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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@mam98031 wrote:

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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.

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I've seen at least one or two actual responses from Sri Lankans. I asked one if he'd paid someone money to set up his apparently-hopeless selling account (before Payoneer, as I understand it, entered the picture over there), and got an answer shortly thereafter: "No." For the most part, though, no, they appear to have little to no idea what they're doing.

In terms of responsiveness compared to these reply bots, though, the Sri Lankans are positively verbose. 😁

[ustabee1]

Are they possible testing out new MAGIC 8 BALL responses?

[mtgraves7984]

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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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. 

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@pikabo-icu ... Scoot over and make room for me! 🤣

@soh.maryl ... Emphasis on "... wish I had one."  😂

To defend my verbiage (as if)... the post that @itsjustasprain found was titled, 'Managed Payments: forcing sellers out.'

My original response was, "I applaud your decision and wish you well. And I admire your tidy house... wish I had one." But... 

it was in response to the OP's pulled (from 🙄 wall) quote, "I am furious, but my house will be a tidier place - free of boxes."

You know, I'm tired of those posts, too. Heck, I don't know what else to say to those OPs, either. 😕 

[mam98031]

@a_c_green 

I'm sorry, I still don't understand.  What possible benefit is posting on the threads to sellers from Sri Lanka?

[pikabo-icu]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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

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@mam98031 

None but many of them believe there is a benefit.

They have read somewhere that they will be perceived as credible or earn some benefit from posting. 

[mam98031]

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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

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@mam98031 

None but many of them believe there is a benefit.

They have read somewhere that they will be perceived as credible or earn some benefit from posting. 

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Thank you.  That is interesting, not logical at all, but interesting.  So wouldn't they need to be posting with their selling accounts?  All the ones I've seen have been mostly IDs set up in the first week of July.  

[mtgraves7984]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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

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@mam98031 

None but many of them believe there is a benefit.

They have read somewhere that they will be perceived as credible or earn some benefit from posting. 

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Thank you.  That is interesting, not logical at all, but interesting.  So wouldn't they need to be posting with their selling accounts?  All the ones I've seen have been mostly IDs set up in the first week of July.  

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@mam98031 

Oh, no. They sure do appear to be trying to sell... they're selling accounts. It's a real hoot.

[pikabo-icu]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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

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@mam98031 

None but many of them believe there is a benefit.

They have read somewhere that they will be perceived as credible or earn some benefit from posting. 

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Thank you.  That is interesting, not logical at all, but interesting.  So wouldn't they need to be posting with their selling accounts?  All the ones I've seen have been mostly IDs set up in the first week of July.  

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No worries..

Those might be their selling accounts, perhaps they believe they're building up rep before listing or they don't realize there's a difference.

There are places that convince people that the act of posting nets them some benefit or they will be paid for it. I know it's illogical but many Americans get duped into this so I imagine it's even easier to convince people in other countries.  

[soh.maryl]

By jove -- I think you've got it!

[mam98031]

Great now they are coming to this thread.

[a_c_green]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

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.

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Hi again. Sorry for the delay in responding further; busy day...

Okay, here's the link to the thread I was referring to in which a Sri Lankan answered my question. In fact, I noticed when I dug it up just now that he'd not only answered my question but also marked my reply ("Did you pay money to someone for an account on eBay?") as an Accepted Solution. So, winner winner chicken dinner. 😁

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/selling/m-p/31925504#M1761880 

To be clear, that is a Sri Lankan poster, not one of the US-registered reply bots, so I don't want to get our topic off-track here, but I did want to answer your question, and a review of that person's replies does not show any reply-bot behavior. Right now I am still seeing no connection between the reply bots and the Sri Lankans. (I'm pretty sure that is not a sentence that I ever thought I would be writing in my lifetime.)

...and I admire your tidy house. 😁

[mam98031]

@a_c_green 

Thank you, but you are right, the link you provided isn't what we have been discussing here.  That poster is clearly from Sri Lanka.  I don't think any of these posters we have been discussing here are from Sri Lanka.

BTW the post you responded to of mine and quoted wasn't one I posted to you but to a different poster.  You had me a little confused at first.  

[maxine*j]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@a_c_green 

I'm sorry, I still don't understand.  What possible benefit is posting on the threads to sellers from Sri Lanka?

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Pretty much none, but they were told   (by people who sold them dodgy out-of-country  PayPal accounts* and otherwise took money from them to "make them successful sellers on eBay") that starting and replying to threads, giving and getting Helpfuls, and earning Badges is equivalent to feedback, establishes credibility and reputation, etc.

*Sri Lankans cannot receive funds through PayPal, so they never had a chance, no matter what they were told.   However, Paynoneer is now available to them and they can now legitmately sell on eBay.

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[maxine*j]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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

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@mam98031 

None but many of them believe there is a benefit.

They have read somewhere that they will be perceived as credible or earn some benefit from posting. 

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Thank you.  That is interesting, not logical at all, but interesting.  So wouldn't they need to be posting with their selling accounts?  All the ones I've seen have been mostly IDs set up in the first week of July.  

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Yes, they did and do post with accounts they set up for selling.

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[mr_lincoln]

@itsjustasprain   I couldn't agree more and appreciate you posting about this.