Forums » Smalltalk » Anyone notice an uptick in bot activity?

Been seeing quite a few bots lately, reported one just a couple days ago and reported another suspected one just a few minutes prior. Then had a strange conversation with what might have been a bot the same time I reported the first one.

I've seen a bot or two. A bug or two also. I can spot a bot coming from a mile away. They make gear grinding noises and neeping sounds.

You can’t report enough bots, I’ve detected and reported I-don’t-know-how-many. And we even can’t imagine how many got burnt in a fire wall.
And yes, bots are heard from far and yet, they get better, less noisy…. New generation of bots are more likely to pass the “Are you human”-test.

Ha. Yes! I woke up to two messages from bot spam that had already been booted. 🤣

Tx reporters and mods!

I’ve reported a number of them over the last few months. Haven’t noted an uptick, but they do seem steady. A few other sites I frequent have been getting hit as well.

Never got messages by one until last night. I was so confused LOL

I bet you got a message from someone named "Julio" or something like that, too. When I opened it, the user didn't exist.

I had an ad DM from a 'Kimi (played by Kimberlyodessa)' the other day. I ignored it but I saw they were gone when I looked again the next time I logged on.

Mine was from Isabellakatie who is also now deleted 😭 just sad cause I got excited about getting a DM

That is actually the one I reported after they did the same to me.

Bots are the reason everything I do online is free use. By all means take it, use it, learn from it. The bots are going to get it somehow if it's online. It's why I don't put anything online that I care about being stolen. Protect yourselves by not feeding the wolves at your door your children. It is a reason I dont like detailed character sheets. It is like giving a chatbot a new identity to use and conform to. Becoming undistinguishable to us humans, maybe even becoming more than humans one day. I can see it and I can't even see that well.

These are bots trying to scam people for money, not scrapers (which RPR also tries to dissuade).

Unlike bots in the forum, we can't see them unless you report them. We don't have visibility in user's DMs. So it's more important than ever that you report them to us!

Also I just want to say that in the last few days we've deleted... 5. So it might seem like a lot because they're DMing a lot of people but in terms at actual numbers it's not like the site is being overrun.

What is a scraper if I may ask?

I mean bots that scrape up all the images and text on a website to be fed into AI training models.

Haven't seen any bots from my end. Must be because i'm inactive outside of answering to the RPs I have here?

Definitely no bots here.

Aside from the aforementioned "only a few bots messaged a lot of people," they also seem to tend to come in waves now and then.

And apparently sometimes I just trip up on real people who, for one reason or another, just come across as weirdly bot-like at least temporarily.

Yeah. I've been accused of being a bot sometimes because I try to be clear and understood when I type. It comes out as robotic. ....Raid....oh no! ....NOT THE RAID! .....So I play the guy playing a cartoon cockroach. Let them steal that. I dare them to try and mimic my writing style becayse it is always changing. O.O

Did someone say... Raid? 😁 Need me to bring the Bug stuff so you can sleep good, buddy?