A'gon joke...


One of a dozen recently minted bots walks into a forum and posts a message about point source speakers.

I comment about point source kits with a link.

Comment deleted by moderators.

 

erik_squires

I do not understand the term "bots" when referring to Audiogon message entries.

Is it referencing humans who physically type responses or questions based on a need to disturb things?

or

Is it talking about machines or digital software that is programmed to make up questions or answers which may be relevant or may just be antagonistic for whatever reason?

How can any entry be proven to be either of the above?

 

 

It’s what some are calling these generic questions from brand spanking new members coming out of nowhere. The questions always seem to stir debate or require lots of advice as they’re lacking in specificity.

The responses can be detailed and thorough but the OP seems to just vanish from the thread. Check out the members start date and you’ll see. So we call them bots.

All the best,
Nonoise

The term bot comes from social media when automated scripts would run to pollute a discussion, especially based on keywords. It has been expanded to mean insincere participation in a discussion threads, especially from commercial or government funded message farms.  There's a huge amount of research on this related to Twitter if you are interested.  Google "twitter misinformation bots" and I'm sure you'll find lots of it. 

It is difficult for us end-users to prove anything about bots and their behavior, especially on individual posts, unless it’s glaringly obvious, like "I found a place that lets you print free money and I wanted to share the URL with you..."

Observing the forums over time however you can get a good sense of the shift to bot-ness.

Post removed 

In all honesty, mine was barely funny....even to me..

So, @thecarpathian ...you're absolutely right. *s*  (No +; it was just the 'try' aspect...'a Zen arrow into the dark, likely hitting one's own ass...' ;)

("...his jokes fell like leaden farts upon the stage...")... too true, too often...

It would seem odd to launch an AI'd bot into forums as this, if only to generate some off-the-non-existent-wall form of vague disillusionment over new posters, or even spoofing real ones...and they'd likely be better at it than yours truly. *l*

Now, if there was an on-going snit over some political flame, a moth-bot may be drawn here; but when there's muchomore elsewhere....?

'It's just highly illogical', Spockishly...

Free money....right....anyone who remembers the closing scenario of The Magic Christian should agree that even 'free' has a cost....