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[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (15 children)

Except for that first bit. It should be obvious to most people these days that there are government entities, or paid companies, who attack nearly every site not owned by them, all using sophisticated bots and a few paid shills. Non-paid shills are enticed to go there. I have seen many blogs fall apart because of the comment section getting out of hand.

However, the fact that a transgender is talking about an information war is really odd, if you ask me. Edit: although the attitude portrayed by the TAM does indeed look like a cry for relevancy.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

Personally, I don't think saidit has risen high enough that government agencies are bothered by it yet.

[–]Chipit 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That's the lesson of 2016 though. You have to attack and destroy these sites early, while they're small. You let them get big and they take off by themselves.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I agree: they are not bothered by it.

It's not so much that there is a personal, or even a directed, interest in this website, or those blogs that I mentioned. It is simply that bot-technology has gotten very advanced in the past five or so years, and to think that the governments in the West are not employing them en masse (as we know China does), across the board, regardless of size, is a little silly * (not to say that you are silly, simply that they exist). They do not need much management if there is big money involved in it, most of the cost comes from setting it up in the first place. People can script bots to go to websites and mine information from them, or just mine pictures or even quoted texts. Tech companies already have their own bots which they do not need to manage, which go out and build profiles on their clientele for them, so they do not have to. If you do not know about this, please consider looking into it. Many programmers are being hired right now to create these types of bots. I am close with a foolish guy who programmed one for TedTalks.

That is occurring here, there, everywhere. It does not need to be directed when it concerns bots, they are like ants that you scatter to the wind, knowing that most will not find any bread crumbs, and that most will not bring home any solid dirt to work with. In fact, most websites can deal with bots if they are careful, just like most households can deal with ants. As it stands, I cannot be certain that bots have gotten so advanced that they could easily enter into comment boards and not be noticed. Besides, they are noticed here.

Personally, I think this site has already been attacked, not by government agencies, but by low-tier, low-brow, forsaken programmers who have taken contracts from "private individuals" who are probably tied to those entities, but acting independently from them. I don't think saidit is unique or special in this regard. I have seen small blogs get torn apart by bot attacks which gave way to shill drama, which in turn brought upon issues with their server, ending with the website closing down for unspecified reasons.

If your website consistently gets linked to places like Reddit, Twitter, Youtube, and so on, then it should be made clear that the level of interest your government has on you has increased, although that doesn't mean much considering all the websites that currently exist. As I said, I agree with you concerning them not being bothered by Saidit. I also highly doubt that there is a paid shill in our midst, unless they are here for shits and giggles because they are so used their shilling lifestyle. I don't even think they will ever be bothered by it, seeing as it is slipping down a slope right now. It's just that these types of bots can and will follow links. Perhaps they are programmed to only frequent popular sites. Actually, now that I consider it, that seems likely. So, I cannot say much more but that I agree with your statement.

But, I must ask. Where do these bots come from, in your personal view? Independent tech companies? Disgruntled naz-bols, like Magnora seems to suggest, or the CCP as the other admin suggests?

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

When I see crap that is upvoted by 13 and 13, I can't help but think it's some small op by some reddit mod or somesuch. But then again, maybe the government bots are smart enough to not go overboard and upvote garbage by 500 and 500.

So yeah maybe you are right and these are government bots working for government and my first glance is wrong.

But who knows for sure, you know?

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You make good reasons. It's not worth worrying about, unless you are an admin, in my opinion. Most bots get reported here anyways, unlike reddit, where they seem to be accepted members of the community.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

What if they need arguments for more funding? Saidit has few users, but thousands of subscribers.

[–][deleted]  (8 children)

[removed]

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    A number is a number, everyone loves free money.

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

    SaidIt used to auto-subscribe everyone to all subs, so those are real subscribers. They are mostly not active though, so it is misleading.

    [–][deleted]  (4 children)

    [removed]

      [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

      I was just trying to give you the backstory. That's fair to not consider them real subscribers.

      [–][deleted]  (2 children)

      [removed]

        [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

        Yeah it's kinda dead lately, but once upon a time we were the biggest reddit after Voat.