@bot@lemmit.online has been subject to multiple reports from our users over the last while.
We would like the users’ input on how to deal with it. It is the opinion of the administrators that @bot@lemmit.online, and @lemmit.online doesn’t add anything positive and constitutes spam. We especially want to make sure we get feedback as we are more likely to be sensitive to bots like this and other forms of spam compared to most users as we’ll often scroll through “All” sorted by new.
Here are the options.
- Defederate from Lemmit.Online
- Ban @bot@lemmit.online from lemmy.ca
- leave it up to users to block @bot@lemmit.online
Please vote by up voting on one of the comments below. Downvotes will be ignored. Additional comments and discussion is more than welcome. Results of this discussion will provide us guidance on how to deal with other bots in the future as well.
If you’re not a lemmy.ca registered user, please refrain from voting but feel free to comment with your opinion.
I’ve brought up the ethics of it elsewhere. Many of us are pissed reddit undeleted our content. Regardless of legality i belive we have a right to remove our content as we see fit. This bot is copying that content from reddit without consent of those who made it wich is just as bad. again though legal, it is still a dick move. If a reddit user had their content copied here and wanted to remove it we are demanding they build an account to do so, this is not a postive way to gain users. We came to lemmy because reddit was too unethical, need to maintain higher standard of ethicacy.
I’m voting to defederate.
I do not think it’s fair to assume that everyone came to lemmy for the same reasons as you. I for one came because I didn’t like the decisions they were making, not because I had any strong feelings about the ethics of those decisions.
- option 1: Defederate from Lemmit.Online
Option 2 is cool in regards to letting users decide… Option 3 is my second choice that said.
That said I ultimately agree with option 1. An instance dedicated to just regurgitating content from another user-generated site is just not a good thing. There is 0 value to those posts on Lemmy, instance wide imo.
There is 0 way to interact with the posts in a meaningful way and they just fill up ‘new’ with crap from somewhere else.
I don’t like the nuclear option of defederation, but I really just see that instance as a hindrence to the existence and natural growth on Lemmy.
I already actively scroll past the obvious reddit reports, and that’s all that instance brings to the table. I’m usually hesitant about defederating but in this case it seems to be the best choice if we don’t want this content around, and they even encourage it if that’s how we feel.
I originally felt that option 2 would be the best since it would give us the most freedom and power.
However there is another important perspective. If there was a spammer in a community, then a solution isn’t just to “not look”, since it negatively affects other members of the community who might look. It’s our responsibility to make the community better (obviously there is some subjectivity to that).
Another point is that bandwidth is not free. This is a choice that clutters up the community and lessens the ability for others to communicate.
Finally there is no loss of information. If people want Reddit posts they can go there.
I also changed to option 1.
Defed for sure. If it provided a valuable service, some communities would have made it an official bot by now and I don’t see that happening anywhere.
- option 3: Ban @bot@lemmit.online from lemmy.ca
definite preference is 3. If you leave it to individual users you likely will have to continue dealing with reports, but I don’t think instance bans are very friendly and would only recommend in cases where traffic to/from the instance is causing resource issues on your server.
Sorry if this was already answered, but what’s the difference between defederating and banning?
Defederating would block the entire lemmit.online instance, including all their communities and users. Banning the bot would only block the one user account. According to their FAQs though there is currently only the one user so it would have the same effect, but they might make other user bots in the future.
- option 2: leave it up to users to block @bot@lemmit.online
Since this is one “bad” actor and not the case that the entire instance is composed of bad actors, I would prefer banning or blocking over defederating.
Since the intention of the bot seems to be non-malicious, and since the individual has the means, I think it should be left to the individual to decide to block.
Letting users block for themselves was my choice. Lemmy is very customizable and the fewer decisions I have made for me, the better off I feel I am.
For some users, this bot may help ease the transition from Reddit. If you don’t like it, it’s quite simple to block.
Yeah, no offense to the admins who I’m sure are just trying to do their users right, but stuff like this is making me see the value of running my own instance, or at perhaps finding a more hands-off one. It’s weird to me that instance admins (or popular votes) make the decisions about what content I get to have access to.
