What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?

[itsjustasprain]

I was wondering about all the weird one-liner replies (such as "Yes. I think the same as you.") that keep popping up on the boards and decided to do a little further digging. These turn out to be some kind of semi-automatic junk posts put up by newbie or throwaway accounts for the most part.

To see them, pick any short reply that seems weird, disjointed or out of place (such as "We don't have to do this, but it's helpful advice."), and do the following:

1. Plug it into the Community search field at the top of the screen, putting it within double quotes: "We don't have to do this, but it's helpful advice."
2. When the Results page comes up, change the Sorted By: order from Best Match to Date (descending Down Arrow).
3. Click on the Advanced heading, and change the View results by from Topics to Specific Posts.

That will give you a detailed list of all the throwaway accounts currently using that post. It's weird and puzzling at the same time. There is nothing to be gained by any of it.

Other current randomly generated posts:

• "How exactly was this negative unwarranted?" (This one was out of context everywhere that I found it.)
• "Exactly right. Thanks for answering."
• "Thank you for the helpful and encouraging insight. Appreciated very much."
• "They're probably referring to ebay's Worldwide Shipping Program."
• "Thanks for answering."
• "I am not sure what you are talking about."
• "We don't have to do this, but it's helpful advice."
• "Yes. I think the same as you."
• "This was the wrong thing to do, and you can report the seller for this."

If you then pick any of the accounts that posted a comment above and look at their other replies, you will find more one-liners from the same collection being posted elsewhere. (I found one case this morning where the same poster used two of them in the same thread, just four replies apart.)

All I can guess here is that foreign users (not necessarily the Sri Lanka bunch, but ones that do not seem to know the English language) are being given a list of "sample" comments from somewhere, from which they can post their choice, but so many of the posted replies are so wildly out of context for what's being discussed that I cannot see the point of it at all. Just to collect badges?

[a_c_green]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

It's been my belief that these posts are from Sri Lankans (usually) who are somehow under the misinformation that, if they flood the boards with inane posts, they will be allowed to sell on eBay.  

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I think all the accounts spewing this collection of (what's the list up to now? 12?) random replies are US-registered. I might be wrong about that, but when I tried looking at some of the accounts per the procedure posted in the OP here, I expected to find Sri Lankan registration, but did not.

The Sri Lankans are still around, yes, but I can't say for sure if I've seen a Sri Lankan account doing this random-reply stuff, just asking their own questions. We might be looking at two separate issues.

[maxine*j]

Yes, every account I have checked has been U.S. registered. 

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[maxine*j]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

It's been my belief that these posts are from Sri Lankans (usually) who are somehow under the misinformation that, if they flood the boards with inane posts, they will be allowed to sell on eBay.  

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I don't think so.  We know for a fact that the poor Sri Lankans were told that getting  and giving Helpfuls and earning Badges was the equivalent of feedback and would increase their visbility and reputations as sellers.  And while some of what they posted was silly or obvious, or even annoying, most of it nevertheless made sense in the context.   Also, they posted in English, no matter how limited their English skills.   Their accounts were registered in Sri Lanka, too.  (As an aside, Now that SRs can sign up for Managed Payments through Payoneer, at least they have a chance to make it as sellers.)

But these random posting we're seeing do not make sense in any context, nor are they the words of the people posting them, and all the accounts are registered in the U.S.

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[soh.maryl]

"I agree."

"You are right".

etc, etc, etc

Those messages match ANY topic, don't they? 

[pikabo-icu]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

If anyone ever posts "And I like your tidy house" in reference to something I have posted, they need to get out immediately because they're obviously in the wrong house.  

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@soh.maryl  ROFL

That made me choke I laughed so hard. 

[varebelrose]

"every account I have checked has been U.S. registered. "

=/=

located in the US....

[tev4all]

Could be, they haven't learned how to present their "word salad" yet.  

[maxine*j]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

"I agree.""You are right".

etc, etc, etc

Those messages match ANY topic, don't they? 

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Unfortunately, they agree with info that is wrong, and they say people are right who are not, and that has to confuse sincere OPs.

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[mam98031]

@lacemaker3 

"...hopefully try to help them learn to participate more productively."

That is a bit hard to do since none of them that I've experienced will respond to anything you tag them on.

[lacemaker3]

Yes, the response rate is very low, from what I have seen.

I don't know if these are related to the Sri Lankan sellers or not. The response rate from the Sri Lankans is also very low, but when I have posted replies that are helpful and expressed in a positive manner, then I have gotten appropriate responses and thanks sometimes. Negative or curt replies don't usually get a response. 

[maxine*j]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

Yes, the response rate is very low, from what I have seen.

I don't know if these are related to the Sri Lankan sellers or not. The response rate from the Sri Lankans is also very low, but when I have posted replies that are helpful and expressed in a positive manner, then I have gotten appropriate responses and thanks sometimes. Negative or curt replies don't usually get a response. 

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Have you actually seen any responses to these new copy-and-paste posts?  I never have, and I've gone looking for them on more than one board.

I agree about the SR sellers who would occasionally reply, and those replies made sense.  It's another reason I don't think this new thing is coming from them.

Every registered user has the right to post here, for better or for worse, and I'm not suggesting otherwise -- but while I understood the folks from SR, I don't get this thing at all.

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[a_c_green]

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@varebelrose wrote:

"every account I have checked has been U.S. registered. "

=/=

located in the US....

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That's true, but my point (which maxine*j was responding to) was mainly that they were not Sri Lankan registrations. The 'Lanka posts look to be a separate kettle of fish. I agree that the supposed US registrations could come from anywhere, but the Sri Lankans seem happy enough to show their own country as the registration country of origin, so whatever this latest episode of posting weirdness is, it doesn't seem connected to the Sri Lankan bunch in any way that I can see. (If anything, I'm wondering about a little more nefarious intent beyond just glopping up the discussions... and I don't even own a tinfoil hat...)

If you look at any of the reply bot account profiles, then go into their Replies history, you will see a big long list of random postings making use the same 12 or so standard phrases, and generally nothing else. I have not seen a Sri Lankan account with the same posting behavior.

[maxine*j]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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...  If you look at any of the reply bot account profiles, then go into their Replies history, you will see a big long list of random postings making use the same 12 or so standard phrases... 

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Yes.  I looked at one a few days ago:  53 posts using five identical phrases phrases, on four different boards, without a single post actually made any sense in the context.   The funniest one was the reply "That is awesome" to one of the multitudes of barely coherent rants about MPs and SSNs.    😄

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[mam98031]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

Yes, the response rate is very low, from what I have seen.

I don't know if these are related to the Sri Lankan sellers or not. The response rate from the Sri Lankans is also very low, but when I have posted replies that are helpful and expressed in a positive manner, then I have gotten appropriate responses and thanks sometimes. Negative or curt replies don't usually get a response. 

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Excuse me.  

I've not seen any of these types of posters respond to you or anyone else.  I certainly could be wrong as I'm not on every thread out there.  But please show us, give us a link to one of your successes.

[mam98031]

I may have missed something.  But what benefit do Sir Lanka members get from posting on the Community?