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Dead Geekhack theory?

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blondie:
If you've not heard of the dead internet theory, it is the notion that most of the communication on the internet is by automated software. I am starting to wonder if this has come to geekhack. Just look at this thread, for example:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=99897.0

I get the feeling that those new accounts, with their vacuous replies that don't even entirely make sense come from some automated software.

Hugo_mungus:
Wow! This information you’ve uncovered is surprising and revelatory: you’ve shown that robots are everywhere on GeekHack! I’ll use these tips in the future to get a deeper understanding of who- or what- is discussing keyboard goods and services. I only want to talk to humans; no bots , please!

Great work, sleuth! You’ve saved the day.

Findecanor:
A few of us are trying to report as many of those as we see to the mods, but you can't visit all threads.

Rob27shred:
While a little hyperbolic there is some truth in Dead Internet Theory. Bots & AI have definitely invaded every corner of the internet & will most definitely be on any forum type site like GH. However the bulk of posts & responses are still from actual humans here. Also thankfully just like you pointed out it is pretty damn obvious which accounts are bots & which are human. While D.I.T. my eventually become a self fulfilling prophecy, especially with AI progressing as fast as it is I don't think we're there quite yet.

Findecanor:
It hasn't always been obvious. Many posts from SPAM-bots have been a new thread with a repost of an existing OP.
Sometimes they haven't made sense in their context, but when they have they have often got replies from other users.

The biggest red flag is if it has been a new user posting their first post outside the New Members subforum (but sometimes spambots post there too).
Most bot accounts have had very generic usernames in full lowercase (auto-generated from some formula, probably).
The posts have often been harvested from Geekhack or Reddit. Any reference to Reddit is a red flag.

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