#blocking and reporting bots

[furiousgoldfish]

I've had to block a lot of bots in the last few days, and I accidentally realized that some of the no-avatar no-post accounts, have some likes, and they might be real people.

I checked all of the other accounts for likes, and only blocked the ones who had absolutely nothing on their account. If you've made a tumblr account for the first time, and didn't change your avatar, didn't reblog or like anything, and you're just here to read things, that is 100% okay, and I would not want to block or report you for that.

However, tumblr has a problem where bot-accounts do a large-scale following, and then proceed to send spam, use the link to your blogs to promote themselves as 'real accounts', do promotions using your blog as link to a real person, and eventually you end up having to block them from messaging and harassing you. It's because of that we HAVE to block and report bots, they'll swarm and harass us otherwise. They're also skewing the numbers and making it impossible to tell how many actual real people are following and interacting with your blog.

So if you're new here, and just want to read, please put some kind of picture as your avatar, or put at least one single post on your blog, just to verify to the rest of us that you're real. I had more than 70 fake accounts follow me in the last few days and I'm mortified to imagine I accidentally blocked and reported an actual person.

[thepromiscuousfinger]

[subsequentibis]

hey looks like there's a bot copying posts to try to look like a real person to get you to click the link, so keep an eye out

[sunnylighter]

Posting this because I'm mad, but I really want people to stop soliciting me on fanfiction.net. These are just some of the ones I've been getting lately. I have done everything short of blocking all notifications from there entirely, which I don't want to do because some people still there actually still read my stories and give nice reviews. I want to keep interacting with them. I also get the occasional request to beta-read someone's fic, and I enjoy doing that as well.

But recently only 1 in every 10 messages from there were actually from people who like my work and want to talk to me about it. Instead, I keep getting messages from these fuckers and their copy-and-past little sales pitches. Usually, it's in PMs, but the most recent one was in a review of my fic. Considering this particular comment was on chapter 1, I highly doubt they actually read my fic. You can tell from how their messages are so similar and yet despite claiming to have read my fics and that they were great, they fail to mention any details about them. Were the characters portrayed right, if they like a plot twist I put in, a particular moment that was especially sad, or funny, or got them hyped? Nothing. Just, 'Hey, I like your work, buy my shit'.

I'm not even sure if there are real people behind these accounts. The account pages are usually pretty empty aside from linking their profiles on other sites, and maybe a handful of random favorite stories or authors. And all of them were new accounts started in late August of this year. Honestly, I'm pretty sure a lot of them are bots or some kind of scam. I wouldn't be surprised if any 'art' bought off these accounts were just made with AI.

Whatever the case, I don't trust it and really advise against anyone buying from these people. If you want commissions based on your fics, please research and reach out to artists yourself instead of giving money to these annoying snake-oil salesmen.

I love fanart of my fics. I greatly appreciate anyone who chooses to make fanart of my fics, and adore seeing it so, so much. But if I ever decide I want a commission, I will reach out to you, not the other way around. If anyone knows more about why this is happening and how to get them to leave me alone, please let me know.

[ai-art-thieves]

I found multiple bots by scrolling through the art tag on new for a bit. There were also a lot of posts with removed comments which I assume is also related to these bots.

I saw the third one three separate times.

The fourth one might've been commenting on a post that was also possibly a spam bot which is... ironic.

me, getting a massive influx of reports involving portfolio predators:

[wishingstarinajar]

deep sigh

--

Please stop answering these obviously fake asks. Please stop promoting them to your followers. Don't accidentally dupe yourself or your followers in sending money to scammers.

[manga-and-stuff]

While the people running a "certain blogging site" might be nuking blogs of "certain people" left and right... at least they solved the bot problem, right?

Right??

RIGHT???!??

[gomzdrawfr]

Bot situation getting out of hand, and WELL here’s your warning, if your profile picture is a zoom in or close up of a middle aged man/woman, I’m banning ya

Also, please don’t overtag me or tag me multiple times, if i dont respond that means im not interested, repeating yourself will not bring you anywhere besides pissing me off

[ernmark]

What the blog could have been, had the URL not been taken by a bot:

Presidential-Streetli: the official blog of a sentient streetlamp and its hopeful political campaign (lots of promises regarding infrastructure improvements)

Pristine-Sacrament: an aesthetic blog focusing on stunning photos of sacraments from various Christian sects, with a weekly tradition of Eucharist Tuesday

Numerous-Carol: this blog collects holiday themed songs from countries around the world. Says it's all holiday inclusive, but only actually active between November and January.

AfflictedStrobe: a database of recent movies with photosensitivity warnings, including timestamps and the relevant things that happen while you have to look away.

ResourcefulCampFir: a low-tech camping blog focusing specifically on coniferous forests.

CrazyCommunicator55: a retired therapist offering somewhat outdated mental health advice to anon askers

Fresh-Lathe: a carpentry and woodworking blog

Antisocial-Heartbeat: this one's a late teenager just getting into the swing of their goth phase. Writes wonderful poetry

ExploratoryHag: this blog belongs to a post-menopausal woman getting back in touch with paganism after her divorce. She's still figuring out how to upload pictures from her phone, but her cooking and handiwork is breathtaking (when it isn't too blurry to actually see)

[jessfandrawer]

[ruin--eclipse]

these stupid bots are not reading the "i can't donate so dont send asks about it" in my pinned post

"i wanna save my son"

"I wanna save my family"

They wanna save their family's lives but don't wanna see how i CANT donate?

I DONT have the money. Too many money asks that i have to block, report and delete. I literally dont have any money.

and if i do get asks about normal stuff (NOT DONATION RELATED) its only been around 6+ or smth normal asks.

90% of the asks i get are all donation asks and ive had the "I cant donate" thing for about 3-4 months.

They dont listen even if i try to block them. They send anon asks to avoid their asks not getting answered.

i just wanna scroll without any bots not even caring about how i cant donate.

those bots just spamming tags? Insta block. Those bots about saving their family from war and needing donations? BLOCK. Not reading my pinned post

[mickeysclubhouse]

listen i appreciate new followers but just know that if your a blank blog (no header, profile pic, or bio) i will asume that your a bot and will block you immediately <3

[happyallykats]

NEW TUMBLR RULE!

If some random follows, then DM's you, assume they are a bot until proven otherwise. A real person probably could guess what the passcode was! (and don't tell people the passcode if they seem oblivious, just reblog it)

[little-pondhead]

Is anyone getting weirdly explicit bot posts marked with #danny phantom in their feed? I know bots will put any tag under the sun in their posts, but it’s usually generic stuff and not fandom related??

Idk, I’m just wondering why there’s a jump in these posts all of a sudden.

[ailithnight]

Anyone else seeing an excessive number of those "hiring" spam bots in the DPxDC tag?

[imtrashraccoon]

Buzz off.

I can say with confidence that this account is a scammer. They followed me out of nowhere, are a new account, only reblogged posts related to U.S. politics (I'm not sure whether the posts are far left or right, but they look like rage posts and I don't care to delve deeper.), and only liked posts by people asking for help or donations for various causes.