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

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?

Message 1 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?

THIS POST IS ABOUT THE BRAND NEW ACCOUNTS REGISTERED IN THE U.S.--NOT ABOUT SRI LANKAN POSTERS.

 

Yesterday, there was a thread where the OP, with a brand new id in the U.S., punked everyone with a made-up scenario about his/her business wanting to sell on eBay. It was a total scam thread, but people fell for it for about the first four pages of posts.

 

I checked the list of who had given the original post a "helpful," and out of the ten "helpfuls" it had at the time, nine were from these throw-away, U.S.-registered, virtually brand new (all started since July 5, and most registered that very day, July 😎 accounts. As I pursued it further, those brand new members had given "helpfuls" to posts in threads that were closed back in 2017 through 2020. Curious how each of those brand new members had run across a different super old thread and found a post to mark "helpful." Also interesting that the people they'd left "helpfuls" for were members like eBay staff or people  who hadn't posted here for ages--maybe knowing their "helpfuls" wouldn't draw attention when they appeared on the notification bell/page. 

 

Whoever's doing it is not stupid . . .

 

Someone doesn't have enough to do and is messing with the discussion boards. Not 100% sure of the motive, but I suspect it's not a good one. Or someone is disgruntled with one or more eBay policies or has been permanently suspended from the discussion boards and is looking for ways to cause trouble. I'm sure we've all run up against candidates that would fit that description.

Message 61 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@eleanor*rigby wrote:

THIS POST IS ABOUT THE BRAND NEW ACCOUNTS REGISTERED IN THE U.S.--NOT ABOUT SRI LANKAN POSTERS.

 

Yesterday, there was a thread where the OP, with a brand new id in the U.S., punked everyone with a made-up scenario about his/her business wanting to sell on eBay. It was a total scam thread, but people fell for it for about the first four pages of posts.

 

I checked the list of who had given the original post a "helpful," and out of the ten "helpfuls" it had at the time, nine were from these throw-away, U.S.-registered, virtually brand new (all started since July 5, and most registered that very day, July 😎 accounts. As I pursued it further, those brand new members had given "helpfuls" to posts in threads that were closed back in 2017 through 2020. Curious how each of those brand new members had run across a different super old thread and found a post to mark "helpful." Also interesting that the people they'd left "helpfuls" for were members like eBay staff or people  who hadn't posted here for ages--maybe knowing their "helpfuls" wouldn't draw attention when they appeared on the notification bell/page. 

 

Whoever's doing it is not stupid . . .

 

Someone doesn't have enough to do and is messing with the discussion boards. Not 100% sure of the motive, but I suspect it's not a good one. Or someone is disgruntled with one or more eBay policies or has been permanently suspended from the discussion boards and is looking for ways to cause trouble. I'm sure we've all run up against candidates that would fit that description.


@eleanor*rigby   I saw a bunch of accounts from Vietnam do this kind of thing late last year ... but I think it would be a challenge for a permanently suspended member to create a new ID to post here ...

Best regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor
Message 62 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@mr_lincoln wrote:


 I saw a bunch of accounts from Vietnam do this kind of thing late last year ... 


As I posted, all these accounts were registered in the U.S.

 


@mr_lincoln wrote:

but I think it would be a challenge for a permanently suspended member to create a new ID to post here ...

Do you? There are instructions on how to do it all over the internet.

Message 63 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@eleanor*rigby wrote:

@mr_lincoln wrote:


 I saw a bunch of accounts from Vietnam do this kind of thing late last year ... 


As I posted, all these accounts were registered in the U.S.

 


@mr_lincoln wrote:

but I think it would be a challenge for a permanently suspended member to create a new ID to post here ...

Do you? There are instructions on how to do it all over the internet.


Good point, I never bothered to look that kind of thing up online ... however I have used You Tube videos to check out certain repairs on vehicles, garden tractors, etc. 

Best regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor
Message 64 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@maxine*j wrote:

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

 

=


Agreed, that appears to be the case. However, there may be a reason for that, and it might not be nefarious.

 

  • Most global/international people come to eBay.com first because ".com" is the oldest domain on the internet, and ebay.com is perceived and believed to be the "international eBay" for many people overseas
  • When you register a new account on ebay.com, you don't have to provide a registered address to do it. For brand new accounts with no address, eBay shows a default location of "United States".
  • New accounts will have to provide an address in order to buy or sell anything on eBay, but they aren't required to provide an address until then.
  • Many new accounts may not provide an address until they want to buy something. However, they can still use the accounts on the eBay community, even without an address. So they will show the default location "United States" until they want to buy something and are prompted to provide an address.
Message 65 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@lacemaker3 wrote:

@maxine*j wrote:

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


Agreed, that appears to be the case. However, there may be a reason for that, and it might not be nefarious.


It certainly helps the... what shall we call these? Bot accounts?... blend in with regular user accounts.

 

At this point I think it's just someone attempting to swamp the discussion groups as a prank, and at this point it seems to be chugging along pretty much unhindered. They start with a throwaway account on eBay, which gives them posting credentials on Khoros, and off they go. The fact that they're picking up and reusing text from other posters (not quoting them, but posting the source text all over again) makes them difficult to screen out programmatically. Not sure where a solution for this is going to come from.

Message 66 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@a_c_green wrote:

@lacemaker3 wrote:

@maxine*j wrote:

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


Agreed, that appears to be the case. However, there may be a reason for that, and it might not be nefarious.


It certainly helps the... what shall we call these? Bot accounts?... blend in with regular user accounts.

 

At this point I think it's just someone attempting to swamp the discussion groups as a prank, and at this point it seems to be chugging along pretty much unhindered. They start with a throwaway account on eBay, which gives them posting credentials on Khoros, and off they go. The fact that they're picking up and reusing text from other posters (not quoting them, but posting the source text all over again) makes them difficult to screen out programmatically. Not sure where a solution for this is going to come from.


No matter how this got started, there is certainly some of this going on by now. Even some regular posters have started it ... 😀

 

<sarc>Oh, look, there's another one! @jo-991274 </sarc>

Message 67 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?

And what's the prize? If it meets my threshold for value of prizes, I may start posting inane comments also.

 

Message 68 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@soh.maryl wrote:

And what's the prize? If it meets my threshold for value of prizes, I may start posting inane comments also.

 


Probably some game set up on some private FB group somewhere. I've seen them talked about on some FB groups that I belong to but I've never joined any of the actual groups because I don't play online games.

 

It is really easy to create an ID to just post on the boards. I remember making one some years ago and was surprised how little information they asked for as long as I was just posting on the boards.

Message 69 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@maxine*j wrote:

@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?


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.

 

=

 

=


All of these types of accounts I've seen are US accounts.  So I'm still puzzled by this.


mam98031  •  Volunteer Community Member  •  Buyer/Seller since 1999

"I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." Quote from Edward I Koch

Message 70 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@soh.maryl wrote:

If it meets my threshold for value of prizes, I may start posting inane comments also.


Oooof... Temptation to reply to that line is... almost overwhelming...  Aaaargh.... 😁

Message 71 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@mr_lincoln wrote:

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


We also admire your tidy house.

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered...History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." – George Orwell

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.
Message 72 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@chapeau-noir wrote:

@mr_lincoln wrote:

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


We also admire your tidy house.


@chapeau-noir  Thank you

Best regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor
Message 73 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?


@mr_lincoln wrote:

@chapeau-noir wrote:

@mr_lincoln wrote:

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


We also admire your tidy house.


@chapeau-noir  Thank you


agree, bro.

"Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered...History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right." – George Orwell

Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.
Message 74 of 91
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What's with all the strange one-liner replies getting posted?

@itsjustasprain, @chapeau-noir , @readabouthorses , @soh.maryl 

 

A gaggle of those new IDs with their meaningless little one liners started to show up on this thread I started just yesterday ... they are registered in the US and many this month (July) ...

 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Can-we-sell-Organic-Marshmallows-on-eBay/m-p/32053588#M1792643

 

Best regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor
Message 75 of 91
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