Post AR9md9fo84RmKLISqu by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
(DIR) More posts by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
(DIR) Post #AR9md9fo84RmKLISqu by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T05:45:51Z
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My $0.02 regarding the Mastodon-wide search initiatives: y'all know that Google and Bing etc. exist, right? Y'all look at your server logs and see that they don't GAF what your robots.txt file says, right? Tell me you noticed that Go-HTTP-client header that *always* shows up just after Googlebot "goes away"I mean, come on.
(DIR) Post #AR9mdAO7TJtOXm1qvA by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T05:48:12Z
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If you're arguing that opt-in is a necessity, then you're clearly not paying attention to who is/isn't indexing your instance.
(DIR) Post #AR9mdAsxceYw5QSTzc by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T06:00:11Z
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If you're arguing that there's a business opportunity for a Mastodon-wide search engine, then you don't know how Google and Bing and Yahoo and DuckDuckGo and Siri and every other search service operates. They'll eat your measly dataset as an appetizer for lunch and dump you the toilet for dinner. Trust me— I know. Someday I'll regale you with the story of how Google scraped COVID-19 testing location data sourced by a volunteer team— and killed the volunteer initiative in the process
(DIR) Post #AR9mdBJY1npVPstiQy by chris@abraham.su
2022-12-31T06:06:43Z
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@DataDrivenMD
(DIR) Post #AR9pLqEpR2QAzQ76NE by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T06:08:35Z
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The fact of the matter is: Mastodon-wide search indexes already exist. The *only* thing that makes them worthless at this time is the fact that instances don't commit to permanent storage/hosting. Any instance can disappear at any point in time. Some instances have a policy of deleting stale posts on a scheduled basis. The only way Mastodon-wide search index becomes maximally useful is if/when Big Tech decides to cache the original content. That's bound to happen sooner-or-later.
(DIR) Post #AR9pLqeLu8q0Ga3U9o by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T06:20:12Z
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Will trolls use such an index to engage in targeted harassment? Sure, but I guarantee that most already do.I say this because I *do* look at the sources of traffic on my sites and I can tell you that they're evading blocks and laughing at you for thinking otherwise. Literally. I've seen the posts.
(DIR) Post #AR9pLrBJvZD1upToXo by chris@abraham.su
2022-12-31T06:37:15Z
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@DataDrivenMDSo many people have their "spy on you" accounts. They keep nap of the earth to avoid radar detection.
(DIR) Post #AR9pLuhgpfssq5eCum by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T06:25:12Z
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OpSec and online privacy is where I cut my teeth decades ago. I came of age when IRC was *it* — and the ubiquity of shady characters on IRC required tweenagers to learn how to remain anonymous to stay safe.Today's trolls are terrible at it— you don't have to be an expert to figure out who they are or what they're up to. They're evading blocks left-and-right. And they're building *Fediverse-wide* search indexes to do their work. Why? Because it's literally their job.
(DIR) Post #AR9pLwDdCP1pXRbELA by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T06:32:31Z
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What the public and the *tiny* minority of *very* vocal Mastodon-virtue-signaling types get wrong about online harassment is assuming that it's organic— it's not. It's an industry.Are there turds who engage in targeted harassment that aren't paid? Sure, but they leverage the troll farms to amplify their hate. Several personally manage hundreds of sock-puppet accounts on their own. That's how this all works.The motivation is: money.They literally profit from hate.https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-11-19/troll-armies-routine-in-philippine-politics-coming-here-next
(DIR) Post #AR9t8wLBpmJVy7Bzwe by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T07:03:15Z
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"In the run-up to the 2020 election, the most highly contested in US history, Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms."I repeat: it's an industry.https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/16/1035851/facebook-troll-farms-report-us-2020-election/
(DIR) Post #AR9t8wwla4N5qem0W0 by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T07:17:34Z
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"While automated systems can detect more glaring bot activity, more sophisticated bots can mimic human input so accurately that Facebook can struggle to tell the difference."I repeat: they build tools to automate their work b/c it's literally their job to evade the most sophisticated anti-ban evasion systems that money can buy.Much respect to Mastodon devs but nothing on here (or the rest of the Fediverse) is remotely close to Meta's anti-ban evasion systems. Sorry.https://www.comparitech.com/blog/information-security/inside-facebook-bot-farm/
(DIR) Post #AR9t8xN00XM5A12xP6 by chris@abraham.su
2022-12-31T07:19:42Z
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@DataDrivenMDBots are people too.
(DIR) Post #AR9tNjjL0BUlCYXjOa by DataDrivenMD@mstdn.social
2022-12-31T07:22:23Z
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@chris Many bots are actually just one person who clocks-in and clocks-out, and cashes a paychek for their work. So, yeah, I suppose I agree with your statement.