I don’t mean this in a rude way. Feels like the past week or so has had some bizarre questions asked.

    • Elaine@lemm.ee
      10·
      1 day ago

      Personally, every time I see a “Where did all this racism come from?” type post, I always wonder if OP is twelve years old.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.mlEnglish
    301·
    2 days ago

    I think the questions are from bots, testing topics to farm controversy or outrage points. The greater the number of replies, the more likely the topic will be used in a future marketing or agit-prop campaign.

    So you get these really stupid, controversial, psychopathic takes that no one should be taking seriously. The point of the exercise is the emotional reaction, the outrage, not getting a serious answer.

    • HiddenLayer555@lemmy.mlEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      I don’t know whether to be flattered that they consider Lemmy a serious enough platform to farm responses or be pissed that they have infected Lemmy like they did with sites like Reddit.

      • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.netEnglish
        6·
        22 hours ago

        Definitely the pissed one. It costs next to nothing to farm any particular platform via bots, so why not go for anything that might have niche demographics? Destabalizing leftist groups seems to be sort of a goal of certain other groups these days so…

  • Anna@lemmy.ml
    81·
    2 days ago

    Hey most people here have never encountered any other human being who wasn’t involved in their creation.

      • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
        21·
        2 days ago

        A lot of amerikans are homeschooled or haven’t left their small town. True for some Canadians too.

  • Alice@beehaw.org
    16·
    2 days ago

    Everyone’s saying bots but I think some of it is human-generated ragebait. Like that person who posted twice like “why did my friend block me” with screenshots of them devolving into crytyping as they tell said friend how stupid they are for being autistic.

    (I took that bait, don’t judge, it was cathartic 😔)

    As for why, I couldn’t tell you. Maybe they’re not getting enough engagement on Reddit anymore or maybe it’s not fun because Reddit already hates autistic people and will side with them. Who knows.

    • Aurora@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      Oh yeah, that person was banned from my instance 😂

      I genuinely can’t tell if that was a bot, a troll, or an emotionally unstable person.

      From what I remembered, recent account, no profile picture, barely commented.

    • Aurora@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      23 hours ago

      What’s crytyping, I’ve never heard that word before 😅

      I would sure hate to be that person, assuming it’s not an alt or someone who’s in on the bait (like their sibling pretending to be the other person)

      • Alice@beehaw.org
        5·
        23 hours ago

        I guess it’s more of a Tumblr term. It refers to when someone starts typing really sloppily to signify they’re having a breakdown.

        I guess it’s kind of a mean term but I really think people should walk away from the keyboard if they get to that point.

        • Aurora@lemmy.mlEnglish
          2·
          23 hours ago

          Ohhh. I mean, she was still treating her friends like crap and that says a lot about her

        • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
          2·
          21 hours ago

          I’m so fucking upset with you rin.im not even going to check what I’m saying and I’m adding a lil more to this to just pad it out and ooh I’m so angy with you grrr

          That?

          • Alice@beehaw.org
            1·
            2 hours ago

            Lol pretty much, the typos usually get way more extreme.

            I’ve been guilty of it in the past because I used to get so mad I’d stop correcting for my dyslexia or my general terribleness on mobile keyboards. Reason #∞ not to argue on the internet.

    • puntinoblue@lemmy.ml
      4·
      2 days ago

      I’ve noticed it too. I came here because Reddit has become increasingly toxic, with bots of outrage and division thriving there. I really hope Lemmy doesn’t follow the same path, but I suspect efforts will be made to make alternatives to controlled media even more toxic. I’m not sure what the best strategies are to counter this kind of malevolence.

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    I blocked NSQ because a bot is a mod. I don’t see anything particularly odd here. It just seems like people asking general random stuff like real people