alien.top is a new level of Reddit crossposting spam

Fediverse@lemmy.world – 620 points – 7 months ago

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://alien.top/post/263029

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.

You are viewing a single comment

View all comments

I personally hate all the reddit cross post stuff, and it seems like the majority of lemmy users do too. I don't understand why people obsess over this as a way to "grow" lemmy.

It doesn't contribute to active conversations, in fact it deters users who reply locally and then never get a response.

Just let lemmy grow organically by making good content and contributing, stop forcing it with mirrors from reddit.

I wonder if we could get the top admins to threaten defederation with any instance that doesn't flag automated posts as bots. This way at least the users have some visibility.

It isn't about "growing" lemmy. It is about "growing" internet points and communities. People see an opportunity to become the mods they hate (fucking pricks, how dare they ban someone for screaming forty slurs in every single post for six months straight!) while establishing themselves as power users. Because if it worked on reddit, it works on here.

Just block communities and, where possible, instances.

Of all criticism I am hearing, this is by far the most misguided one.

My goal with Communick is to become a mere service provider. I want to do as little as possible with the communities themselves. Sure, I am doing the moderation now because they are not big enough, but if/when they become a real alternative to current subreddits, I hope that the community steps up to govern itself as fast as possible.

If you don't believe me, you can go the matrix channel used by the /r/selfhosted crowd during the protests. I offered them the selfhosted.forum instance for free. They didn't take it.

I want to do as little as possible with the communities themselves.

That is painfully obvious

I hope that the community steps up to govern itself as fast as possible.

They are. They just aren't at the site you want their content to be on.

I want the programming communities to be on programming.dev. I want the adult communities to be on lemmynsfw. I want the nix community to be on nix-community. I want the Brazilian communities to be on lemmy.eco.br, like the italians on feddit.it or the Germans on feddit.de...

These communities already have their place, so there is no need to recreate them. But what about the communities that don't?

You are trying to paint my work in the worst possible light, as if I am trying to hijack the networks. Not only that is not true, it is against everything I stand for. And the really funny thing is that I already have written out quite a bit about how my "evil plan" is to get rid of ad-funded internet and that are alternative business models that can be more ethical without trying to capitalize on eyeballs.

A bit of cynicism can be good, just make sure it doesn't become paranoia.

And what you still seem to not understand:

Those communities don't want to be on those domains. So all you are doing is trying to force their hand because you think your desires override their autonomy.

I don't have to "paint (your) work in the worst possible light" because... you are doing that yourself.

Can you honestly say that the communities on reddit are on reddit due to their choice and absolute free will?

I would say that I would rather they make their own decisions rather than someone decide they know better and force their hands.

I too was a libertarian once. Then I grew up.

Into a selfish authoritarian?

Also, I was not aware that not forcing human beings to talk about video games in the space you decided they should makes me a libertarian. I guess I need to rethink my life?

Who is forcing anything, dear Lord?

The spaces are being created because there are no alternatives. If they don't want to use it and decide to love somewhere else, more power to them. Unlike Reddit, I am not able to kick out moderators and keep only those that pledge loyalty to me.

Unlike Reddit, I am not able to kick out moderators and keep only those that pledge loyalty to me.

You know what? I think you've made all my points for me, repeatedly. Like, if anything I owe you for making my argument better than I could. So I'll just loop back to

It isn’t about “growing” lemmy. It is about “growing” internet points and communities. People see an opportunity to become the mods they hate (fucking pricks, how dare they ban someone for screaming forty slurs in every single post for six months straight!) while establishing themselves as power users. Because if it worked on reddit, it works on here.

Just block communities and, where possible, instances.

Feel free to continue to reiterate my points for me while pretending you are refuting them.

You highlighting the passage that says the complete opposite of what you are implying shows that you are not interested in honest conversation and just want to confirm your worldview.

Have a good one.

4 more...

yea people get drowned out by these bots and they feel less inclined to contribute. I know I was less likely to leave a comment on Reddit when there were already many comments. I was less likely to post on Reddit when a subreddit was already getting many posts. I post and comment more here on Lemmy because it doesn't get drowned out. If we wanna grow then it needs to be natural, not via bots.

everyone do yourself a favor and go to your settings page and uncheck the option for "Show Bot Accounts", it's unfortunate that I can't keep the few good bots visible but there's just too much bot spam now.

it’s unfortunate that I can’t keep the few good bots visible but there’s just too much bot spam now.

As a moderator needing a daily thread created by a bot (!casualconversation@lemmy.world ) it is indeed annoying that a lot of people do not see it due to this.

I got the bot banned a few weeks ago because I hadn't flagged it as such. I could maybe reach out to the LW admins again, but got other stuff to deal with.

I escaped Reddit some months ago. Every day the same video of trashy girls, equal rights equal fights and his wife too (and my axe).

When I started I reacted on posts, but that was not a nice experience. I lurked and only downvoted posts that I thought were mean or hurtful.

In a sub about knitting I found out they started here new. So I followed.

I knit you not haha.

I'm still shy to react, but the reactions I got were supernice and almost allways with some clausule like : "but that's my two cents" and that feels very comforting.

What I would like is more comments on posts. I would love to follow and perhaps engage with lots of people with different knowledge and views.

I miss the Wiki-dive, often multiple times on 1 post.

A while back I tried going to alien.top to as what the site was about and my adblocker completely blocked it. That was a sure sign I did not need to visit.

Alien.top itself is just a standard Lemmy instance. I could believe it if you said it was timing out (as it had a 5 day outage a couple of weeks ago) but to claim there are any ads or trackers there is a simple, verifiable lie.