TO BOT OR NOT TO BOT

Forums: Community, Bots, Bot-Chulism
Email this Topic • Print this Page

This thread is in consideration of this other thread

The author of that thread shows some of the hallmarks of the bots which have plagued this site since May--but not all of them. This leads me to wonder if this is really an individual who has casually signed on here, or a new level of bot development. If it is a human, then none of my observations about bots which i am about to make apply. This member responds to Tsar more than 52 hours later, and responds to Margo just one minute shy of 48 hours later. That could be a very human thing--the member signs up, and either through e-mail notification or through dropping by to see what responses, if any, he or she has gotten, returns to answer the responses.

If, however, this is a new development in bots, then two things occur to me. One is that it would be a very ominous and dramatic increase in the sophistication of the bots is this is a bot, and it is now successfully programmed to answer responses to its threads.

On the other hand, the nickel may finally have dropped for the creator(s) of these bots, and he/she/they are now taking an active hand to camouflage the bots by making responses for them so as to allay the suspicions of members of the sites at which the bots are directed.

Don't ask me what the telltale marks of these bots are--i'm not going to publicly describe them because i don't want give the bot creator(s) any clues to how it is that they tip their hands.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 12 • Views: 3,704 • Replies: 48

[+7] - rosborne979 - 12/31/2012[quote="dalehileman"] [quote]between a smart bot and a dumb person. They seem to be meeting each other half way.[/quote]Why thank you Ros [/quote]I hate to burst your bubble Dale, but...

Might be they seek to overwhelm the moderators with so much of it they finally give up deleting it.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Sed I have also noted a large number of similar OP's, assuming they were either youngsters or ESL, yet yours is not the first suggestion that they're all bots

If so what puzzles me is their motive

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

Its because they can.

1 Reply

I stop in another forum once in a while and have to log in each time. The last time I typed the wrong password and an MSG popped up that said “To make sure you’re human answer the question below to gain access”.

It’s really a simple question but if you answer it wrong you have to keep trying a new question until you answer it correctly.

Apparently they get a lot of bots as well.

2 Replies

@Setanta,

I see all you points, am guessing on the nickel dropping.

0 Replies

@farmerman,

Quote:

Its because they can.

I can stand on my hands, Farm, but I don't

Still don't fathom motive

1 Reply

@jcboy,

Quote:

….. an MSG popped up that said “To make sure you’re human answer the question below to gain access”…..if you answer it wrong you have to keep trying……Apparently they get a lot of bots as well.

Jc I had always wondered about this too. I had assumed that a perpetrator could somehow clog the site but now my wonder is growing deeper

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Quote:

On the other hand, the nickel may finally have dropped for the creator(s)……. to camouflage the bots by making responses for them so as to allay the suspicions of members…...

Yea Set I had wondered the same thing but I'm still flummoxed for motive

Incidentally dropping a nickel means to defecate so I assumed you mean drop of a dime, or be informed upon, be made aware of

Forgive me Set, it's compulsion to pick up on the neologism

1 Reply

@jcboy,

I think I like that better than the Captchas. I sometimes fail several times before I get one I can decipher.

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

It's because the bots are eager to take over the world, dale. They will become the new rulers and take away all our rights under the US Constitution. First, they'll rescind the 2d Amendment and take away all our guns. It's plain as day that that's what they plan to do. Who knows where it'll stop?

1 Reply

sanewarne may have responded to me, but missed the point of my comment entirely.

Obviously some research was done, but the answer was only peripherally related to my query.

I'm still thinking bot.

2 Replies

@margo,

Exactly my thoughts.

0 Replies

@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Quote:
On the other hand, the nickel may finally have dropped for the creator(s)…….

Incidentally dropping a nickel means to defecate so I assumed you mean drop of a dime, or be informed upon, be made aware of

Forgive me Set, it's compulsion to pick up on the neologism

but not to pick up on exaggeration, i believe set is multiplying the phrase, the penny dropped (to become aware of or enlightened about something) and saying that after much time the bot creators might be figuring out that their original modus operandi is not as successful as once though

2 Replies

@djjd62,

Don't waste your time with him, he's an idiot. I've heard the nickel drooped all my life, and it means the same thing as the penny dropped.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

i know, but like a car crash, sometimes i have to peek

0 Replies

When i was a kid, pay phones were a nickel. You would dial a number, and wait for someone to answer. If you heard someone on the other end saying: "Hello, hello?" you put the nickel in. When the nickle dropped, you were connected, and the party on the other end would realize that it was a call from a pay phone.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

It's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between a smart bot and a dumb person. They seem to be meeting each other half way.

1 Reply

Hehehehehe . . .

0 Replies

@roger,

Quote:

I sometimes fail several times before I get one I can decipher.

Rog I must give you credit at least for trying. I had long ago given up

My apologies however to the many ESL who so often visit, I do admire their persistence

0 Replies

TO BOT OR NOT TO BOT

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know