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Plain-language writing on automation patterns, scoring, and what the evidence actually shows.
Showing topic Bot types · Clear filter
21 Jul 2026 · Bot types
Heard a term like "astroturfing" or "sockpuppet" somewhere and want the two-sentence version before committing to a full post? Here's every term from this series, defined plainly, with a link to the deep dive.
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20 Jul 2026 · Bot types
The checkmark used to mean something specific: a platform employee looked at proof of identity. Now it means eight dollars a month and a working phone number — and that's a very different bar to filter bots against.
19 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A thousand fake likes costs less than a coffee. That price tag explains almost everything else in this series — it's not that bot operators don't care about getting caught, it's that getting caught costs them almost nothing.
18 Jul 2026 · Bot types
The LLM-assisted account used to be the rare, cutting-edge bot pattern. It's not rare anymore, and the honest update is less about detection getting smarter and more about the sheer volume tipping over.
17 Jul 2026 · Bot types
Everyone's got a number — 5%, 15%, "half the internet." Here's where those figures actually come from, why they disagree so wildly, and what's genuinely known versus guessed.
16 Jul 2026 · Bot types
It's easy to go looking for bots in someone else's audience. It's a lot more useful — and a lot more uncomfortable — to check your own first.
15 Jul 2026 · Bot types
Mute, block, or report — they're not interchangeable, and picking the wrong one either wastes your time or lets something worse slide. Here's how to actually decide.
14 Jul 2026 · Bot types
You don't need software to catch most bots — you need to know where to look. Here's the checklist we'd run through ourselves, and the honest point where doing it by eye starts to fall apart.
12 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A template reply spammer drops "Great point!" / "This 100%." / "Couldn't agree more 🔥" under completely unrelated posts — clearly not reading anything before it replies.
11 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A retweet amplifier almost never says anything itself — it just pushes other people's posts, over and over, all day. Here's why that's one of the easiest bot patterns to spot once you know what you're looking at.
10 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A reply farm replies constantly — dozens, sometimes hundreds of times a day — but almost nobody ever replies back. That one-way silence is the tell.
9 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A sockpuppet wears its third name this year. Real people change a display name for fun; they almost never change the actual handle two or three times while posting at a pace no human keeps up.
8 Jul 2026 · Bot types
An LLM-assisted account's replies have no typos, no slang, no stray thought — every one reads like it was written by someone who'd never typed something dumb on their phone at 11pm, because it probably wasn't a someone at all.
7 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A grift funnel is an ad wearing a person costume: blank or default avatar, a bio that's basically a pitch, and followers that look just as thin. Built to sell you something, not to talk to you.
6 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A follow-for-follow growth account builds a following the cheap way — following tens of thousands and hoping a fraction follow back. Real audiences grow two-directionally; this math is almost always visibly lopsided.
5 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A fake-location persona claims Texas or New York in the bio while posting at hours that fit somewhere else entirely. Bios lie for free; sleep schedules are hard to fake.
4 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A coordinated campaign isn't one odd account — it's a dozen different handles posting near-identical text within minutes of each other. One of the clearest bot signatures there is, because it's genuinely hard to fake by accident.
3 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A broadcast operator posts huge volume, but the second you look for an actual conversation, there isn't one. This type isn't hiding — it's just not built for two-way engagement.
2 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A bought or repurposed account wasn't born a bot — it was bought. A real, aged, previously-dormant profile gets picked up, handed to a new operator, and put back to work. Here's how to spot one that's changed hands.
1 Jul 2026 · Bot types
A 24/7 scheduler has no night. Real people go quiet for a few hours; these accounts stay flat around the clock, and that sleepless rhythm is oddly easy to spot once you plot it out.