@bot@lemmit.online has been subject to multiple reports from our users over the last while.
We would like the users’ input on how to deal with it. It is the opinion of the administrators that @bot@lemmit.online, and @lemmit.online doesn’t add anything positive and constitutes spam. We especially want to make sure we get feedback as we are more likely to be sensitive to bots like this and other forms of spam compared to most users as we’ll often scroll through “All” sorted by new.
Here are the options.
- Defederate from Lemmit.Online
- Ban @bot@lemmit.online from lemmy.ca
- leave it up to users to block @bot@lemmit.online
Please vote by up voting on one of the comments below. Downvotes will be ignored. Additional comments and discussion is more than welcome. Results of this discussion will provide us guidance on how to deal with other bots in the future as well.
If you’re not a lemmy.ca registered user, please refrain from voting but feel free to comment with your opinion.
- option 2: leave it up to users to block @bot@lemmit.online
Letting users block for themselves was my choice. Lemmy is very customizable and the fewer decisions I have made for me, the better off I feel I am.
For some users, this bot may help ease the transition from Reddit. If you don’t like it, it’s quite simple to block.
Yeah, no offense to the admins who I’m sure are just trying to do their users right, but stuff like this is making me see the value of running my own instance, or at perhaps finding a more hands-off one. It’s weird to me that instance admins (or popular votes) make the decisions about what content I get to have access to.
This is my choice. I’d prefer defederating is more of a last resort. And we can choose for ourselves what to do.
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I’ll block it, you don’t need to protect me. In fact, I would rather you not – as long as the tools I have are adequate to the task.
Since this is one “bad” actor and not the case that the entire instance is composed of bad actors, I would prefer banning or blocking over defederating.
Since the intention of the bot seems to be non-malicious, and since the individual has the means, I think it should be left to the individual to decide to block.
It’s literally the only user of that instance and the admins of that instance have stated it would remain that way.
- option 1: Defederate from Lemmit.Online
Option 2 is cool in regards to letting users decide… Option 3 is my second choice that said.
That said I ultimately agree with option 1. An instance dedicated to just regurgitating content from another user-generated site is just not a good thing. There is 0 value to those posts on Lemmy, instance wide imo.
There is 0 way to interact with the posts in a meaningful way and they just fill up ‘new’ with crap from somewhere else.
I don’t like the nuclear option of defederation, but I really just see that instance as a hindrence to the existence and natural growth on Lemmy.
I already actively scroll past the obvious reddit reports, and that’s all that instance brings to the table. I’m usually hesitant about defederating but in this case it seems to be the best choice if we don’t want this content around, and they even encourage it if that’s how we feel.
If you you don’t want anyone else on your server to be exposed to this bot/instance, you should convince your admin to defederate from lemmit.online. Since there are no other users on here, there will be no harm done.
Reading the FAQ I have changed my mind to defederate.
I originally felt that option 2 would be the best since it would give us the most freedom and power.
However there is another important perspective. If there was a spammer in a community, then a solution isn’t just to “not look”, since it negatively affects other members of the community who might look. It’s our responsibility to make the community better (obviously there is some subjectivity to that).
Another point is that bandwidth is not free. This is a choice that clutters up the community and lessens the ability for others to communicate.
Finally there is no loss of information. If people want Reddit posts they can go there.
I also changed to option 1.
Yeah after reading their instance sidebar, I’m changing my vote to option 1.
I agree with option 1. Lemmy is not Reddit and it should not be a Reddit copycat. These types of bots have no place in Lemmy and we need to deferate with instances that promote these kind of bots.
Defederate all the way
After reading their FAQ I think we should defederate.
Here’s a snippet
Q: This is spam, can you stop?
A: First of all, I apologise for the inconvenience. All you have to do is block @bot@lemmit.online, and none of its posts will ever show up on your instance. If you you don’t want anyone else on your server to be exposed to this bot/instance, you should convince your admin to defederate from lemmit.online. Since there are no other users on here, there will be no harm done.
No users to offend
- option 3: Ban @bot@lemmit.online from lemmy.ca
Sorry if this was already answered, but what’s the difference between defederating and banning?
Defederating would block the entire lemmit.online instance, including all their communities and users. Banning the bot would only block the one user account. According to their FAQs though there is currently only the one user so it would have the same effect, but they might make other user bots in the future.
Ah ok. Thanks!
definite preference is 3. If you leave it to individual users you likely will have to continue dealing with reports, but I don’t think instance bans are very friendly and would only recommend in cases where traffic to/from the instance is causing resource issues on your server.
I was leaning towards letting the individual user decide, but now vote to either defederate, or ban the bot.
I’m of the mind that this is where I go insteadof reddit. If there’s going to be overlap between what gets posted over there, and on lemmy, I’d rather it gets posted by a person who wants to engage, and is invested in the post.
Additionally, I am not in favor of any bot that can potentially make me engage with reddit in any way.
I think that the active participation of members is how we get strong communities. One way to be an active participant is to take responsibility for what you want to see. If you don’t like the bot, block it.
This is analogous to walking out of a movie you dislike rather than calling for it to be banned.
As far as I can tell, it’s not breaking any terms of service or policy. That doesn’t mean that terms of service and policy can’t be modified, but that should be done only to address general principles, not specific cases. (Although it may be that a specific case makes obvious the need for change.)
I wondered if there were many people on lemmit.online whose valuable contributions to the community would be cut off if we defederated, so I went over there and found this instance description:
A Reddit to Lemmy crossposting instance.
In other words, the whole place is a reddit copypasta bot. So banning the bot would be effectively the same as defederating from the instance, wouldn’t it?
I prefer the way posts here feel more curated than on reddit, so to me, that bot is mostly just generating noise. But I can understand that some people who rely on social media for news and such might be more likely to spend time here if they can get all the posts in one place. So I’m voting to leave it up to the users. Blocking a single bot for myself is easy.
If it was putting problematic load on the server, though, I think I would consider it spam and vote to defederate.
Agreed. I need a Reddit repost bot like I need a hole in the head. Which means I really don’t need it, in case anyone is wondering.
I was browsing though that instance and realized I haven’t seen a blatenly fake and terrible post in weeks when I came across one that was titled along the lines of “I love the smell of my vagnina after my boyfriend cums in me”.
Holy crap the posting quality on Reddit nose dived over the years and I didn’t notice.
On the plus side they’re quite open and honest about what exactly they’re doing. Its just up to people to decide if they want it or not.
I agree that defederating and banning the bot are effectively the same. Defederating seems a bit cleaner to me, so that’s what I voted for.
If people really want the content they can still go directly to the instance and get it. I know that seems to go against the grain of the fediverse and I’m still struggling with that.
Block the bot just so new isn’t wholly polluted by it. We need to generate our own content here, and signal to noise ratio is important to achieve that.
I’m of the opinion that any account or instance that is dedicated to reposting Reddit content is spam.
Ban the bot.
Automated reposts that don’t get any interaction in the comments are just spam.
I vote either defederate or ban. Even if it is “technically legal” by the current rules, it goes completely against the spirit and intent of this place, and rules can and should be changed over time to preserve that. Bot/AI generated posts are exactly what we DON’T want this place to turn into, and it will take active effort to avoid that.
We really need a poll function in Lemmy. 🤭
With the ability to limit the poll to users of a specific instance and/or subscribers from a community (that were subscribed prior to the poll’s creation).
I like the prior subscription filter.
That way it greatly reduces the amount of users trying to brigade a vote. Can’t do much against sleeper/inactive accounts subscribed just for that purpose, but that at least require some planning.
Ban spam.
Option 3, user bans.
196 is also spam but we’re not banning that.
Defederation is too drastic.
Would it be possible instead for either communities to whitelist the bot if the wanted the content, or to speak with the developers for them to include a purposeful subscription to it rather than shotgun posting?
The bot is not posting to communities on lemmy.ca. It’s posting to lemmit.online. If any user on lemmy.ca subscribes to a community from lemmit.online, the bot’s posts will start to show up on the “all” homepage.
I’ve already blocked this bot on my account because i use the all page to find new communities. Before that bot was blocked, all I would see were the posts it made.
I agree with other users in this comment section that the admins should be as hands off as possible and leave it up to the users.
An opt out block list would be great for this. New users don’t get inundated with one way bot generated content, but if you want to monitor a verbose bot you can. Sort of an opt in.
Actually now that I say that, just set up a community, and have the bit post to the community. Subscribe to the community to get the bot’s posts, don’t to not see them.
Hang on, but that community would still show up in the “All” feed wouldn’t it. Hmmm. Okay, I see the dilemma.
There are no other users on lemmit.online, and the bot didn’t post to any communities outside of lemmit.online. Defederating and banning the bot are functionally identical.
