alien.top is a new level of Reddit crossposting spam - eviltoast

Whoever is in charge of that instance, STOP.

It’s an instance that crossposts posts from Reddit, except it also makes a new user for each Reddit account it came from. So if /u/hello123 made a post, it makes that post under a new account called hello123. That makes it impossible to block posting bots.

Not only that, it makes posts look like they’re posted by real people, with many question and text posts being copied as well. I was very confused as to what these posts were until I realized they’re crossposts.

Examples:

https://alien.top/post/263029

https://lemm.ee/u/pocalyuko@alien.top

https://lemm.ee/u/ItzMeRocket@alien.top

https://lemm.ee/u/CaptainCapp-n@alien.top

I strongly believe Lemmy isn’t the place for mirroring content from other websites. You can host your own alternate Reddit frontend like LibReddit, there’s no reason to spam the posts to everyone using Lemmy just because 5 people asked for it. Not to mention there are already enough instances mirroring posts, this is getting obnoxious.

  • Jumuta@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    The images are actually copied to the mirrored server.

    That’s really interesting, but why do you do that? Surely having the clients fetch the data from Reddit’s servers themselves would be easier?

    But I thought that this “aggression” was pointed to Reddit and therefore justifiable.

    I hate Reddit as a platform too, but I very much disagree with this philosophically. I don’t break the rules against the enemy because then the enemy would be allowed to break the rules against me. If we want to grow as a platform, we have to stay civilized. The one that fails to do that dies.

    If you can think of any other approach to make this work and is aligned with the clear goal of the project (make it easy for people to migrate away from Reddit, in a way that those that come here can already find their niche communities) I’m all for trying it.

    I think you misunderstood my idea about opt-out bridges. I meant that there should be a toggle for Lemmy users on Lemmy which mirrored/bridged content should be shown to them. These should be off by default, but easily changeable.

    • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Surely having the clients fetch the data from Reddit’s servers themselves would be easier?

      Easier? Yes. Reasonable? Not at all. Reddit wants to control all the data, the whole API fiasco started because they started to abuse their power, do you think they can trusted of stewards of social media data?

      I don’t break the rules against the enemy because then the enemy would be allowed to break the rules against me.

      This is a fight, not a game. There are no rules. Do you think they care about rules when they started forcing moderators out of the protesting subs? Or lying about what Christian was asking during pricing negotiations? Or when they get mods working for them to do their bidding?

      Let’s not be naive. They will leverage anything they have to get the upper hand. We are not going to win anything by pretending there is a higher moral ground to stand on.

      • Jumuta@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        We are not going to win anything by pretending there is a higher moral ground to stand on.

        The moral high ground is the ONLY thing we have. Lemmy as a platform exists to be a non-evil counterpart to Reddit. It would have no purpose to exist were it not for our better ethics.

        • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          It is the ethos of decentralized platforms (which can not by its very nature be controlled by any single entity) that makes them superior, not the individuals on it.

          Also, the only way to argue that what I am doing is “evil” is by accepting their premise that they own the data and that mirrors are “stealing” from them.