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On a bit of further investigation, it sems that any comments where I refer to my line of work or experiences are particularly likely to disappear. It seems I am falling victim to the fact that my profession is one favoured by quacks selling snake oil.

Well, now Youtube is deleting any comments where I try to correct someone who says the pandemic was a hoax. Well done Youtube

Next it will probably delete comments saying smoking is bad...

It might not be specifically the platforms doing it of their own accord, but rather people doing targeted reporting on your comments to get them removed.

 Kanluwen wrote:
It might not be specifically the platforms doing it of their own accord, but rather people doing targeted reporting on your comments to get them removed.

Within 5s of them posting? They usually disappear in the time it takes to refresh after posting. It is definitely automated.

Contentious posts bring all the conspiracy theorists to the yard.
They bring hits.

Conflict, of any form, is lucrative.
So, it is not really a good idea for them to delete posts. It's worrying if the system is fighting you to leave a comment.

 Haighus wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
It might not be specifically the platforms doing it of their own accord, but rather people doing targeted reporting on your comments to get them removed.

Within 5s of them posting? They usually disappear in the time it takes to refresh after posting. It is definitely automated.

Not necessarily. There's a whole industry surrounding manual social media manipulation. It's terrifyingly close to automation, and the people willing to pay to utilize it aren't those who have others' best interests at heart.

They want to keep the echo-chamber clear? Sounds all-too plausable.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Haighus wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
It might not be specifically the platforms doing it of their own accord, but rather people doing targeted reporting on your comments to get them removed.

Within 5s of them posting? They usually disappear in the time it takes to refresh after posting. It is definitely automated.

Not necessarily. There's a whole industry surrounding manual social media manipulation. It's terrifyingly close to automation, and the people willing to pay to utilize it aren't those who have others' best interests at heart.

That would suggest they notice, read, flag, and get removed my post in the time it takes me to swipe the screen down and refresh the page, which is typically 1-2 seconds. That would be scarily quick.

Even weirder would be that they stop bothering after I've attempted to reword the comment a few times to something palatable to the algorithm. A human wouldn't fall for that.

It is scarily quick. And some of these setups are people using 5-6 phones, all locked in on the same thing, at the same time.

 Haighus wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:
It might not be specifically the platforms doing it of their own accord, but rather people doing targeted reporting on your comments to get them removed.

Within 5s of them posting? They usually disappear in the time it takes to refresh after posting. It is definitely automated.

As another idea, One thing I have noticed, especially trying to comment on Reddit via my phone, there are too many times where I will try to leave a comment and I get "empty end point" errors. So there could be a very slim chance that somehow your connection to YT isn't all that great and as a result, you may think you're leaving a comment, but aren't actually and it would look like a comment deletion. It's not something I would bank on mind you, but it could be another possibility on top of not great people running bot programs or doing whatever to insta gib comments like yours.

I’m now heavily considering ditching FB.

I keep seeing “suggested” content prioritised over actual posts from friends. And it’s not even good content.

Will keep messenger as a way for folk to get in touch, but FB is very much feeling like a spent force.

Yep. I only use messenger as FB is a waste of time. It's bad enough people trying to tell me what I like but I refuse to take advice on my likes from an algorithm, especially as it's never right.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’m now heavily considering ditching FB.

I keep seeing “suggested” content prioritised over actual posts from friends. And it’s not even good content.

Will keep messenger as a way for folk to get in touch, but FB is very much feeling like a spent force.

Imagine that before they went so blatant how much they already were manipulating you with algorithms.

Scary thought ain't it?

True that.

I’m not daft enough to claim “I would know and am therefore clever and immune”.

Not Online!!! wrote:

Imagine that before they went so blatant how much they already were manipulating you with algorithms.

Scary thought ain't it?

Before, it just used the algorithm to prioritise which posts to show you from your friends and the groups you were a member of. Which is exactly what it was supposed to do.

The problem isn't the algorithm, it's that they've filled the feed with so much additional nonsense that isn't what people are actually on Facebook to see.

And when they started filling it with more and more other things they had to then tell it to start cutting content that it was originally showing you. So not only is your important stuff smothered by other things, but they are also having to drop bits of the original content to make room for the other stuff.


It's also like ads - they get revenue so they show more; which causes more people to leave the system/use adblocks/ignore ads so they show even more to make more revenue from those that remain. And that starts off a feedback loop that they seem to like feeding at meta/google

Just the same as how youtube favouring negative videos feeds more people watching them which feeds the algorithm promoting them more


Or how now youtube doesn't show videos from people you follow unless those videos hit certain thresholds for views within X amount of time. Which is why so many content creators have to follow trends because if they show something that isn't "hot" it not only gets less views, but then even their followers don't get a notification that the video went up. I guess its to stop some streamers from smothering competition by just putting out dozens of shorter videos; but it means that people who make honest content have to follow whatever gets the most clicks all the time; accepting that anything which doesn't won't just be less popular but won't even be promoted the same to those who specifically asked the website to show them the content.

 insaniak wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:

Imagine that before they went so blatant how much they already were manipulating you with algorithms.

Scary thought ain't it?

Before, it just used the algorithm to prioritise which posts to show you from your friends and the groups you were a member of. Which is exactly what it was supposed to do.

The problem isn't the algorithm, it's that they've filled the feed with so much additional nonsense that isn't what people are actually on Facebook to see.

Even then the algorithmic presorting isolates your visibility. Granted it is usefull in that state, but it would've been nice to toggle the algorithm on and off.
Now that would be great and break down the artificial visibility restrictions on social media, buuuuut it'd would also be less engaging , therefore lowering your time in them, which therefore lowers add revenue. Hence why there never was an option as the aim was always to keep you engaged.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
True that.

I’m not daft enough to claim “I would know and am therefore clever and immune”.

I don't know about "know", but I did notice myself getting more open to if not believe at least take more seriously some really stupid things simply due to how often I was getting shown that type of content.
That was one of the biggest red flags that got me to quit FB altogether.

Not Online!!! wrote:

Even then the algorithmic presorting isolates your visibility. Granted it is usefull in that state, but it would've been nice to toggle the algorithm on and off.

That option was there... You used to be able to sort your feed by Most Recent.

Oh new thing - when you see a post and it has comments so you read one and click to view the post to view the rest of the replies to the comment you just read - and it hides the comment because its not "top listed" or whatever its default is.

So you have to go to "show all" every - single - time

The thing that a lot of people tend to forget about Facebook is that the users are not the customers - they're the product being sold.

 insaniak wrote:

Not Online!!! wrote:

Even then the algorithmic presorting isolates your visibility. Granted it is usefull in that state, but it would've been nice to toggle the algorithm on and off.

That option was there... You used to be able to sort your feed by Most Recent.

that is still algorithmic which is in essence a slightly less complicated form of LLM.

Meanwhile at Google, working on it's famous AI, famous for diverse windmill of friendship depictions:




One department attempting to warn that starting a fire in their own house (internet) îs not a good thing, 99 departments starting preciscly a fire in their own house whilest having made gasoline fuses to every other house.

Was torn on putting this particular “old man yells at cloud” moan here or the words thread.

But….influencers.

If you’ve got one of them haircuts, a wispy little bum fluff moustache and hold your stupid headphones stupid tiny mike whilst talking utter mince desperately shilling some product?

Just don’t.

Have a shave. Get a decent haircut that doesn’t make you look like a dafty. Invest in a proper mic. And stop accepting sponsorship from pointless “lifestyle” products.

Also also, I believe this is mainly a tik-tok thing? If you’re sharing someone else’s work, whether it’s funny or not, your idiot head bobbing about in a corner adds nothing to it. Nothing at all.

The only thing you’re influencing is whether or not I might consider kicking you up the hoop if I ever saw you in public and thought I could get away with it. And having seen that Father Ted episode? I reckon I could.

I have nothing but utter contempt for those who's idea of 'content' is talking over someone else's work purely for it to take long enough to cram a load adverts in to make money from someone else's creativity and work. We can quibble over words, about whether it's technically theft or not, but they're parasites.

For me the saddest and most genuinely depressing thing about content creation is just how quickly they can sell out.

Now, it’s not universal, and I appreciate for some it’s how they make their living or just make ends meet on top of a regular job.

But it’s damaging to society, like, not satanic panic type but actual damage to society when it’s inevitably off down some bat guano conspiracy rabbit hole, all chasing the next buck.

Especially those that target younger folk.

One thing that's pissing me off is the constant suggestions I get. Ads are annoying, very annoying but I can live with it. What really gets me is sometimes I'll open the app and every page is a suggestion, either labelled "Suggested for You" or just has a "Follow" button on it. They're not even relevant; I keep getting crap like "Seinfield Soupposting" appear, I've never watched it the damn show! That, combined with random notifications like "someone you don't know posted a photo that got 200 likes" is just ridiculous.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Was torn on putting this particular “old man yells at cloud” moan here or the words thread.

But….influencers.

If you’ve got one of them haircuts, a wispy little bum fluff moustache and hold your stupid headphones stupid tiny mike whilst talking utter mince desperately shilling some product?

Just don’t.

There's something that I think "influencers" genuinely miss the point on compared to influential people on the socials.

So what am I on about? I guess the bare basics of it is, if you proclaim, or have to declare yourself an influencer, you're not. Kind of the simplest way about it really.

Sure, there are some pages/people/youtube channels that I follow that, due to their content I have bought stuff that they were sponsored by, but ultimately those decisions were less about "omg fat electron man is paid to like this product!!" and more of a "well, I've compared what I'm getting across three or four different websites now, and the one the fat guy telling hilarious military stories about is actually the best deal. I can appreciate a channel person doing their own content and having paid sponsors. Heck, even Drachinifel has to mention sponsors every now and again, but it doesn't influence his content or delivery. I get that that's part and parcel of trying to make a living on a virtual medium. But, the people I've directly and indirectly mentioned, all produce their own work covering various topics, they don't just shill some random product.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Was torn on putting this particular “old man yells at cloud” moan here or the words thread.

But….influencers.

If you’ve got one of them haircuts, a wispy little bum fluff moustache and hold your stupid headphones stupid tiny mike whilst talking utter mince desperately shilling some product?

Just don’t.

There's something that I think "influencers" genuinely miss the point on compared to influential people on the socials.

So what am I on about? I guess the bare basics of it is, if you proclaim, or have to declare yourself an influencer, you're not. Kind of the simplest way about it really.

Exactly. Anyone who must declare "I am the king..." etc.

I just don't get influencers. It's the whole "famous for being famous" thing. Influence is something you earn as a byproduct of other things. It's not the end goal itself. I watch several people on YT, who cover topics I'm interested in. Some of them advertise things, which I generally don't have a problem with. Got to earn a living, after all. The difference is, I watch these people because I think they provide entertainment, information, balanced reviews or whatever. Therefore, I'm much more likely to at least consider a product they advertise because there's some kind of "relationship" already there. If I thought they were being too indiscriminate with what they were endorsing I'd likely stop watching. Same deal if it got too intrusive. If that's how I approach people whose channels I voluntarily watch, why would I trust the opinion of someone whose entire job description is selling out to the highest bidder?

It probably doesn't help that the only time I hear about these influencers is when they make the news for being fined, yet again, for breaking advertising rules.

Yeah, like people who are insistent they’re “alpha males”. Bogus science of that aside? If you have to tell folk you’re all important and socially dominant?

You probably aren’t. And the more you say it, I suspect the further it is from the truth.

I’ve said it before, but I’m glad I’m an old fart who grew up and found his feets in life before all this nonsense arrived. I’ve various friends with various kids who are trying to navigate it, and I don’t envy them one bit,

Now, that’s not to say I’m entirely apart from it. I have my subscriptions on YouTube and people I follow on instagram. But not one of them is a lifestyle guru type thing.

I've been exposed to too much software development lingo to think that calling yourself an "alpha male" is a good thing.