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Manufactured consensus on x.com

rook2root.co

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Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#121

Post by seanw444 »

lynndotpy wrote: post #111
kridsdale3 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been there for 17 (!) years, and I could have written pretty much the same message as you since around 2012. Dennis Kucinich was a huge campaign! But I agree, since the API thing, it has sucked HARD.

I agree, the API change was the last nail in the coffin, honestly. Reddit was always bad for several reasons, but it always had some availability of smart people that placed it alongside StackExchange and Hacker News. But 2022 and 2023 really saw a mass exodus of expertise from Reddit (and Twitter, etc.) Lots of smart people left to Mastodons, at least.

I like how you both responded to GP's roast of "I agree" comments by saying "I agree". Maybe that was intentional.

Anyway, I agree. I used Reddit fairly regularly before the API change, though I was already starting to get disenfranchised by the political hive mind by that point. The death of FOSS third party clients that made the platform bearable to use was the straw that broke the camel's back, for me. I've completely left it behind since.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#122

Post by dmonitor »

jampa wrote: post #59
mrdoops wrote: post #20

Manufactured consensus is everywhere there is enough attention to incentivize such an effort. The worst by far is Reddit.

I've been using Reddit for 12 years. After the API fiasco, the quality dropped a lot. Most popular subreddits are now astroturfed, where every week there is a crusade against something (First it was for banning Twitter, now it is against banning AI Art). Even in regular posts, Reddit has been a hive mind lately. If you scroll through the comments, most of them will have the same opinion over and over, with comments t…

> banning Twitter

This is just practical given you can't see tweet threads (and sometimes even tweets) without an account.

> against banning AI Art

I think you mean to say reddit is pro-banning AI art?

Anyway, banning AI art is absolutely good for curating quality posts. AI art is incredibly low-effort, easily spammable, and has legitimate morality concerns among artist communities (the kind that post high quality content). Same goes for obviously AI-written posts.

I agree content quality on the site has fallen drastically, but those are both measures to try and save it.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#123

Post by 627467 »

The article’s angst over X’s “manufactured consensus” is overblown. Influence has always been curated—editors, town criers, or whoever grabbed the mic were the analog algorithms. X’s sin isn’t some evil algo: it’s just running at planetary scale. We’ve ditched thousands of small communities for one global shouting match, so naturally mega-influencers steal the show. Algorithms are just the gears keeping this chaos moving because we crave instant, worldwide chatter. Some folks pretend a perfect algorithm exists (bsky, IG/fb) but it doesn’t come from one team, one database, or one set of criteria. The “perfect” system is a messy web of different algorithms in different spaces, barely connected, each with its own context. Calling out X’s code misses the mark. We signed up for this planetary circus and keep buying tickets.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#124

Post by casenmgreen »

It looks like Twitter is suppressing posts until they are spammed by hate bots and then making those posts visible.

https://bsky.app/profile/willhaycardiff.bsky.social/post/3lk...

I've also seen evidence of posts Twitter likes (violent and hateful anti-immigration posts - literally a photo of a dummy tied to a chair being shot in the back of the head) being spammed by love bots.

Twitter seems to be a propaganda channel, run by Donald/Elon/et al.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#125

Post by andrepd »

jampa wrote: post #59
mrdoops wrote: post #20

Manufactured consensus is everywhere there is enough attention to incentivize such an effort. The worst by far is Reddit.

I've been using Reddit for 12 years. After the API fiasco, the quality dropped a lot. Most popular subreddits are now astroturfed, where every week there is a crusade against something (First it was for banning Twitter, now it is against banning AI Art). Even in regular posts, Reddit has been a hive mind lately. If you scroll through the comments, most of them will have the same opinion over and over, with comments t…

> Reddit has been a hive mind lately. If you scroll through the comments, most of them will have the same opinion over and over, with comments that add nothing to the discussion, like "I agree," getting hundreds of upvotes.

That has been the case for over 10 years now. It's absolutely not a new phenomenon.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#126

Post by dmonitor »

ty6853 wrote: post #24
mrdoops wrote: post #20

Manufactured consensus is everywhere there is enough attention to incentivize such an effort. The worst by far is Reddit.

The most glaring example of this was how reddit did a total 180 before/after the election. Before the election questioning putting a candidate in without a primary was sacrilege. Afterwards it was a popularly supported reason for the loss. It was like watching an inflated balloon of propaganda deflate.

That's just hindsight being 20:20

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#127

Post by gmd63 »

Metrics on X have lost all of their credibility since Elon took over.

The guy likely juices his own numbers, floods posts he likes with botted engagement, etc.

Likes are private so he can delude Trumpers into thinking they're popular in a sea of bots.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#128

Post by throwaway7783 »

627467 wrote: post #123

The article’s angst over X’s “manufactured consensus” is overblown. Influence has always been curated—editors, town criers, or whoever grabbed the mic were the analog algorithms. X’s sin isn’t some evil algo: it’s just running at planetary scale. We’ve ditched thousands of small communities for one global shouting match, so naturally mega-influencers steal the show. Algorithms are just the gears keeping this chaos mo…

But there is no denying that there is a shift in narrative in X posts since its acquisition. So there is certainly more going on than just planetary scale. It was planetary scale before acquisition too. Algorithms have the power to nudge the narrative one way or another at planetary scale.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#129

Post by thmsths »

adeeds wrote: post #51
richwater wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The worst by far is Reddit The website is truly unusable unless you directly go to small niche subreddits and even then you roll the dice with unpaid mods with a power complex.

The smaller niche subreddits dedicated to a hobby or type of product are actually some of the worst for astroturfing from what I've seen. It only takes a few shills to start building consensus. There's a really interesting pattern where you'll see one person start a thread asking "Hey, any recs for durable travel pants?" Then a second comment chimes in "No specific brands, just make sure you get ones that have qualit…

How is that not treated as fraud? As you pointed out, with a little bit of detective work (which is well beyond the means and motivation of a casual internet user, but well within reach of a consumer protection agency) it's fairly easy to expose these manipulative tactics. Commercial communication ought to be clearly labelled as such.

Re: Manufactured consensus on x.com

#130

Post by DustinBrett »

jampa wrote: post #59
mrdoops wrote: post #20

Manufactured consensus is everywhere there is enough attention to incentivize such an effort. The worst by far is Reddit.

I've been using Reddit for 12 years. After the API fiasco, the quality dropped a lot. Most popular subreddits are now astroturfed, where every week there is a crusade against something (First it was for banning Twitter, now it is against banning AI Art). Even in regular posts, Reddit has been a hive mind lately. If you scroll through the comments, most of them will have the same opinion over and over, with comments t…

Happy to see posts like this, I have the same experience. It fell apart a few years ago with the fiasco's and it's a shell of what it was now. Total echo chamber. Sadly seems to be spreading to HN in some comment sections. And X has it's problems in the other direction. There aren't many places left like how it was, when up and down votes meant something.
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