Bots and trolls

[6miths]

"Take the blue pill or the red pill, Neo?"

+1

So beat me to it!

 

[Nemo2]

.....bots began communicating with each other in a completely new language which humans simply couldn’t decipher.

Sounds like our (almost) two year old twin granddaughters.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Even threads started by trolls or bots can have some value. I have learned quite a bit by reading posts responding to another member's question.

What then is the answer? Do nothing and live with it. I can do that. But it will force me to be a lot more selective in responding to new posters on their very first post.

 

[easysurfer]

Someone developing a bot would test it on a forum, to see how people respond to it's posts, and if it can engage in dialog without being detected.

Sounds a bit like someone trying to use a bot under disguise gain information on forum members.

Maybe there's a compromise of not leaving full openness vs too restrictive?

I personally have no problem with a captcha since that's a one time deal for verification.

 

[euro]

Maybe the moderators create these single post userIDs and one-off threads on slow forum days to keep the forum active...

Yep, all paths lead back to the Mods

 

[MRG]

Maybe the moderators create these single post userIDs and one-off threads on slow forum days to keep the forum active...

When I was employed we had that. They were called data security and would often launch DOS attacks during the day on production servers. "Just wanted to see if anyone noticed!"

 

[Koogie]

Facebook engineers panic, pull plug on AI after bots develop their own language – BGR

Facebook = Skynet ?

I can believe it.

 

[T-Minus]

For every posting barrier erected, a program can be modified to work around it. Moderators with sharp teeth are the best answer to the bot/troll problem.

 

[Sojourner]

For every posting barrier erected, a program can be modified to work around it.

Not true. There is no bot or automated program that can bypass CAPTCHA, which is why it's so widely used to validate new user accounts around the web. Trolls are a different story, since they are humans, but there are various measures that can deter them, like the ones I listed in post #1 of this thread.

 

[Alan]

Thanks everyone for your interest, your suggestions have been forwarded to the site's owners and technical team.