Who’s Yamamoto and Nimitz in this situation?
Comment on A Completely Natural Conversation in the NYC Reddit
Sergio@lemmy.world 14 hours agofleet of accounts
I like the use of the term “fleet” in this context, bc it brings to mind the Battle of Midway but re-done with bots online.
Denjin@lemmings.world 11 hours ago
Sergio@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Well let’s see… first we gotta figure out the analogy:
- carriers = posts promoting a product
- carrier escorts = posts commenting on and upvoting the “carrier” post
- torpedos/dive-bombs = bot-delivered replies that disparage “carrier” posts. They “hit” if they get highly upvoted
- fighters = bots that downvote carrier-fleet posts and upvote torpedo/dive-bomb replies
- carrier “screen” fighters = bots that post attacks on enemy fighters and munitions
- carrier AA fire = bots that downvote attacks by enemy fighter bots
The analogy is still a little clumsy… are “carriers” posts, or are they the bots that make the posts? etc. But a Midway-like battle would involve a modest but strategically-positioned product-promoting community that is about to be surprised-attacked by a rival, who will make several posts disparaging the product. But the attack is identified through corporate espionage. The posts are hard to find, so the “fighters” have to search for them but ultimately they do, and after fierce up- and down-voting, the attacking posts are deeply downvoted.
Squorlple@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
It’s the word I originally used when bothunting on Reddit years ago but I switched to the term “botnet” since it seems more proper imo