this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
620 points (95.9% liked)

Fediverse

28489 readers
859 users here now

A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).

If you wanted to get help with moderating your own community then head over to !moderators@lemmy.world!

Rules

Learn more at these websites: Join The Fediverse Wiki, Fediverse.info, Wikipedia Page, The Federation Info (Stats), FediDB (Stats), Sub Rehab (Reddit Migration), Search Lemmy

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
ruud@lemmy.world
Xylinna@lemmy.world
MrCenny@lemmy.world
TragicNotCute@lemmy.world
automodbeta@lemmy.world
woelkchen@lemmy.world
620
alien.top is a new level of Reddit crossposting spam (lemm.ee)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by simple@lemm.ee to c/fediverse@lemmy.world
300 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Whoever is in charge of that instance, STOP.

It's an instance that crossposts posts from Reddit, except it also makes a new user for each Reddit account it came from. So if /u/hello123 made a post, it makes that post under a new account called hello123. That makes it impossible to block posting bots.

Not only that, it makes posts look like they're posted by real people, with many question and text posts being copied as well. I was very confused as to what these posts were until I realized they're crossposts.

Examples:

https://alien.top/post/263029

https://lemm.ee/u/pocalyuko@alien.top

https://lemm.ee/u/ItzMeRocket@alien.top

https://lemm.ee/u/CaptainCapp-n@alien.top

I strongly believe Lemmy isn't the place for mirroring content from other websites. You can host your own alternate Reddit frontend like LibReddit, there's no reason to spam the posts to everyone using Lemmy just because 5 people asked for it. Not to mention there are already enough instances mirroring posts, this is getting obnoxious.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] iso@lemy.lol 36 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Not just spam, it is also using system resources as high as big instances. I just defederated from it.

I wish someone made this integration in an app, that shows both Lemmy and Reddit feed, without an instance.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think if creating an app with a reddit feed was that simple then half of us wouldn't be here!

[–] iso@lemy.lol 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

lol you're right 😅

But there are some illegal methods to do it; This instance (alien.top) is an example of it. Some people even still using Apollo.

The problem is, these methods are simply not ideal. You cannot put your app to the stores, possible consequences of illegal usage etc. no body wants it.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 2 points 11 months ago

Is it illegal? Against the terms of service, sure, they can revoke your API keys and block your IP and report you to Google/Apple but I don't think they can stop you.