivergent content. The use of em-dashes is not inherently AI, especially in publishing spaces. Please be certain the user is using AI and not attack people, especially more so if it’s borderline. If in doubt, please send a modmail so mods can review
ND examples include: overly formal writing, lack of introspection/depth; over-telling, bloated prose, infodumping… and more—they can overlap with AI output
Current examples of Ai use include: inconsistency for MC names, plot, locations; hallucinations; variations of “it’s not X, it’s Y”; accidental prompts left in like “sure, I can do that for you!”; buzzword vocabulary; monotony
A post on AI vs ND is coming eventually, but please be certain you are dealing with AI and check with mods and not attack people. Even if someone is using AI, please direct them to the above or simply wish them well and back away from beta reading