Bots of ATS unite!

I was reading a thread recently and got a whirlwind of an idea inspired by davidgrouchy.
First off, thanks David for the spark.
Now onto the dirty work.
We all think the man is watching us and we know that they are suggesting things to us, sockpuppets anonymous Etc.
I have a suggestion but as i am not compewtor literate i am not sure if it could or would work.
That is where you smart tech savvy guys come in, would a post verification system work on bots?
The kind of java or whatever swirly random word generators.
If they would not work, then why please?
But if they could or would work, could ATS go to this sort of system?
I have seen other places that use this system, and i do not feel it would invade anyones feelings.
Thoughts anyone?

This is what i am referring to if none know what i speak of.

reply to post by g146541


CAPTCHA on ATS? please no that would be the most annoying thing we could do.

reply to post by g146541


I know the thread you are refering to. Yes it would be nice to screen out bots and trolls. I have no idea how though.

Originally posted by TraptInTheSystem
reply to post by g146541

 

I know the thread you are refering to. Yes it would be nice to screen out bots and trolls. I have no idea how though.

The things is? Have we ever had a bot here?

And a CAPTCHA would not stop a troll.

reply to post by Nobama


If it only cost an extra 10 seconds to post and could remove bots from ATS then why not?
This could be a valuable weapon against disinformation.
If you have an opinion that i do not like, i understand and we all have a right to our opinion.
At least it is a "REAL" opinion.
Well, if you are human anyway.
But say someone posts true solid good juicy information and an army of sock puppets comes and debunks said info with lies, alleged witness account, or skewed stats, Etc. and is able to beat down and suppress said good info, if a human verification could stop that, wouldn't it be a good thing?

Originally posted by g146541
This is what i am referring to if none know what i speak of.

Now that you mention it, it's interesting that this hasn't already been put into place.


The closest thing to a rule-of-thumb to tell who is an "official" DoD disinfo agent, and who isn't, is to watch stars on posts on controversial topics. We are all familiar with the star system and what it generally looks like. Now I will tell you what it shouldn't look like: when you see someone post something, and 4 minutes later it has 4 or 5 stars, and then an hour later, it still has 4 or 5 stars, and then the next day, maybe it has one more star.

Basically I am talking about seeing someone post something, then immediately they have an amount of stars to their post that makes it stand out, and then it remains with roughly that number over an extended period of time. The odds of this happening legitimately over and over again, are ridiculously slim. Just think about it. And I have seen this behavior surrounding the posts of 2 or 3 different individuals on these forums in the years I have been a member here. I've even had other people I was arguing with agree that this behavior was strange, as their own posts were getting the same treatment and they had been paying attention to it.

This leads me to believe that someone has developed a script or some corrupt way to star their own posts multiple times in an effort to make it appear as though what they say is a very popular opinion.

In fact I think any "interest group" with access to competent computer networking people could figure out a way to do this, and implement it.

reply to post by g146541


What a funny post...

You must not realize not only does CAPTCHA fail to actually keep out well scripted bots, but when your in a heated debate and have to keep typing in words just to post you'll see, not to worry though the mods know better.

reply to post by mr-lizard


I cannot say if we have ever had bots here, i'm sure bots exist but other than myself i cannot speak for anyone elses post, and on that same scale you do not know if i am a bot either.
As for trolls as TraptInTheSystem also mentioned above, i have no probs with trolls, they are easy to spot.
The mods corner them all of the time i'm sure.

I think that it would just be easier to do what I do when I feel I am encountering a possible troll. I click on their names and checks their threads, posts, and the types of threads they frequent. That has been very effective for me since I have been a member here. I also do that for those that I put on my friends list.

My 2 cents. Peace, NRE.

reply to post by g146541


and lol at calling me a bot, I must be a well design bot to be able to answer your questions, maybe do a little research on how a bot works, but we do not have any on here to warrant the use of CAPTCHA.

Originally posted by Nobama
You must not realize not only does CAPTCHA fail to actually keep out well scripted bots, but when your in a heated debate and have to keep typing in words just to post you'll see, not to worry though the mods know better.

I wouldn't want to have to use "CAPTCHA" every time I posted, but is it in place for registering a new account? That's what I thought the OP was referring to, and on most other forums I've signed up on, they've had this feature.

Agreed that it can still be bypassed, but I'm sure it's more complicated than it would be otherwise. The DoD could still get around it, I'm sure. But then again they have the resources to hire real human beings to post on forums and blogs, and have admitted to doing as much.

reply to post by bsbray11


I see so you can basically track a bot via....Star envy?
Good thought though, person registers today and has 3k stars would be a giveaway.
Unless they have some real good content.

reply to post by Nobama


You would be correct in your assumption that i do not realize, that is why i pose the question to you tech savvy types, ya know you guys that solved the ATS puzzle and blew the mods away with how fast you got your geek on?
What to do?

Originally posted by g146541
I see so you can basically track a bot via....Star envy?

I'm not talking about bots, and it's not envy, it's statistical improbabilities. Do you know what I mean by that?

I don't think I've ever seen a bot here. So why do we need a fix for a non-problem? If we were innundated with "Get free teacup Yorkie puppies here" posts I could see it, but otherwise what's the point? I dunno, Mods may have to deal with this at a level we don't see, but given how busy this site is, I doubt it.

Intentional trolls don't last long here. I distinguish them from posts where you disagree with the poster, or he with you, therefore you call him a troll, though more often peole accuse them of being 'disinformation agents.'

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Seems you pretty much do what i do.
Try to go with the gut feeling, of something is wrong here or all seems in order.
Keep it simple sweety!

reply to post by g146541


Do what NRE said to do, there arent any bots on here, but trolls seem to be a issue every once in awhile.


and rereading my posts I didnt mean to come off like that, I wasn't attacking you if you happen to take it that way.

reply to post by g146541


It also helps that I have a photographic memory and look at everyone's avatar, date registered, stars, and flags. Based on just that habit, I am (almost) sure that there is about 20 members that should be looked into, but again thats based on my technique

Peace, NRE.

reply to post by bsbray11


Yeah i know what your saying i was just putting some of my bad humor on my response, but i do see your stars are quite big, no envy there for you!
But yeah i getcha.