1. Someone (Reddit administrators?) was caught using chatGPT bots to flood the site with pro-admin comments.

  2. After /r/Programming exposed this, the subReddit was closed down.

  3. Rumor: the admins were the ones who close down the sub. Regardless, the astroturfing is evident.

SOURCES

  1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36361247

  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20230611210834/https://old.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/146wn9s/meta_who_is_astroturfing_rprogramming_and_why/

  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20230612080526/https://i.imgur.com/4e9jO7P.jpg

  • Andy@slrpnk.netEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    This is crazy. All I can think is how useless Reddit would become if users begin to assume posts on the site are from generative language models. If anyone at reddit IS doing this, that’s like trying to get water out of your boat by drilling a drainage hole in the bottom.

  • cecilkorik@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Yeah I speculated this was the case when the prevailing opinion of comments on the site made a sudden and drastic change in attitude. IIRC it stated shortly after spez made his infamous comments about how the blackout didn’t matter and they didn’t see any impact.