this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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While some may see this as good for Bluesky, I bet this is the floodgates opening to bots and algorithmically boosted harmful content. Good luck everyone on there!
All the algorithms on bluesky are optional, there's both official feeds and a lot of 3rd party feeds (and they don't run on view counts!), so there's no trivial way to game the algorithms to reach the userbase
Fair, though this is also where the double-edge sword of discoverability steps in too. Many people complain about the lack of it on decentralized systems, but centralized systems have a nice catalog of users for bots to message with little effort.
I'll admit that lack of discoverability isn't a perfect solution since there are other ways for spammers to discover users. E-mail is a great example of a large, long running, decentralized system that has increasingly suffered from spam since its inception due to mass data collection of addresses. However if you're really careful about who you share your address with, it's possible to still avoid most of it. I give out unique e-mail address to companies and spam tends to only come in on a few, often because they were breached or are otherwise "leaky" about their user's data. Dropbox is by far the worst offender.
Threads default settings are like an open fire hose of rage bait and negativity spraying directly into your face. It's pretty wild without some manual feed pruning.
I've been using Mastodon and it's a pleasant change of pace. I've heard of some spam happening there but I think responsive admins and the lack of algorithmic feeds really reduces their reach.
Mastodon’s the best social media I’ve used. I’ve curated such a quality feed.
That's what I was thinking... Here come the bots
You need to register with a phone number, and they send a verification SMS to the number which you must complete to finish registration
I think that's difficult for bulk bots
Nah it just means you need to contract with a temp sms number provider. It'll be difficult for your average kid in a garage to run bulk bots but not for state, corporate, and other well funded actors.
I've seen pictures of rooms with walls full of Android cell phones on shelves all hooked up by USB for power and remote control. They can load apps, register accounts, and interact with content inside the app while appearing as legitimate mobile users. That's why moves like Reddit restricting API access only hurt legitimate users and lazy bot farms, cause the hardcore bot farms have been using the official app on real phones all along.