• YellowtoOrange@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    arrow-down
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    What is the purpose of bots, other than spam, lemmy tools and 3rd party scrapers (if that’s a thing)?

    • Ulu-Mulu-no-die@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Propaganda, brigading, post votes manipulation, and once accounts are “established” they could be sold for astroturfing.

      • soupspoon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve noticed weird vote counts, and sometimes it’s clearly a bug. But do you think a small number of downvotes that make no sense would be bots? Or just trolls?

        • Ulu-Mulu-no-die@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          The weird count on posts is a bug, as for the small number of downvotes, I don’t think they’re bots, not yet, just either people disliking the comment or a few trolls, it doesn’t happen systematically, that’s what bots usually do.