Politics The Bots Are Back!

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by wizenheimer, May 23, 2020.

  1. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2009
    Messages:
    59,328
    Likes Received:
    5,587
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Cracking fools in the skull
    Location:
    Lancaster, California
    One middle finger
     
    SlyPokerDog likes this.
  2. Strenuus

    Strenuus Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2013
    Messages:
    48,609
    Likes Received:
    33,632
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I mean... How do you think we havent had a president in 3 and a half years?
     
    riverman likes this.
  3. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2008
    Messages:
    20,713
    Likes Received:
    32,575
    Trophy Points:
    113
  4. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2013
    Messages:
    66,304
    Likes Received:
    64,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Next thing we'll start hearing the term " bot buddies ."....
     
    SlyPokerDog likes this.
  5. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2013
    Messages:
    66,304
    Likes Received:
    64,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    only a bot would miss the fact it had been chewed off before he held it up..probably belonged to a mailman
     
    magnifier661 and SlyPokerDog like this.
  6. yankeesince59

    yankeesince59 "Oh Captain, my Captain".

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2013
    Messages:
    29,921
    Likes Received:
    13,552
    Trophy Points:
    113
    lol...^^^ I saw what you did there.
     
    riverman likes this.
  7. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    32,643
    Likes Received:
    22,674
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Blazer OT board
    You should try adding some here sometime, then.

    What are we, chopped liver?

    barfo
     
    yankeesince59 and riverman like this.
  8. jonnyboy

    jonnyboy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2016
    Messages:
    5,397
    Likes Received:
    4,819
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Wyoming
    Not boogeyman “bots”.
     
  9. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2015
    Messages:
    26,285
    Likes Received:
    21,506
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I thought this thread was about BGD
     
  10. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2013
    Messages:
    66,304
    Likes Received:
    64,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    every thread is about BGD....he's actually the Matrix....I'm just a lowly deep state operative
     
  11. crandc

    crandc Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    18,144
    Likes Received:
    23,374
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Cats have better claws.
     
  12. jlprk

    jlprk The ESPN mod is insane.

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2009
    Messages:
    30,059
    Likes Received:
    8,157
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    retired, while you work!
    I was making progress and had determined that a bot is close to a meme. But reading this thread reversed my progress and I'm about to say amen.
     
    SlyPokerDog and riverman like this.
  13. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    26,226
    Likes Received:
    14,405
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    User Interface Designer
    Location:
    Hello darkness, my old friend
    Guess who just got back today
    Them wild-news bots that had been away
    Haven't changed that much to say
    But man, I still think them cats are crazy

    They were askin' if Hillary was locked up
    How Biden was, all that pedophile gossip
    Told 'em they sounded a lot like Trump
    Drivin' all the fact checkers crazy

    The bots are back in town
    (The bots are back in town)
    The bots are back in town
    (The bots are back in town again)


    /barfo
     
    riverman, SlyPokerDog and barfo like this.
  14. magnifier661

    magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2009
    Messages:
    59,328
    Likes Received:
    5,587
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Cracking fools in the skull
    Location:
    Lancaster, California
    I’ve shared plenty of content. Just because it’s not part of your echo chamber, doesn’t make it without content.

    mags
     
    Orion Bailey likes this.
  15. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    26,638
    Likes Received:
    16,945
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Elec. & Computer Engineer OSU Computer Science PSU
    Location:
    Lake Oswego, OR
    Ewwww, don't stick up that finger to me.
     
    SlyPokerDog likes this.
  16. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    26,638
    Likes Received:
    16,945
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Elec. & Computer Engineer OSU Computer Science PSU
    Location:
    Lake Oswego, OR
    Sly loves to dress up pretty and he loves to smell his farts, so what's wrong with your first expression?
     
    SlyPokerDog and julius like this.
  17. Lanny

    Lanny Original Season Ticket Holder "Mr. Big Shot"

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    26,638
    Likes Received:
    16,945
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Elec. & Computer Engineer OSU Computer Science PSU
    Location:
    Lake Oswego, OR
    Aha, that's where they came from and I'm not even his neighbor.
     
  18. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    32,643
    Likes Received:
    22,674
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Blazer OT board
    I should have added smiley face, as I was just teasing.

    I know perfectly well you are a bot, we don't need to discuss that further.

    barfo
     
  19. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2008
    Messages:
    116,223
    Likes Received:
    114,265
    Trophy Points:
    115
    HALF of all Twitter posts demanding US reopen economy and spreading COVID-19 conspiracy theories are bots, researchers say
    • Carnegie Mellon University computer scientists conducted social media study
    • They examined 200 million coronavirus-related tweets since January
    • Researchers looked at tweets promoting conspiracies, protesting lockdown
    • Between 45 and 60 per cent of those tweets were from bots, study found
    Nearly half of all Twitter posts and messages spreading conspiracies about the coronavirus and calling for an end to the lockdown are automated accounts known as bots, it has been claimed.

    Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity estimate that between 45 and 60 per cent of accounts on Twitter promoting misinformation related to COVID-19 were bots.

    The findings are a result of a study that analyzed some 200 million coronavirus-related tweets since January.

    The analysts found that of the top 50 influential retweeters, 82 per cent are bots.

    Of the top 1,000 retweeters, 62 per cent are bots.

    The researchers looked for specific markers that usually identify bots.

    Normally, bot accounts tweet and retweet several posts in a short time period. They also tend to copy and paste text from other tweets.

    ‘We're seeing up to two times as much bot activity as we'd predicted based on previous natural disasters, crises and elections,’ said Kathleen Carley, a professor in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science.

    Carley said that the COVID-19 pandemic has given people more time on their hands to create do-it-yourself bots.

    She also said that there is a greater number of sophisticated groups that hire firms to run bot accounts.

    ‘Because it’s global, it’s being used by various countries and interest groups as an opportunity to meet political agendas,’ she said.

    One of those agendas, according to Carley, is to sow dissension by escalating the online debate over lifting lockdown restrictions.

    She said there has been an orchestrated effort to flood social media with demands to reopen the economy.

    Carley said that researchers found at least 34 per cent of the tweets that fuel talk of reopening are bots.

    When factoring in real-life human accounts that have bot assistants, the percentage of ‘reopen’ tweets is 66 per cent.

    ‘When we see a whole bunch of tweets at the same time or back to back, it's like they're timed,’ Carley said.

    ‘We also look for use of the same exact hashtag, or messaging that appears to be copied and pasted from one bot to the next.’

    The Carnegie Mellon researchers found more than 100 false narratives and conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 that they say were promoted by bots.

    Among the conspiracy theories that have gained traction online are the claims that 5G wireless technology was responsible for spreading the virus and that Bill Gates engineered the COVID-19 pandemic so that he can develop a vaccine that will enable him to insert a microchip into every human to track their movements.

    Another theory making the rounds online is that hospitals are using mannequins to fill up their emergency rooms rather than real human beings.

    ‘Conspiracy theories increase polarization in groups. It’s what many misinformation campaigns aim to do,’ Carley said.

    ‘People have real concerns about health and the economy, and people are preying on that to create divides.’

    The more conspiracy theories are spread online, the more likely those who believe these theories could adopt extreme behavior and less rational thinking, according to Carley.

    ‘Increased polarization will have a variety of real-world consequences, and play out in things like voting behavior and hostility towards ethnic groups,’ Carley said.

    Exactly who is behind these bot campaigns is hard to pin down, but Carley has a guess.

    ‘We do know that it looks like it's a propaganda machine, and it definitely matches the Russian and Chinese playbooks, but it would take a tremendous amount of resources to substantiate that,’ Carley said.

    The United States government's intelligence agencies believe Russia orchestrated a similar bot campaign during the 2016 presidential elections.

    Twitter, meanwhile, says that it has removed false information related to COVID-19 from its platform.

    'We're prioritizing the removal of COVID-19 content when it has a call to action that could potentially cause harm,' according to a statement from Twitter.

    'As we've said previously, we will not take enforcement action on every Tweet that contains incomplete or disputed information about COVID-19.'

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ding-reopen-economy-bots-researchers-say.html
     
  20. yankeesince59

    yankeesince59 "Oh Captain, my Captain".

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2013
    Messages:
    29,921
    Likes Received:
    13,552
    Trophy Points:
    113
    ^^^Twitter/Facebook et al, are the devil.
     

Share This Page