Reddit is full of bots: thread reposted comment by comment, 10 months later
Evidence of entire Reddit threads being reposted comment-by-comment months later is fueling concern that large parts of the site are now driven by bots, engagement farming, and paid astroturfing rather than organic conversation. Commenters link this to Reddit’s broader “enshittification”: weak anti-bot measures, incentive to inflate engagement, hard-to-detect LLM-generated or recycled content, and highly manipulated political and commercial subs. Many still find value in tightly moderated or niche communities, but see the big, default subreddits as increasingly spam-filled, inauthentic, and potentially unusable as a trustworthy information source.
Overall perception of Reddit’s decline
- Many see a long, gradual decline in quality, accelerated by the API/third‑party app fight and IPO push.
- Others argue it’s been “getting worse” since at least the Condé Nast era, with recurring cycles of “Reddit is dying” complaints.
- Some users say they still find Reddit tolerable or even “awesome” when used carefully.
Bots, reposts, and engagement farming
- Thread that triggered discussion: entire conversation reposted comment‑by‑comment months later with new accounts.
- Common pattern described:
- Fresh or suddenly “awakened” accounts repost old high‑karma posts and top comments verbatim.
- Accounts later pivot to shilling products, OnlyFans, crypto, resume services, IPTV, etc.
- Motives suggested: karma farming to sell accounts or “boosting services,” fake engagement for brands or subs, possible astroturfing.
AI, LLMs, and “dead internet”
- Some see this as part of “dead internet theory” or “prophecy” – a web dominated by synthetic or recycled content.
- Debate whether examples here are LLM‑generated or simple copy‑paste; many note they don’t read like LLMs.
- Others report seeing LLM‑ish behavior: generic, adaptive counter‑arguments, rephrased comments that feel off.
- Concerns that AI‑driven bot swarms will flood discourse, manipulate opinion, and incentivize identity‑verified spaces.
Moderation, spam control, and incentives
- Killing third‑party API access is blamed for weakening community anti‑spam efforts.
- Some say Reddit is actively blocking scrapers, but not effectively curbing in‑platform bots.
- Several argue platforms have weak incentives to fight subtle engagement‑boosting bots; they inflate usage metrics and ad inventory.
Niche vs large subreddits
- Broad “stadium” subs (news, politics, memes, AITAH, AskReddit) are widely described as toxic, spammy, and heavily botted.
- Many report that small, topic‑focused subs (games, hobbies, technical domains, sports, etc.) still work well, though mods are strained.
- Some mods have quit due to spam and poor tools; others close subs or restrict posting.
Alternatives and future of communities
- Proposed/used alternatives: Discord servers, old‑school forums (phpBB, vBulletin, Discourse), Lemmy, tildes, niche boards.
- Disagreements: some think small forums are dead and Discord has replaced them; others think self‑hosted forums remain viable and more bot‑resistant.
- Various ideas floated for “verify personhood” systems (IDs, ISP‑based auth, passports, webs of trust), with strong trade‑off concerns around privacy, accessibility, and abuse.