Whoever is in charge of that instance, STOP.
It’s an instance that crossposts posts from Reddit, except it also makes a new user for each Reddit account it came from. So if /u/hello123 made a post, it makes that post under a new account called hello123. That makes it impossible to block posting bots.
Not only that, it makes posts look like they’re posted by real people, with many question and text posts being copied as well. I was very confused as to what these posts were until I realized they’re crossposts.
Examples:
https://lemm.ee/u/pocalyuko@alien.top
https://lemm.ee/u/ItzMeRocket@alien.top
https://lemm.ee/u/CaptainCapp-n@alien.top
I strongly believe Lemmy isn’t the place for mirroring content from other websites. You can host your own alternate Reddit frontend like LibReddit, there’s no reason to spam the posts to everyone using Lemmy just because 5 people asked for it. Not to mention there are already enough instances mirroring posts, this is getting obnoxious.
Impressively stupid, if I’m honest. I wonder what the hell happened to make anyone on the planet think of that bit of genius.
I can say the same about your comment.
Yeah, and what a sick burn that was. Bet it must’ve taken quite some time and effort to come up with.
So you think creating new accounts for every post instead of just using a bot is a good idea? Why?
The account is meant to be taken over by the corresponding redditor. alien.top already has 100+ users who came from Reddit this way.
So every cross-post is happening after a Redditor has confirmed they want a Lemmy account in their name?
No. Separate actions.
Sounds like that’s a big part of the problem right there then.
Accounts should either be claimed by real people, or be bot accounts. There shouldn’t be “ghost” accounts that may or may not be claimed.
That’s definitely one of the most objectionable and puzzling things about this. I wouldn’t feel comfortable about someone making an account in another site using my username and cloning my content without my knowledge - surely wouldn’t give me a good impression of that site or encourage me to sign up there (using my reddit credentials to do so, also).
Are you familiar with the history of how Brazil got rid of hyperinflation in the 90’s by creating an imaginary currency tied to the Dollar?
Think of the ghost accounts as the intemediate step. They are meant to work for people that are signing up and encounter some content. Without them, people would join the communities and not find anything to browse, so they bounce anyway.
lets be honest: if someone were to post on reddit, and that webscraper copies the post and THEIR USERNAME onto an alternative service without prior consent, what is the reaction you should expect?
a) oh wow thats helpful thank you very much i will now drop reddit forever
or
b) your post and account stealing crapshoot of a server can go die in a ditch for all i care
i can assure you, most people will choose b), and even people who might have chosen a) will first hear about it from the pissed off group.
I believe your activism comes from the right place, but i think it’s actively harmful, even if you ignore that it annoys people in the fediverse itself.
Not sure I follow how an unclaimed ghost account solves this problem vs. that unclaimed account being marked as a bot
How did they find out about it? Are they still active? So they wonder why people keep defederating and blocking
No. I just think the person I replied to was rude.
But that means you were being rude back 😱
Guilty as charged.