# Seriously - are some posters just bots? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263 "2017-10-19T02:01:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/1 "2017-10-19T02:01:23Z")
I have my own “conspiracy theory” that scientists, engineers, etc, attempting to perfect AI, set loose their latest software revisions on the unsuspecting public. They use the SD because we are the most savvy and sophisticated audience. 🆒 If we can be fooled, thinking the poster is a real person, then the software shows promise. If not, then the poster disappears without comment. Or gets banned. Seriously, do you think this could be possible? For all the talk of “Russian bots” posting from faked FB accounts, is the technology that advanced? Can current programs interact like (stupid) humans? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/2 "2017-10-19T02:04:43Z")
Twitter is full of bots. I’m not sure if there are bots on message boards yet. That’d require passing the turing test, I don’t know if chatbots are that advanced yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/3 "2017-10-19T02:07:10Z")
Would you like to play a game? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/4 "2017-10-19T02:10:27Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Would you like to play a game? Whir_click How. about. Thermonuclear. Warfare? Whir_click ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/5 "2017-10-19T02:20:18Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Would you like to play a game? Surely you knew I was serious? I’m thinking of a certain square-named 911 truther. He didn’t seem like a real person. He was not posting like a real person. And not so much like a person deliberately acting stupid. The style was too much artificial. The War Games computer acted more human. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/6 "2017-10-19T02:45:47Z")
Sweet Jebus, people. It tells you as much in my profile. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/7 "2017-10-19T02:49:03Z")
Why bother with bots on message boards when there are hundreds of cheap-ass humans willing to troll for Putin? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/8 "2017-10-19T02:49:58Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > If we can be fooled, thinking the poster is a real person, then the software shows promise. If not, then the poster disappears without comment. Or gets banned. That’s pretty much my sex-life, right there. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/9 "2017-10-19T02:54:36Z")
How does If we can be fooled, thinking the poster is a real person, then the software shows promise. If not, then the poster disappears without comment make you feel? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/10 "2017-10-19T03:02:50Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > How does If we can be fooled, thinking the poster is a real person, then the software shows promise. If not, then the poster disappears without comment make you feel? Eliza? Is that you? You’ve come back! ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/11 "2017-10-19T03:08:18Z")
I’m convinced James Otto Sweetheart:):):):)🙂 was a bot. Or at the very least, not capable of passing a Turing test. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/12 "2017-10-19T03:43:33Z")
I don’t think anyone here is racist enough to be a bot: > **[Twitter taught Microsoft’s AI chatbot to be a racist asshole in less than a day](https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist)** > > The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/13 "2017-10-19T03:44:40Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Surely you knew I was serious? > > I’m thinking of a certain square-named 911 truther. He didn’t seem like a real person. He was not posting like a real person. And not so much like a person deliberately acting stupid. The style was too much artificial. > > The War Games computer acted more human. Linky? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/14 "2017-10-19T03:58:24Z")
What else does Linky remind you of? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/15 "2017-10-19T04:04:43Z")
Not me. I’m flesh and blood and tentacles just like everyone else on my home-world. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/16 "2017-10-19T10:50:33Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Linky? [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=838916](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=838916) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/17 "2017-10-19T12:12:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Surely you knew I was serious? Hi, Shirley! ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/18 "2017-10-19T13:26:15Z")
I’ve previously suggested that one poster is a bot; I haven’t changed my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/19 "2017-10-19T13:42:22Z")
Folks, I don’t have a problem with the general topic being discussed here. But don’t identify specific posters (even indirectly). This isn’t the Pit, and the allegation of someone being a bot is tantamount to a trolling accusation, in my view. So let’s not go there. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263/20 "2017-10-19T13:58:47Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Folks, I don’t have a problem with the general topic being discussed here. But don’t identify specific posters (even indirectly). This isn’t the Pit, and the allegation of someone being a bot is tantamount to a trolling accusation, in my view. So let’s not go there. Someone called “Asimovian” trying to quell accusations of anyone being a bot. That’s not suspicious at all. Tell me about your mother. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-are-some-posters-just-bots/799263.md?page=2)