It has become apparent that @[email protected] has been manipulating votes by voting with multiple accounts on other instances.
At the very least, on this post they have upvoted it using multiple accounts with the same username on different instances, as well as multiple votes in the comments of that post. It's very likely they are doing the same on all their posts.
They are also harassing other users by digging up comments/posts then lying about them in order to slander the other person.
The comment chain on this thread shows this behavior:
https://lemmy.world/post/32414918/18033196
(Note that there is an unmarked NSFW image from that user in the comments. This was used as an attempt to harass another user.)
-- Edit --
@[email protected] is now here with some pathetic spin and conspiracy bullshit. They are trying to act like a victim like the whole issue has to do with AI when it's entirely about them harassing users and a painfully obvious use of alts for manipulation. They even went so far as to post a porn image, in an attempt to harass another user, in a comm that has a clear rule against posting porn. The problems with this user has nothing to do with their sad use of AI.
@[email protected] is clearly another alt of their's. Not only did they never post anything until now and show up here at nearly the same time and use the same phrasing and ridiculous arguments, notice how they have the same exact text in their user bio.
Here is [email protected]:
And [email protected]:
This is just sad.
I have no idea how the admin tools work, so asking the wrong person. He told me they 'plan to' ban it, didn't say how...or when. I have already escalated the issue, now that go$fskyourself and his bullying gang have shown themselves over this incident, to the actually lemmy programmers. They were already aware of this outside tool, and it didn't sound like they were happy about it, but left the issue dangling. I have re-opened it showing the abuse from go$fsckyourself and how it can harm others, so we will see what can be done.
I assume one can create a community and gain admin tools? If that is true, can you then use that tool to also see up/down votes by users outside your own community? If so, that would be another easy exploit for a user wanting this tool.
Edit to add: The programmer of Lemmy replied;
So, apparently instances/admins can ban this tool.
So that's what I meant, this tool cannot be blocked at the community level, which was what you were saying above.
Votes on Lemmy are public by nature, they are just hidden to the general user but it's very easy to show them.
Gotcha, well that is unfortunate, as it is obviously being used by some, go$fsckyourself, for exploit.
I am not following this whole thing very closely to be honest.
People in general should just be aware that votes are almost public, and behave accordingly.
Yeah, you need to read the whole story to see how they are abusing those votes, gang behavior, swarming, by someone down-voting them, using this outside tool. I think there are other exploits as well.
I am well aware of the tool, I sometimes use it myself when it looks like people are manipulating votes.
At the end of the day, it is just that: a tool. What people want to do with it is a different story.