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The Yang Gang and Its Bots

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Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#71

Post by proximitysauce »

backupcavalry wrote: post #70
ngokevin2 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also terrifying that headlines and articles can be taken as valid. Smear articles and misleading information are troubling as well in the upcoming years.

Oh, the irony of an account created specifically to defend Yang in the discussion about bots created to defend Yang. If you're truly looking to support him this probably isn't a good way to help his case.

An anonymous account is not the same thing as a bot. As acrimonious as the current state of politics is, I wouldn't blame anyone for using a pseudonym online to voice their opinion.

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#72

Post by godelski »

proximitysauce wrote: post #67
godelski wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an interesting comment from multiple directions. 1) because I could see someone calling __this__ comment a bot comment, but you're much more active here and so it seems like you aren't. 2) Because if you are real, it really shows the idea (I suggested this in another comment too) that Yang Gangers come off as bots. (I also found the statement about Yang accounts being linked to MAGA accounts as evidence as fu…

There's nothing bot like about this person's post. It's actually kind of a nice tale of civic re-engagement. It does make me more interested in hearing what Yang has to say because it seems honest and like a statement from someone who hasn't been doing political activism for years.

It was a poor joke making a critique of the Medium post.

> It does make me more interested in hearing what Yang has to say because it seems honest and like a statement from someone who hasn't been doing political activism for years.

Lots of people suggest the Joe Rogan podcast [0], but that is old, things have changed in his campaign, and it is long. I rather like the Now This interview [1] (30 mins). Others like the Iowa Town Hall[2] (hour).

The reasons I personally like Yang are #1, climate (I'm a scientist myself and work in labs with many climate scientists. I don't think his plan is going to solve everything, but I like it more than the other candidates. It is clear to me he has talked to experts), #2 I think he's trying to answer an important question that I've been curious about for a long time "How do we transition into a post scarcity society". Or specifically "how do you transition into an economy where you do not need a large number of workers. What do you do if 10% of your population is unemployable, not because of lack of skills, but because lack of demand?" It is the reason I am interested in UBI in the first place (where I've read a lot about here on HN). So I rather like his talk about changing the rules of the economy and making them human-centric. I do personally see a drastically changing economy and society, and I think he is asking the right questions about it. I have also seen him change positions after talking to experts, which I think is an essential quality in a president (though I know changing positions on a topic is often seen as negative in a political climate).

If you do want to learn more about him I highly suggest posting in the subreddit [3]. It is __extremely__ active and people really do want to answer every question you might have. It is a welcoming community and I do think feels different from other political subreddits.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTsEzmFamZ8

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Ct-lC8lGg

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8la_6gtnKA

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#73

Post by tptacek »

proximitysauce wrote: post #68
tptacek wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The teenager following the bots isn't sad because he intersects with MAGA, he's said because he's a kid working at Taco Bell who hopes to build up an online fanbase, and unbeknownst to him, all his interactions and affirmations appear to come from bot accounts.

Regardless of why the author thinks they're sad, it's a mistake to project the mental and emotional state of someone based on some facets gleaned from checking out their social media profiles. It's actually kind of creepy to focus on this individual especially since they're a teenager and aren't given a chance to rebut.

I don't see much psychoanalysis involved. I see a description of someone with dubious goals who is getting played by bots into believing they're making progress.

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#74

Post by backupcavalry »

proximitysauce wrote: post #71
backupcavalry wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, the irony of an account created specifically to defend Yang in the discussion about bots created to defend Yang. If you're truly looking to support him this probably isn't a good way to help his case.

An anonymous account is not the same thing as a bot. As acrimonious as the current state of politics is, I wouldn't blame anyone for using a pseudonym online to voice their opinion.

Touche. But you'll have to pardon me for being distrustful of anyone that walks in just to defend a politician of any kind (without hard proof, anyway).

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#75

Post by godelski »

backupcavalry wrote: post #74
proximitysauce wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An anonymous account is not the same thing as a bot. As acrimonious as the current state of politics is, I wouldn't blame anyone for using a pseudonym online to voice their opinion.

Touche. But you'll have to pardon me for being distrustful of anyone that walks in just to defend a politician of any kind (without hard proof, anyway).

You can check my comment history to verify my identity if you want someone that is defending Yang. I'm actually being vocal in this thread about Yang Gangers specifically making accounts to participate in conversations about him.

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#76

Post by crgt »

ilaksh wrote: post #58
godelski wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an interesting comment from multiple directions. 1) because I could see someone calling __this__ comment a bot comment, but you're much more active here and so it seems like you aren't. 2) Because if you are real, it really shows the idea (I suggested this in another comment too) that Yang Gangers come off as bots. (I also found the statement about Yang accounts being linked to MAGA accounts as evidence as fu…

WTF makes you think I'm a bot? Because I took the time to write a full paragraph and tried to promote the presidential campaign I have invested my time and money into?

Rick Deckard feels your pain. Kinda makes you wonder about the usefulness of the Turing Test too, if humans can’t pass it anymore..

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#77

Post by np_tedious »

Has anyone considered that bot operators might be latching onto movements, anything will do, simply to grow their audiences and networks?

Simplest explanation is probably that they don't care about election outcome, they just want to leach off of whatever's hot at the moment.

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#78

Post by dba7dba »

aazaa wrote: post #11

The fact that Yang's campaign is struggling should throw cold water on the notion that this kind of thing poisons the political process. It remains to be proven whether an armada of Twitter bots can change anyone's mind about a candidate. In the absence of evidence, the claim should be rejected and we should look for simpler explanations for political ills. The more likely explanation, and the one loathed by those wh…

I would not say Yang's campaign is struggling. He literally was an unknown guy right before this election cycle, who made a low millions from selling a test prep company and then ran a non-profit for 7 years. Never even ran for a political office before this. And he's outlasted many senators/governors.

About twitter and Yang, I created a twitter account just to follow him. Did not create any bot. And I also donated to his campaign multiple times. And I'm over 40 yrs old.

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#79

Post by EGreg »

hanniabu wrote: post #21
leptoniscool wrote: post #3

I'm surprised Twitter isn't doing more about political bots, since they've banned political ad dollars. On the other hand, if they banned an account and it turned out to be a real person, they could get some first amendment lawsuits.

What really pisses me off about bot accounts isn't the fake info simply because I analyze things based off my own opinions and research, although I understand how this is an issue for the general majority. My issue is that if I happen to retweet somebody opposite of that running a bot farm, then the bots are trigger to all report me and then I need to verify my account again the next time I'm on. And the sad thing is…

Bots will slowly come to control Twitter discourse

Re: The Yang Gang and Its Bots

#80

Post by ilaksh »

dragonwriter wrote: post #49
ngokevin2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yang's campaign has been consistently growing and growing as other campaigns have dropped out. He raised $16.5M last quarter. Polls show him at 5%+ with an up arrow attached to it. And that's not counting that polls don't capture his base (first-time voters, independents, disaffected conservatives). As for the article, I'll address it in another comment.

> Yang's campaign has been consistently growing and growing as other campaigns have dropped out. His support is consistently enough nonzero across multiple polls that you can say he has some support, but it's often within the margin of error of zero on individual polls. He's not gaining enough to have a welk's chance in a supernova of winning. On the other hand, he generally leads NY Times-endorsed Klobuchar (and yet…

Most recent poll has Yang at 8% nationally, beating Bloomberg, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar. And Yang has been left of several polling questions entirely (whereas Klobuchar and Buttgieg always included) and left out of several graphics on TV.

Which is to say, he has been written off prematurely and in fact is gaining massively.

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