New rule on Aggregators/Forwarders: - eviltoast

We’ve had some trouble recently with posts from aggregator links like Google Amp, MSN, and Yahoo.

We’re now requiring links go to the OG source, and not a conduit.

In an example like this, it can give the wrong attribution to the MBFC bot, and can give a more or less reliable rating than the original source, but it also makes it harder to run down duplicates.

So anything not linked to the original source, but is stuck on Google Amp, MSN, Yahoo, etc. will be removed.

    • PlantJam@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      38
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      The bot serves a very important purpose. It teaches users about the block function. I really tried to tolerate it, but it’s just like those pinned automod comments on reddit.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 hour ago

            19 hours later it’s at -7. You did get good feed back. You need more sources because MBFC itself is either bad at it’s job or specifically a project to whitewash libertarian and conservative sources.

          • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            26
            ·
            edit-2
            19 hours ago

            Selection bias means that a lot of people who actively dislike the bot have it blocked.

            Doesn’t mean they don’t think it’s ridiculous and misleading.

      • breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        17 hours ago

        Aside from the extremely vocal minority who seek it out to downvote it and complain about it constantly, it does seem like people don’t care about it when they don’t need it and appreciate it when they do. Very unscientific observation but obscure sources usually seem to have more upvotes. It doesn’t need to be useful to everyone all the time to have value.

        Having quick access to MBFC and Wiki links is great and useful for mods, I assume. I also like that it carves out a thread to discuss sources. Replying to the bot makes it seem much less like you’re attacking the OP, which I always hated pre-bot.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 hour ago

          No it’s got a bias problem. They consistently rate sources they perceive as left as less factual, consider conservative anarchists to be mainstream, and rate literal campaign websites as not very biased. They also made up their own terminology that’s loaded, despite the existence of objective terms for decades.