• Michael@slrpnk.net
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        7 hours ago

        As a user of the website for many years it’s entirely obvious that a majority of the website is gamed (besides its niche corners). Reddit’s bot prevention mechanisms just fuck VPN users - they are wholly inadequate.

        That thread is evidence of a organized bot campaign that they had 12 days to clean up (and didn’t). It’s naive to believe that the rest of the website isn’t similarly (and less obviously) affected by bots - with vote manipulation still standing.

          • Michael@slrpnk.net
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            4 hours ago

            Are you somebody invested financially in Reddit? Genuine question.

            Those niche subreddits can also have their moments, too. Maybe it’s not bots, but there are plenty of shills that have been caught in various niche subreddits I’ve frequented over the years (thanks to unpaid moderators).

            • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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              4 hours ago

              No, I’m not. I don’t care at all if they’re successful or go under.

              Sure, but again it’s not likely to be most. You don’t seem to realize how hard it is to get data that is already classified. That stuff is gold to people developing AI. Most of the work in data science is cleaning data and getting it into a usable form.

              • Michael@slrpnk.net
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                4 hours ago

                It’s noise, a very large part of it. Reddit is financially motivated to make the data appear as if is signal. It isn’t - they have taken extremely minimal steps to ensure actual human participation.

                This doesn’t matter to AI companies, but it only warps that technology more and more. AI is a sinking ship with current methodologies. Reddit will die when the AI bubble bursts and those involved with Reddit already cashed out enough to be filthy rich.

                • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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                  4 hours ago

                  At this point we’re just speculating. We don’t have evidence either way of its mostly good or mostly bad data.

                  • Michael@slrpnk.net
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                    4 hours ago

                    If you can land me a gig engaging with back end data from Reddit in a neutral capacity, it’d likely be pretty easy for a layman like me to confirm that it’s largely noise. The AI companies buying data are getting scammed and you are free to remain neutral or plainly disagree with my assessment in the absence of concrete data that is publicly obtainable.

                    No company is immune to bots and inorganic engagement, least of all Reddit with the strategies employed.