AI scam bots on Dreamwidth

[dolorosa_12]

A quick heads up to let people know that the extractive AI spammers/scammers from AO3 seem to have made it over here to Dreamwidth. I received a message from one of them just now, which reads:

Hi, I thoroughly enjoyed your story when I read it. I would love to offer some suggestions that could improve your narrative even further, if that is okay with you. Is it feasible for us to communicate via a different platform?
Email address: karencrabtree98@gmail.com
Discord: karencrabtree_

The account is karencrab, but I would assume there are others active. This one has only existed for a few days, has made no comments, no posts, nor contributed to a single comm, and has a blank/weirdly inconsistent profile.

I'm going to block the account now, but I don't think there's much more I can do about it (unless anyone is aware of a mechanism for reporting suspected AI bot accounts to Dreamwidth). I would assume this means public posts on Dreamwidth are going to be more directly targeted as sources to train AI tools (although I know that this was happening already).

Please feel free to share this warning post.

Comments

[sixbeforelunch]

Ugh. Thanks for the info. I've banned it preemptively.

[dolorosa_12]

Ugh indeed.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I suggest using the spam report function. Presumably the messages or comments will be identical or similar, and not specific to a given entry like real ones are.

You may also want to contact the developers. They've taken assertive action against spammers in the past, so will likely respond to this as well.

Re: Thoughts

[dolorosa_12]

Thanks, I spotted the 'spam report' function about a minute after making the post, and will look into contacting the administrators directly.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Thanks for your efforts to protect Dreamwidth.

[lilly_c]

I had one a while back and reported the account, I think DW deleted the account haven’t seen it since.

[dolorosa_12]

Thanks — I also reported the account and Dreamwidth acted very swiftly.

[vriddy]

I'm really sad to see these arriving here too, thank you for the heads-up. The fact that the profile manages to be both so sparse yet so irritatingly inconsistent is quite the feat.

[dolorosa_12]

I know, right? I heard about them on AO3 (although never encountered them myself), and I was somewhat flabbergasted to see them spreading to Dreamwidth. Thankfully I reported the account and Dreamwidth acted very quickly.

[darkmarcy]

Thanks for the heads up!

[dolorosa_12]

You're welcome.

[tellshannon815]

Thanks for the heads up, just banned it. I've had enough of this rubbish on AO3.

[dolorosa_12]

I know, right?

[chestnut_pod]

Oh, for heaven's sake.

[dolorosa_12]

It's truly pathetic. At least Dreamwidth banned the account very quickly after I reported it.

[svgurl]

Thanks for the head's up! It's so annoying on AO3, but it sucks that they're here now too.

[dolorosa_12]

You're welcome — and you're right, it's very annoying!

[corvidology]

Meanwhile at work I'm having to sit through constant seminars and meetings where they're trying their hardest to convince us it's the best thing since sliced bread... sliced bread is not that good. ;D

[dolorosa_12]

Yes indeed. I don't get it so much at work, because I've made my feelings plain, but the number of librarians I've seen more generally who just uncritically embrace this nonsense (or worse, evangalise about it) appalls me.

[trepkos]

karencrab has been suspended. Thanks for the warning!

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, Dreamwidth suspended the account about an hour after I reported it. I was very impressed.

[lirazel]

Yup, I've gotten one too, a couple of weeks back.

[dolorosa_12]

Ugh, you too? I assume you know you can report the accounts, and Dreamwidth will ban them — it happened in about an hour.

[lirazel]

Yeah, it was only once a few weeks ago, but I was horrified. The person got banned pretty quickly, thankfully. At least we know that there are real people who care running this site.

[tozka]

Wow, thanks for the warning! I'll boost this in my next link post so others have a head's up, too.

[dolorosa_12]

You're welcome, and thanks for boosting!

[runpunkrun]

I got the same message from donnapsencer a few days ago. It felt fishy, but I've now marked it as spam without compunction.

[dolorosa_12]

It looks as if your scambot also got banned, so at least Dreamwidth is pretty responsive to reports of spam. I imagine we'll be seeing more of this in the future, but at least there's an effective mechanism for reporting it.

[runpunkrun]

Yes, they acted on it quickly, which is reassuring. I appreciate you posting about this.