I do not want to block all bots. I only want to block bots from specific instance. More specifically, the @alien.top instance is using most, if not all, bot accounts with random usernames. It uses that instance to post in communities of other instances. I thought about blocking other instances. But the main issue lies with random bot accounts from @alien.top. And I cannot block individually by usernames.
What shall I do to block posts posted by random bot accounts of @alien.top instance?
Update
I looked up potentially affiliated sites connected to that instance and found these.
https://level-up.zone/ (@communick, high post rate)
https://gearhead.town/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://viewfinder.pro/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, medium post rate)
https://netheads.online/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, low post rate)
https://healthy.community/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, low post rate)
https://sfw.community/?dataType=Post&listingType=Local&page=1&sort=New (same admin, no post yet)
https://blockchained.world/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, low post rate)
https://matchpoint.zone/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, low post rate)
https://poweruser.forum/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://hi-fi.community/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, medium post rate)
https://expats.zone/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, medium post rate)
https://nba.space/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://athletic.center/?dataType=Post&listingType=Local&page=1&sort=New (same admin, no post yet)
https://style.land/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://metacritics.zone/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://academy.garden/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, medium post rate)
https://foodie.rehab/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, no post yet)
https://indiehackers.space/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://hardware.watch/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
https://nfl.community/?dataType=Post&page=1&sort=New (same admin, high post rate)
The instances may be hours to two months old and are run by the same admin. Some have high post rate, while others have no post yet. The ones with posts are all using @alien.top’s random bot accounts. I suspect this problem will amplify.
Update2
Blocking by instance is finally working. I blocked @alien.top and @hardware.watch. Consider this issue resolved.
I’ve wondered wtf is up with that instance. Someone floods certain communities - apple on hardware.watch for instance - with endless tech support questions, like pages and pages of them a day. Steamdeck on hardware.watch for instance has a dozen posts in the last 5 minutes, so it’s a ridiculous flood.
A few of the accounts seem more legitimate than others and actually have a history, but most just have 1 post. The questions aren’t badly written and I wonder where they come from - don’t sound like LLM, but I just don’t believe at all that 8,000 random people signed up at this Alien instance and want to ask one tech related question and then disappear. The content doesn’t seem harmful or scammy, though, they’re all things a normal person might post. Is the content copied from reddit? Is this someone’s idea of kickstarting these Lemmy communities? It’s all a bit odd.
Anyway it’s a limited number of communities these apparent bots post to, so I simply blocked those communities.
Yup, at least in some cases. In one of the home networking subs I’ve seen several questions that after a quick search were posted on reddit within an hour before they showed up here. It kind of pisses me off wasting time trying to help someone that doesn’t even exist on the fediverse.
Yeah, I answered a couple questions before I noticed something was off. I guess it’s adding content to Lemmy but it’s more an annoying waste of time.
I had the same problem with lemmit.online, and with lemmit.online the owner said “yeah this is a bot, this whole instance is for reddit reposts, if you don’t like it defederate from me” - which .ca did.
I can’t stand bot instances or bots in general that are reposting from reddit, because it’s not valuable content for the fediverse - the OP doesn’t see what we’re saying and if we’re troubleshooting something that’s been crossposted it’s literally just on deaf ears.
The only bot I actually like is the ITNBot which is for ImproveTheNews - it posts neutral, pro-, and anti-stance information relevant to the article being posted, showing you all sides of the issue.
At least lemmit has a blurb that explains the content comes from reddit. Looking at alien.top itself, they do explain that it’s a page for “Fediverser” which posts content from reddit, but it’s sort of vague - makes it seem like people from reddit are signing up there to do this on purpose, but I’m not sure if that’s really how it works.
And yeah, it’s useless to respond to if the person asking isn’t going to get the reply. I’m not sure why people think auto-reddit spam would be a useful thing for lemmy.
Fediverser looks like a project that’s supposed to ease the onboarding process from reddit, looks like you can sign up with a reddit account to have access to Lemmy, but I am not entirely sure.
I don’t really mind the size of the community these days; I feel like if we start getting more and more people from reddit we’re going to get the people we wanted to avoid by leaving the place. Right now it feels like there’s not a ton of content, but there’s a decent amount of discussion, and it’s of high quality. I feel like an easier entrance to the platform is going to degrade the experience, as shitty as that sounds.
Yeah, I didn’t really understand the description. You sign up by authenticating with reddit, and then it automatically connects you with the same subs you have on reddit?
I see “Your account will be activated and you will be subscribed to Lemmy communities that have a reddit counterpart.” but also “create bot accounts to mirror the original accounts on a corresponding fediverse-enabled server”. Hmm.
Right, I mean, I don’t think we’d want Lemmy to just become a clone of reddit with all the same people. Not being ran by a lame corp would still be an advantage but for now I think discourse on Lemmy is higher quality and I hope it stays that way.