Clearing out your personal bots

12 min readAug 31, 2018

Clearing out your personal bots

As another summer begins to wind down, it's probably not a bad time to sit back and reflect a little on the comings and…

blog.timesunion.com

By Rob Hoffman on August 31, 2018 at 7:16 AM

As another summer begins to wind down, it’s probably not a bad time to sit back and reflect a little on the comings and goings in one’s virtual universe. Recently for example, Twitter, the social media site that allows people to be best friends with Justin Bieber and Wilfred Brimley, did a purge of the accounts on their site that they believed to be fake, or what they call on social media, bots. I do not speak of the larvae of the botfly, which is a parasite that is passed out of the dung of its host, but a much more insidious creature rest assured.

The bot, which is short for “rebot,” is according to Wikipedia anyway, a software application that runs automated tasks over the internet. These are usually simple and repetitive tasks, but they run them at a much higher rate than a human could ever hope to. They were used allegedly (Actually) by the Russians to spread false stories about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, and since most people think that what they read on Facebook is factually checked information, enough voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan took these rumors to heart, and now we take orders from an orange overlord.

“Pizzagate” was just one of the many absurd rumors that spread virtually on the internet thanks to bots utilized by the Russians and others who seemed curiously interested in seeing Trump victorious in 2016. (You Tube)

Regular good-hearted people like us don’t have to worry too much about artificial followers considering we can barely get real-life carbon-based ones to take interest in our trials and travails. However a few months ago, Twitter, and to a lesser extent Facebook decided to carry out a purge of sorts against what they believed to be fake accounts or bots that were allegedly following public personalities such as Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, and others who boasted millions of followers on their social web sites. As a result of this virtual cleansing, many of the famous and infamous saw their once impressive totals of copious followers take a significant hit, leading some to question exactly how popular these people were, and just how fraudulent and polluted social media really was. (I for one saw nary a loss from my list of followers which was both reassuring and depressing.)

While I saw literally no impact on my collection of followers on Twitter, the purge carried out by the social media giant did impact several big name individuals. According to the Washington Post, Barack Obama for example lost nearly two million of his 104 million followers. President Trump shed 200,000 of his 53 million subjects. Katy Perry saw a depletion of nearly three million Twitter followers, as did Justin Bieber, although both maintain over 100 million followers even after Twitter took a chainsaw to their alleged bots. Interestingly though, soon after these purges were carried out, many of the celebrities and public personas who populate Twitter began to see an increase in the amount of their followers. Whether these are bots or actual humans is not yet known, but at the very least, I believe it’s safe to say that Twitter and Facebook are fighting an uphill battle.

While there seems to be a lot of compelling evidence suggesting that the Russians, as well as other foreign adversaries make-up the vast majority of those who use bots to sow chaos into our elections, President Trump has not given up on his evidence-free theory that after all, it could just be a fat guy on his parent’s couch. This is an affront to fat guys, parents, and couches everywhere. (You Tube)

While the cleansing of the afore-mentioned bots may impact some, I, as well as most people are barely effected by such happenstance. However, in our own way, all of us who populate social media have probably given thought to who we’ve allowed into our lives, and whether we should continue to provide this access to certain individuals. Many are even considering removing themselves from this 21st century conundrum. For those who’ve never taken the social media plunge, (Such as my brother) the debate is moot. There never has, nor will there ever be a reason to reach out to others via the World Wide Web, and the idea of using anything other than email is an abomination. In fact, the use of email is often done under protest.

While this may sound curmudgeonly and out of sync with modern mores, for many, it’s about privacy and protection. The idea of using a credit card for an on-line purchase still gives many people the willies. Knowing that everything you do on-line is for all intents and purposes permanent will also give pause to some who see the idea of involving themselves with any kind of on-line venture fraught with dangers that simply aren’t worth the risk. This is understandable, and perhaps even wise and astute. For others, convenience trumps all, and if Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s stock value is to be believed, then most seem to have overcome their hesitancy regarding going on-line and doing a little shopping.

Remember, there was a time when people thought this thing was too intrusive, and even went as far as to have an unlisted phone number. I don’t blame them, these confounded things rang off the wall morning, noon, and night! (Getty Images)

However, for those of us who have decided to engage in the various aspects of social media, which includes forging virtual friendships, there are several questions that perhaps have caused some to decrease their on-line profile, if not remove themselves from this aspect of modern life permanently. For others, it has at least given them pause in contemplating whether it is worth arguing with people you haven’t seen in 30 years about whether Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice, or whether we should be forced to look at a violent video that somebody found entertaining, or worse yet, be subjected to some ne’er-do-well’s weekly rantings on his so-called blog.

Like many, my reason for joining Facebook as an adult was really two-fold. First, I wanted to keep an eye on what my children were doing via social media. While Facebook only provided a small snap-shot of their progression through their teenage years, it was at least a limited opportunity to keep tabs on what they were up to. Secondly, good old-fashioned voyeurism. Let’s be honest. You wanted to see what people looked like 20 or 30 years later. “Hey, she’s still hot.” “Wow, he really aged poorly.” “Yikes, she really hit the wall, thank God I’m with my wife.” One of the things that I enjoyed the most was the idea that some of my old friends from college and high school would post pictures of us from the past. I really got a kick out of seeing myself hanging out with people from the so-called good old days when we were 17 or 18. However, that’s not really what Facebook is about anymore, is it?

Here’s an example of a fairly benign Facebook post. A nice picture of me from about 15 years ago meeting Dan Patrick of ESPN fame at a charity event in Disney World. “Hey look, it’s Rob with Dan Patrick.” No harm, no fuss, no angry political slander, just me name dropping. Who could ever have an issue with that? (Hoffman Collection)

I often ponder doing away with my Facebook account. The nostalgia phase of Facebook has long since come and gone, and while it is useful for communicating with people, there are other methods that are available for reaching out to others. My main reason for staying on is to publicize my blog, but even that may be running to failure. Firstly, it means that I have to belong to a lot of different Facebook groups for maximum exposure, thusly, I have to put up with every post that the people on those pages deem worthy of publicizing. Secondly, Facebook itself is insidiously frustrating and crooked. As I’ve mentioned in the past (https://blog.timesunion.com/hoffmanfiles/face-blocked-by-facebook/36953/) Facebook will arbitrarily, without explanation or providing recourse, ban me from posting for a week every few weeks while I’m in the middle of posting my blog. I’m at the point where it hardly seems worth my while.

For now though I am staying put. This means that I have to put up with people’s political postings, rants, and sometimes absurd observations. For the most part, I am capable of scrolling past most of this tripe, and continue on my merry way. Sometimes though, and I always kick myself when I do this, I will be drawn in to a debate, and I have always without exception regretted it. I believe that at some time in the not too distant future, the very definition of the word stupid will be adjusted to mean, “Those who believe they can post something on social media and actually change somebody’s mind.” No matter how logical I believe my point to be, or no matter how racist and narrow-minded another individual or “virtual friend’s” post obviously appears to be, my argument always falls upon the deaf ears of those who simply don’t see the world the way I do…the poor devils.

Apparently, if I publish my blog too many times, I’m banned without cause or notice, but Russian bots were free to wreak havoc on our Democratic institutions in 2016 via Facebook and other social media platforms Revenge of the nerds indeed. (New York Times)

The question then becomes, do I rid myself of people who I hadn’t seen or heard from previous to Facebook in 20 to 30 years, or do I accept that they may have changed over the past few decades, or perhaps they were always annoying, and I simply didn’t remember? Do I block them, do I unfriend them, or do I ignore them? Well, despite my Jewish guilt, I’m beginning to find that blocking them is quite exhilarating, and I believe I may begin to do it more and more often.

One individual in particular really got my goat recently. This person continues to claim that they are neither Republican or Democrat, or Liberal or Conservative. They claim that they are strictly down the middle and all they want to do is expose the truth. (I’m immediately suspicious of those who claim they don’t have a political affiliation, but are always posting about politics. It’s like they want to you to think that they are too smart to choose a political party. Despite this, they always seem to lean to the right anyway, so I’m not sure who they think they’re fooling.) This person’s move is to post videos from right-wing websites and write, “I’m not sure if this is true, but if it is, it’s interesting, and it makes you wonder.” No it doesn’t, other than to wonder why you would post something without checking the source. Also, stop positioning yourself as some sort of centrist when your political leanings couldn’t be any clearer. When I pointed this out to him he lectured me and appeared to be outraged over the very idea that I could question him and his motives, as well as his selective use of the “facts.” After a few of these unfortunate encounters, I wisened up, and jettisoned his factually dubious postings from my Facebook page. It was quite liberating.

This is Conservative commentator Tomi Lahren. Apparently there’s a lot of people on Facebook who like to post what she says, and her ideas and witticisms seem to end up on my Facebook news feed an awful lot. I wonder how she became so popular? (You Tube)

While it would seem like a no-brainer to block or hide those who I am barely in contact with so I don’t have to see or hear their notions on how Trump is the second coming or Obama was the anti-Christ, it does nag at my liberal sensibilities that by blocking these individuals, I am not really embracing my inner Liberal. In other words, how can I scream about the right of free speech, and then refuse to engage with anybody who shares a political or religious opinion that differs greatly from my own. Perhaps Facebook could press their users over how we can best practice the idea of free speech, instead of blocking my blog posts.

On the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg and the other CEO’s of the various social media platforms are not about free speech or anything else except making money. As my brother has warned me on several occasions, Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Bezos, and all the rest are nothing more than 21st century Carnegies and Rockefellers, and to expect them to be civil minded and have our best interests at heart, no matter how much paper they recycle, or how many Foosball tables they place around the office, is as foolish as believing that the creation of rumor spreading bots, and attempts to hack into our elective process are always carried out by 400 lb. dudes living in their parent’s basements, who apparently prefer Trump over Hillary. You know, not for nothing, but there’s not a single bot on Myspace. Who would have thought that 2005 represented the good old days?

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