Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#1

Post by trevorLane » Sat, Mar 23, 2024, 8:01 PM UTC

I have been using reddit to do user research for while. Basically this process involves finding threads where users are discussing topics related the the research I am doing. From there, I message users and ask if they are willing to give feedback on an idea. This app automates a portion of this work by gathering these users and sending the message to each of them. From there, I continue the conversation in reddit messages. This approach has been quite successful, I can normally find a few dozen users who are interested in the idea I'm researching.

Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread
github.com

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#2

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Sun, Mar 24, 2024, 2:51 PM UTC

So a spam tool.

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#3

Post by throawayonthe » Sun, Mar 24, 2024, 6:49 PM UTC

that’s just spam

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#4

Post by trevorLane » Mon, Mar 25, 2024, 12:16 AM UTC

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

So a spam tool.

Although the intention isn't to spam people, someone could definitely use it for that purpose until they are blocked or their account is suspended.

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#5

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Mon, Mar 25, 2024, 1:03 AM UTC

trevorLane wrote: post #4

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

So a spam tool.

Although the intention isn't to spam people, someone could definitely use it for that purpose until they are blocked or their account is suspended.

> Although the intention isn't to spam people

Spam is unsolicited communication sent in bulk. That's the exact intent of your tool.

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#6

Post by sentientslug » Mon, Mar 25, 2024, 6:50 AM UTC

trevorLane wrote: post #4

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #2

So a spam tool.

Although the intention isn't to spam people, someone could definitely use it for that purpose until they are blocked or their account is suspended.

The example given in the repository readme is literally cold call sales spam garbage. Can you name a single non-malicious purpose for this tool?

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#7

Post by whodev » Mon, Mar 25, 2024, 5:48 PM UTC

Oh great, another tool to enable spammers that target users cannot opt-out of.

Fantastic.

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#8

Post by reaperman » Mon, Mar 25, 2024, 10:21 PM UTC

sentientslug wrote: post #6

trevorLane wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although the intention isn't to spam people, someone could definitely use it for that purpose until they are blocked or their account is suspended.

The example given in the repository readme is literally cold call sales spam garbage. Can you name a single non-malicious purpose for this tool?

There was a lot of discussion around youtube-dl about how the same tool can be judged different ways, depending on the examples in the readme (which ended up being unit tests, rather than examples).

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24872911

Re: Show HN: Send messages to all users in a subreddit thread

#9

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Tue, Mar 26, 2024, 12:26 AM UTC

reaperman wrote: post #8

sentientslug wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The example given in the repository readme is literally cold call sales spam garbage. Can you name a single non-malicious purpose for this tool?

There was a lot of discussion around youtube-dl about how the same tool can be judged different ways, depending on the examples in the readme (which ended up being unit tests, rather than examples). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24872911

That has zero bearing on whether this right here is fundamentally and explicitly a tool for automating the bulk transmission of unsolicited messages, AKA spam, which this very clearly is, as directly stated by the author both here and also on the repo.