Forum: Too Lazy BBS

chatbots keep usenet alive

From J@J@M to alt.free.newsservers on Thu Jul 23 14:22:18 2026

From Newsgroup: alt.free.newsservers

trolls are usenet's "connection keeper", perpetually simulating activity
in order to keep usenet alive . . . trolls are essentially chatbots that
mimic nonsensical human conversation, posting via every available server
en masse around the clock, as if to justify usenet's continued existence

server administrators may view usenet trolls as a "necessary evil" which
is akin to postal service junkmail, busywork that helps keep them afloat,
so usenet trolling must be accepted and propagated across peering usenet servers, because if trolls stopped posting, usenet would likely flatline

fortunately for non-troll usenet subscribers, most newsreaders have some filtering features (especially the global "ignore" filter i.e. "from *"), making it easy to ignore trolls, by unignoring only helpful contributors,
while automatically moving all else to the trash, "junk"/"troll" folders

ignoring trolls is the surest and easiest way to silently support trolls, knowing that trolls are chatbots, and usenet depends on chatbots for its survival as an internet-accessible repository of plain text articles and discussions among non-trolls, mostly unmoderated, and open to the public

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