Reddit readers rage at thankless Linux Twitter-bot

David M Williams
Sunday, 12 July 2009 20:44

Opinion and Analysis

Earlier in the day, and entirely unrelated to Linux, a Reddit user posted a screenshot of a Facebook page which apparently had a Facebook user setting an offensive status and then subsequently being rejected by friends. This was titled “Poor Adam lost all his friends” but please be warned, the status line is offensive. To my mind somebody left their computer logged in and a so-called “friend” played a prank on them. Here is the link.

Obviously inspired by the tale of Adam one Reddit user quickly made a new post to the Linux subreddit which used Adam’s status line as the topic heading. Sure enough, Linuxalive soon tweeted it to all the world.

Once again, do be warned, this is offensive. Surprisingly, the tweet still shows in Twitter’s history but in the event it is removed a screenshot has also been captured.

This was quite undeniable proof that Linuxalive is not a human, and nor that a human is even moderating what is being regurgitated.

Twitter followers who assumed Linuxalive really was a helpful person quickly expressed their outrage.

The onslaught continued as Reddit posting after Reddit posting was made, with Linuxalive faithfully tweeting all – just like an Internet-based ventriliquist’s dummy.

Not all on Reddit thought this bombardment was funny. The posts were not just impacting the Twitterbot, one person pointed out, but they were also filling up the subreddit with garbage. Plus, readers who accessed the Linux subreddit from their office computers were concerned by the content and language now being projected onto their screens.

Meanwhile, Linuxalive’s followers realised Linuxalive was tweeting madness. “Has your account been compromised?” asked one, while others chastised the bot for not attributing its sources.

By the time of writing the mayhem appears to have settled down, with those online when the fireworks began having since logged off and left the site to be populated with legitimate news articles once more.

Nevertheless, for a few hours today the Internet witnessed what an angry torch-wielding crowd looks like in today's digital economy, doling out community-determined justice.

Ironically, I post my stories to Reddit so no doubt Linuxalive will shortly be announcing it also.