Honestly I'm not sure where best to discuss this but I've been seeing a crazy rise in astroturfing lately.
A couple examples I've found that are boggling my mind: Antivirus https://old.reddit.com/r/GettingOverItGame/comments/165kgw7/best_antivirus_reddit_recommends_in_2023_for/ Here is a niche gaming subreddit crosspost of a post on a user whose posts are kinda... sus? They all seem like shit copy written by AI.
I mean who says
Reddit, with its vast user-driven content and unfiltered opinions, is a goldmine for genuine reviews. If you're searching for the best antivirus Reddit users vouch for in 2023, you're in the right place.
Hella questionable.
And the links? 1: removed post. 2: Links thru some redirecter that are all to the two VPNs being advertised by the post.
I mean it's obviously an advertisement just from the fact that only the two shilled services are linked to.
Another example: https://old.reddit.com/r/Spyware/comments/159e2te/what_is_the_best_antivirus_of_2023/
Same products. Same links to only the shilled products. There's also links to trustpilot but I did a bit of digging and it seems that they're like yelp in that you can get reviews removed? sigh.
What I find interesting here is the fact that this spyware subreddit is new and tiny, and one of the moderators made this veryyyyy similar AI post.
I mean it even has almost the exact same "Other Subreddits to _____ Antivirus Software" section.
Frankly I'm wondering if I should break the links just so they don't get extra weight on search engines.
I've also seen tons of sock puppet accounts for crappy dating apps, but honestly I'm more of a lurker and I've ran out of energy to write anything else here ๐
Usually, when there were blatant signs of astroturfing in an active sub, its users would report it to the mods, and the mods would remove it. And, when this would happen in an otherwise inactive community, more engaged users would report it to the admins, who clearly do not want people advertising in their platform without paying Reddit some cash.
Except that Reddit showed a middle finger to both groups. A bunch of them left, and the ones behind will certainly not lift a single finger to help the platform. And that's the result, you'll get spam and shilling and users going rogue.
I honestly can't blame the mods after all the API bullshit. I can't imagine moderating was particularly enjoyable beforehand, and without the tools to make things more convenient I'd definitely give up.
I don't blame them, either.
At the end of the day, moderation on its own is not enjoyable - it's at the best repetitive chores, and at the worst dealing with nasty shit. Usually decent mods still do it because they want to contribute with something or some people. And yet Reddit has been consistently ruining that will to contribute for years, specially during/after the API bullshit.
I would, too. I gave up for far less than that.
How many tools and apps have actually had their API access revoked though? I know several apps have either shut down or moved to a subscription model, but I haven't yet read about anyone being invoiced or paying reddit, and I haven't used nor heard of any apps that have actually been blocked by reddit rather than just inhibited by an update.
Two examples, Stealth continues to work just fine, and I just tried an older version of Relay and that had no issues.