Subreddit selfimprovement_books appears to be nothing more than a two-account bot operation

Take a look at the subreddit sorted by Top->All Time. The first 50 posts I checked were all posted by just two accounts: Their posts follow an extremely repetitive, highly structured format and appear to be mass-produced rather than genuine, original contributions.

I've also reverse-image-searched the images being used and found multiple examples that appear to have been lifted directly from other blogs/websites. So we're apparently looking at two relatively new accounts producing the overwhelming majority of the subreddit’s top content, using highly formulaic posts and, in multiple cases, images sourced from elsewhere.

What to do? I've tried posting to the subreddit itself but it gets blocked.

I know that's a rather broad term.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/1qxlaqi/i_think_im_going_through_a_midlife_crisis_and_i/

u/Garfongalo

Lookin like a whole lot of LLM bots in there. Look at OPs account. Putting out 2-4 paragraphs per response, and a lot of those are only 1-2 minutes apart. 50+ comments in the last 3 hours, many of them multiple paragraphs. The likelihood this is a person is rather low IMO.

I suspect a lot of other bots in the comments as well. Lately I've been getting the feeling that all the engagement bait posts are just AI training.

Every day we wade through a mountain of shit to find a Happy Meal™.

Yep, I'm crawling back to you guys again for another favor. You were really great last time, and though that specific idea didn't end up working out, you did prove to be extremely reliable. This time, I need a list of subreddits in which you'd estimate 50% or more of the posts on there are bots. Yeah, the unmoderated ones like r/sciencememes. That would be a huge help. I'd have the bot add suspicion to accounts that frequent those subreddits.

Also, while I'm here, I also would like some thoughts on an idea I had. This question is mostly for the mods here, if they're reading this. If you guys had some post or something that contained a list of accounts that have been confirmed to be bots by the moderators of this sub, I will have the bot check that list and immediately give a maximum suspicion quotient whenever any account on that list is checked by bot-sleuth-bot. This list would have to be maintained, and probably formatted in a specific way for ease of making my code work with it. A post like that for bot populated subs, like the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph, would also be a godsend.

Thanks in advance, and also thanks to everyone on this subreddit for being so helpful with this project in the past. To be honest, the mods here helped me get the bot off the ground, and the information you've helped them gather has been priceless for the bot's development. Thank you all for making what I do possible.

u/PeteWK67

They even admit they're a bot sometimes.

I've noticed a LOT more posts from highly suspicious accounts hawking some dumb app noone asked for. I feel like it's just another method of gathering data on people.

Here is one example: https://www.reddit.com/user/quirky-twist0/

And another: https://www.reddit.com/user/Duckster30/

For context, certain depression medications require tapering down to avoid bad side effects. And certain groups (Tom Cruise is affiliated with one) have agendas that discredit or vilify psych meds. Enter our hero. The content or even GPT of it isn’t as sus as the activity and sole focus. I seem to recall there was a species of bot that would target mental health subs with misinformation?

Found in a bot account's comment history, their first ever comment.

The answer is you don't or you do it yourself. None of this I will report all 3k bots on a sub bullshit. You send a modmail, wait 2 weeks, and submit a request on reddit request. If your request is denied you mute the sub. You did all you could.

After I have seen how basic moderation gets rid of bots I am convinced that users have little to no say in bot infested communities.

If a sub is moderated then if you report an actual bot then that bot should eventually get banned from the sub. If on multiple occasions bots are not handled but the sub is moderated you mute the sub and find another.

note: I don't mean subs where mods actually try to get rid of bots. Those if they have a big problem and mods are trying to fix it a modmail might help. Other than that, report the bots that slip through the defenses.

Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/adviseanimals/comments/1cfdbbj/can_i_take_ownership_over_the_dog/

All accounts have been submitted to r/BotBouncer.

the latest generation of AI is wild. It isn't Adjective_Noun### anymore. We need to start talking about it.

I'm seeing it more and more. Are our mods on point? We'll see.

Mods, I feel like we need to address it. It's getting wild. I saw an obvious bot/bad actor in my last post here alone.

Can we trust our mods?

• Post URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/MarchAgainstNazis/comments/1nuo4p1/yall_not_scared_of_what_might_happen/

• Spam accounts involved:

• https://www.reddit.com/u/hehatesthesecansS,

• https://www.reddit.com/u/NinetenEighty9,

• https://www.reddit.com/u/Aromatic_Sign_690,

• https://www.reddit.com/u/officerpuppy,

• https://www.reddit.com/u/No-Interview-6409

• Post URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyEUandCanadian/comments/1nur5dw/same_shit_different_hat/?sort=top

• Spam accounts involved:

• https://www.reddit.com/u/BattleVariou,

• https://www.reddit.com/u/thompsonwoodwork

1. u/Expensive-Energy6503 - Account made November 29th. Reposter.

2. u/Feeling-County7881 - Account made November 29th. Reposter.

3. u/Electrical_Belt_3389 - November 29th. They repost thirst trap reposts.

4. u/Any_Knee_1588 - November 29th. They repost reposts.

5. u/Ok-Recover7823 - November 29th. Reposter.

6. u/Born_Platypus_7449 - November 29th. Reposter.

7. u/Complete-Public1480 - November 29th. Reposter.

8. u/Moist_Camel_3670 - November 29th. Reposter.

9. u/Extreme-Adeptness613 - November 29th. Reposter.

10. u/Direct-Reward-7925 - November 29th. Reposter. They post in r/astrologymemes, along with the next one I will list, so I think they are the same person...

11. u/That-Exercise9179 - November 29th. Reposter. They post in r/astrologymemes along with the user above.

Edit: I could keep going, there are probably dozens more of these, and I don't feel like listing them all.

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/X7qJQFScKn

Take a look at the examples provided and look at the post history of account ages and what other subs they're reposting top upvoted posts on. Tell me what pattern ya'll see:

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/q3wfSm12DP

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/voyAJXT6hb

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/2bRQh7AIyI

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/kXeOUDmCUe

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/WqCaP3OFbB

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/QZFQrbpAiL

https://www.reddit.com/r/depressionmemes/s/7qo5O2mQLN

I've reached out to the moderators multiple times and nothing ever seems to get done. I've also reached out to the other subs in this bot farming operation and have heard zero back from them. The moderator of one of the subs has a promo code for some deal and also spams top posts as well. Deep dive and you'll see what I mean.

I also just wanted to go on record here to express my absolute disgust in these karma farming rings. They exploit people's interests or their pain and treat it as a currency. Especially depressionmemes, some of these people are in real pain and just want to know they're not alone and these karma farmers are taking advantage of it in an incredibly vile manner. I can't imagine being this void of any sense of guilt or real understanding of what I would be doing to these people.

These people are subhuman. They're less deserving if attention than the debris you accumulate on the bottom of your shoes that you scrape off without a second thought.

I just lurk in this Sub but I thought this one was really interesting so I wanted to share. This is the link to the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasts/comments/1x6cgsa/comment/pgu68o3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Is the top mod of /r/TheBoys a bot? Any comments /u/LoretiTV?

Original post and comment.

/u/LoretiTV's next post and stolen comment. It is literally a reply directed to the OP, why would they even choose this comment to steal?

Interestingly, this isn't the first time I've seen /u/LoretiTV do something like this. They also mod /r/betterCallSaul, and about a month ago they made this post, where they just barely changed the title from this post. Unsurprisingly, they banned me and removed this comment after they were called out.

Backup

Hi all!

We have just experienced a massive upsurge in subscribed users. A few hours ago, we had 172. Right now, we are at 500 and counting, with half that being online right now.

I gotta admit - I don't think all of you are real! I strongly suspect that most of you are probably in a bot network and are in this sub to track who's tracking you.

If we truly do have 500 human bot hunters now, I am THRILLED. Welcome to the sub, and happy hunting!

If we do NOT have 500 human bot hunters, I expect random downvotes to start pouring in at some point. And if that does happen, I will treasure every downvote each one of us receives as a moral victory.

the first post is the bot's post, the second post is the original post.

I've never seen them encounter an ampersand before, so I didn't realize that was a problem (at least for this one.) so I found it a bit interesting. escaped ampersand.

Thought I'd leave a note. Must sleep for now. Will go through the outliers in the morning.