FA+
Shop
Watchbot Spam
11 years ago
🏳️🌈💖Enjoy the site? Please consider supporting us via the links below!💖🏳️🌈
⭐ FA+ ⭐ SHOP ⭐ KO-FI ⭐
Journal Start
Citizens of the Realm,
It has come to our attention that a handful of users have been using scripts to automate the mass watching of users. While we allow scripts and add-ons (provided they're not malicious or have a detrimental impact to the site) we will take action on any script or tool which we feel puts an undue burden on the site and our resources or which has a negative impact to other users.
Any user found using a "watchbot" to automate watchers en mass risks having their account wiped and permanently closed. This may or may not come with a warning given your account's history.
Thank you,
Princess Celestia Fender
NOTE: The amount of "watchbots" is limited to roughly two dozen so far. It's a small, isolated group, but we wanted to address it publicly.
It has come to our attention that a handful of users have been using scripts to automate the mass watching of users. While we allow scripts and add-ons (provided they're not malicious or have a detrimental impact to the site) we will take action on any script or tool which we feel puts an undue burden on the site and our resources or which has a negative impact to other users.
Any user found using a "watchbot" to automate watchers en mass risks having their account wiped and permanently closed. This may or may not come with a warning given your account's history.
Thank you,
NOTE: The amount of "watchbots" is limited to roughly two dozen so far. It's a small, isolated group, but we wanted to address it publicly.
I've been followed by 3 of these already; two of them followed me just this morning. I don't post much stuff at all and I'm no artist, so I'm not really much worth watching. I get a little excited when people are interested enough to watch me for whatever reason, so it's just annoying and disappointing when all your new watchers are just watch bots.
By the way, Neer, when are you firing the sexual predator?
Hypocrisy is not the same thing as having standards. Just saying.
so much.
And I imagine it was never stable to begin with.
-Yoda sez
although I find it funny how many people think they know anything about FA
I think Dobie was inferring mostly to the finalmost product: many 502s, 404s, other 'site is down' time which is pretty much just a fact. FA has a lot of it compared to other sites. Whether or not it is the way it should be, not my call.
I don't see many actual ex-FA-programmer/staffy types talking about what goes on inside and I doubt anyone else is qualified to do it.
Honestly, through last 4 years I check FA constantly and never saw 404, though sometimes it was slowish or in maintenace mode - what I see every 3 days with Weasel and about once a day with e621 (CLoudflare error). - and I'm on other side of the planet relative to website.
Furaffinity hosted on hardware owned by its creators, they have full control on content and software they want to use.Although, Yeah, conceptually FA's website is kinda dated and lacks of search system similar to e621, but it work well .. as much as Weasel tried to fullfill that niche it still bad, expecually state there worsens by quite prudish way they designated content policy. Dragoneer keeps it as "personal project" and numerous offers from quite unknown people wouldn't excite him , he doesn't trust randoms, so seems.
252 watchers
Found it finally.
Also, I'm #55146, which is way too high since I'm not even an artist, lol.
Draw porn
????
Number 1 popufur (Having a fursuit helps too.)
Says I have 977 watchers >.< That was a long while ago!
(the sites lagging for me already :/)
If you don't want random watchers, then get a facebook or livejournal & post everything friends-only. Complaining that people are watching you on a site that's basically created for that purpose seems a little silly.
the only thing I see working, is a different account setting, where you dont get watchers at all. that would be great for people that dont post any art and only look at other peoples stuff. but removing watchers... I dont think that should be.
It is a bit mind blowing though that some folks honestly are using a bot to spam watches. That just seems... I dunno... Silly. I guess if it generates views but why not just make a pic or something with a popular theme like MLP, Poke'mon, Renamon whatever? That would probably do better.
I absolutely agree with you! :)
A fave and not a watch says "I like this one piece you did, but I don't like the rest of your work enough to want to be updated when you post."
if you like the character, you watch the commissioner, if you have such a problem with people watching you, keep your account disabled or stop posting
furries these dyas...
Instead, I get a message saying that you disabled access to your page. Rather interesting way of solving your situation, but to each their own.
http://www.furaffinity.net/scraps/furryguild/
Shows you how often I've done that, eh? :>
I think that he/she should go to devART.
That site reams with the stuff that he/she would be elated to.
If I want to see what the artist uploads, I shouldn't have to check in through a picture I favourited 3 months ago. This is a site that's created for people to watch the artists they enjoy. If you don't want anyone to see what you're doing, or at least want the people to have to go a roundabout way seeking permission to watch you, then take it to some private gallery. Not really a hard concept.
& honestly, even with the small amount of people I get watching me when I upload, I would HATE to have to wade through "is it okay if I watch you" messages from every one.
I can understand the not wanting trolls or bots to watch, but seriously?? Having to ask permission to watch? Riiiiight, bout that....not a chance sunshine. I find plenty of art I like by browsing the galleries of friends or people I watch and if they link to another artist I check it out. I'll watch an artist to see if they have any new updates. If I had to ask permission to watch the artists I like, I wouldn't bother.
If i talked to every artist i follow currently before watching them i would have only about 20 people on my 'am watching' list.
i don't have to talk to someone to like their art and to follow it.
If you don't want them watching you Block them. it will if i remember right remove them from the watching list :U
but you are sure to make many enemies that way too.
Why? Do you need some validation as to why I think your art is worthwhile to keep an eye on?
http://www.furaffinity.net/scraps/furryguild/
They then post to their friends that they should +watch me as well.
How is that not trolling and harassment?
Every other system on the net allows you to block stalkers like this. Why doesn't this one?
This is the kind of "watchers" that give me a creepy feeling. They are maybe not bots or the classic kind of trolls, but their behaviour is some kind of stalking targeted against trust and faith.
Maybe a new kind of trolling against FA itself, indirectly done to its user base.
Which will possibly and probably have plenty bugs because lets face it with admins that dont do any work and a free to pay site any new feature would be a pos if implemented. And this new feature will not necessarily solve the original issue and will most likely cause more issues...
Bandaids on a wound. Fix the issues, dont just bury it under a mountain of bandaids because every time you ad a new dimension to the issue you have more planes on which to have MORE issues.
You have the ability to block someone, do it.
I suppose you can simply report anyone who adds you to their watch list for harassment?
Are you even listening to yourself anymore?
OH GOD GUYS! I love this artist so much I want to watch them. HARASSMENT!
Witch the shear amount of artists that I want to keep up on? yeah. I watch the artist. That's what the system is there for.
No if some one is an honest to god watcher and is actually watching some one for their art, chances are they are only watching 1-200 artists, some a bit more than that, but how many of those artists are active? 10-12 maybe? No I am referring to the accounts that are 'watching' over 100+ other accounts.
I am currently watching 2389 artists. I actively pay attention to all of them. I've been here since '06 (under a different name, migrating watches to this one.)
Double edged sword. Thats why I say fave the art, not the artist. If it is an active artist, say posting a piece a week or every other day I could see watching them, but if they are inactive for 3-4 months at a time if not longer? Why throw a random watch on them?
So I don't miss when the artist does post?
What you are asking for, quite frankly, is a really obtuse idea, and will CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS THAN SOLVE. (not to mention possible expliots to REMOVE ALL WATCHERS FROM AN ACCOUNT TO TROLL EVERYONE BECAUSE SOMEONE GOT BUTTHURT OVER THAT ARTIST.) Just block the users you don't like. No need for FA to implement a coding nightmare on this one, not to mention the inevitable hacks/bugs headaches that will happen doing so.
As for people watching me: I love when I get a new watcher. It tells me that more and more people are becoming interested in my art and gives me motivation to make more of it. I even go to the new watcher's page and look at their gallery in return. If I like their gallery enough, I watch them back for the same reason I watch everyone else. Do I look at how often they post? Nope. Because even if they only post once in a great while, it's still nice to see that new post.
I'm baffled by you not wanting people to watch you. You keep repeating "Fave the art, not the artist" as if it makes sense and as if repeating it is going to make it make more sense. The watch feature is here so we can get notified of new art instead of having to go through our thousands of favorites to find all the artists we like to see their new art. Or instead of having to write down all the artists' names to search for their new art (it'd take a long, long time to go through 770 artists' galleries to find new art all the time). Sure, I understand that not receiving comments from different people is demotivating sometimes, but get over it. Not that many people go around and write a comment on every single good piece of art they see. I know I don't.
I do understand artists not wanting bots to be watching them simply because they aren't legitimate. I understand that you'd rather know how many legitimate users are watching you without having to look out for bots. But this isn't what you're saying. You're saying that you don't want ANYONE to watch you simply because you don't have a style. I don't have a style yet either! I do different kinds of art, but do I sit here and get offended by new watchers? Nope. In fact, I feel they're compliments; that the watcher is saying "Hey, you're a good artist and I want to see more of your work".
Sorry for the long rant, I'm just completely baffled...
"Do you write journals? Do you post art? Do you ever wonder if your 'watchers' are even reading what you write or doing more than glancing at the art from a thumbnail view? I do, and it sucks to at one point have had 2 dozen journals, and over 100 art pieces up and only 3-4 comments from close friends I talk to. Maybe having 5-6 actual views on the artwork knowing you had at one point over 500 'Watchers'.... It doesn't make some one feel any better about their art to have the same 3-4 friends give the same compliments on each piece.
So does it hurt an artist to have these sock puppet accounts watch them? Not directly no, but it doesn't help ether. "
I'm an 'honest to god watcher' with a current watch list of 998 accounts that represent probably hundreds at least marginally active artists[1].
[1] Defined at posting something within the past year and not having specifically stopped.
If the friends you have now aren't providing the constructive criticism you need/want, and/or you want new or higher tiers of feedback, go surround yourself with new people. Artistry is not a popularity contest; we're the ones making it into that.
It is SO depressing seeing people (especially on DeviantART) complain and give up drawing because WAAAAAAAH no one looks at my art! I thought you were drawing because you LIKED doing it? Not because you need to fill some hole in your heart left from school or Mommy? If people started treating these sites as ART sites and not bastions to get attention, the community would be so. Much. Better.
But now that you've conceived it, try to imagine how such a 'feature' could be abused out the wazoo. You know it'll happen--this is FA after all.
Remember, this is a place where one of the oft-requested "features" is a 'punitive block' where said person blocks another, and:
--Prevent said block-ee from seeing any submissions or comments from the block-er, whether logged in or not (i/e/ a user-issued IP ban)
--Removes said block-ee's watch if they were watching
--Removes any artwork of yours said block-ee may have favorited from their fave gallery
(and even more intrusive/punitive measures that amount to one user directly controlling, without any oversight, what another user is allowed to see/do on FA, based on nothing more than a declaration of victimhood.)
Against that backdrop, imagine how little time will pass before such a "suspected sockpuppet de-watch button" would be used for everything but that?
Just because they don't fave everything or comment often doesn't mean they don't enjoy your art. Don't rely on attention for validation.
If somebody is watching you to harass you, just report them and they will be dealt with.
--Onni
If you cannot handle having watchers, you may want to reconsider having an account on this site.
It literally doesnt do anything unless you watch back or they interact with you.
Seems more whiny than actually having a legitimate problem.
adding to my to-do list.
--Onni
Only people YOU WATCH
--Onni
I am talking about when /I/ block someone, it should make /them/ unwatch me
This is NOTHING to do with who /I/ Am watching and everything to do with who is watching me
ANd since I don't do watchbacks, no, they do not show up on that list for me.
And as Fender stated here
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/...../#cid:40392081
There is no "Remove watcher" option, nor will there ever be.
--Onni
I AM TRYING TO REMOVE MY HARASSERS WHO WATCH ME
HOLY SHIT ARE YOU DAFT???
Good day
She wants. To remove. The people. Who are watching her. That she blocked.
do you not speak english. or are you just stupid, because it has to be one or the other.
--Onni
http://i.imgur.com/Z4MqbOd.png
YEAH REMOVING THOSE ONLY REMOVES THE NOTIFICATIONS
NOT THE ACTUAL WATCHES
holy shit
--Onni
But yeah, it's just a notification page.
If it Did that, no one would have watches
--Onni
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs46/i/2....._ayame4sfr.png
This isn't what you were saying at all. The person you replied to is complaining about the bots. You're complaining about NORMAL USERS WATCHING PEOPLE
Your answer, instead of watching people I'm interested in, is to fave the piece I like & just go out of my way to check up on them to see if they've done anything new. I see what you're trying to get through, but I also see that it's completely irrational.
Either you're changing your story after it's been pointed out that you have no idea what you're talking about, or you had no idea what you were talking about from the start.
I get hating on people who use watchbots, or troll or the like. I can get not wanting them. But as for people who watch you because they love what you do? You should be proud that your work is good enough to be recognized by SOMEONE, not get pissed or annoyed that someone recognized it. Personally, I love getting new watchers, because it makes me feel like my work is worth it. Though I did have two watchbots watch me recently, too, but I'm talking about actual people who like my work.
Actually by their own comments, you'd be considered a troll or watchbot.
People don't have to post every single day and people do like to search which may lead them to new artists.
And as someone said earlier, "A fave and not a watch says "I like this one piece you did, but I don't like the rest of your work enough to want to be updated when you post." "
They are wasting my time though -_- Because I always thank people for the watches and look at stuff they post.
Just my opinion, of course.
Also if anyone wonders why I am saying this when I don't watch people, it's because this is my alt account and I'm too lazy to switch to comment. x_x I watch a lot of people on my main account and don't see a reason to watch them twice.
And I also see there an opportunity to peek at other people's galleries ;)
BE A QUEEN!
I think the original producer wanted to make queen ponies and make it more mature, but I think Hasbro wanted to have princesses and marketability.
after all there were many cool queens in history, from Hatshepsut, Wu Zetian, Queen Elizabeth the first, Victoria, Nzinga and the list goes on
maybe its still an aftershock of Snow White.
The maiden, the princess, is a young, virginal, and free woman that pretty much all girls want to be. Society says it's the time in a woman's life when she's most valued and at the risk of being sexist; women want to be highly-valued. They want lots of people to compete for their attention, both potential love partners and social pack-mates.
The Matron is the queen is Your Mom, and after the obvious Yo' Momma jokes the thing about Mother is she lays down rules, is always working her tail off, and is not particularly valued by society because she doesn't have time to be the pretty girl all the boys want and all the girls want to be.
The Crone is Grandma, which is the double-headed goddess of nurturing kindness and terrifying female power. She KNOWS where all the bodies are buried, she has a catalog of old debts and kids and Grandkids who she can call on to smack you down if you get uppity. Nobody wants to be her, but they don't want to piss her off either, since she's the source of candy or extra-nasty punishments depending on your behavior.
And when the primary target audience is little girls, they want to be a Princess, not a queen. The Princess has fun and is fun, the Queen lays down all these boring rules and keeps her from having fun. The Crone doesn't have a title, she's just an elemental force more powerful than the Evil Queen or the Action Princess, and she only shows up when she comes to visit for christmas, er, I mean when the time is right.
And that's my moment of collective unconscious exploration for the day. back to figuring out how to edit a written submission.
However, none of that comes close to being as Vexing as the Crystal Empire... It is a CITY... It is not even a freakin' COUNTY let alone a Principality or a Kingdom and it sure as hay does not qualify as an EMPIRE. To be an EMPIRE it would have to control other Nations within its borders. If anything its existence makes Equestria the Empire. Lastly, if it WAS an Empire (which it clearly is not) then Cadence would be an EMPRESS and Shining Armor would be an Emperor. How is that for often evil title?
Also... Equestria... Land of the Horse Riders? Maybe Equinia would have been a bit more proper... Sorry but that last one bugs me a bit like those who think Decimate means Devastate, Obliterate, or a Annihilate, when in truth it just means to reduce by a tenth.
The first i saw was saying something about running itt as a social experiment, and had some statistics posted about return watches and shouts.
Or should that be Princess Rednef?
That does seem like a good idea.
I usually just ignore them or block them if they do creepy stuff :O
Did he just fave you, too?
and I haven't posted anything today either so I thought they found me through someone else O_o
If you're interested in where I got the list of usernames, I also have a postgres database backup available for download of the results of a page scraping application I used to traverse the "watch graph" of furaffinity. It contains records of usernames, a snapshot of their userpage, and who they are watching / watched by. It can be downloaded as a 7z archive from <a stupid US-based filelocker>
Ok, so people who've set the "Guests access" to "guests blocked" are pretty much fucked |=(:V
Not that I have that option on, but I'm feeling sorry for the people who enjoy that feature.
I have "guests blocked" because I'm paranoid about paypal finding me, or relatives, LOL.
Everyone who was able to download the 7z could load it into a PostgreSQL engine and have some insight in the profile page of everyone who got crawled. Please keep in mind that even the persons who don't have an FA account were able to get and analyze that information as well.
Compare it with Yiffyleaks which gives insight in the PM-boxes of some FA-admins. (Limited to the day when the server hack carried out in 2010).
Luckily the github-page to the filelocker is taken down, but I doubt if that equalizer deleted the dump from the filelocker as well.
"Electronic spamming is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages (spam), especially advertising, indiscriminately."
While watches generate a notification, people like valdyrburr aren't using it for unsolicited messages. Others have raised the thought of having the ability to remove people who've watched *their* accounts, which I believe is an awful idea. Watch lists are simply a shortcut to having to visit an artist's page to see if there's anything new. People seem unnecessarily infatuated with having someone pay too much attention to them.
BAM
People aren't spending money for the watch bot add on thing, are they? (noticed what ZEN said)
Don't we all just love control freaks.
I envy those watch-bots, really. At least they can script.
Thank god that you guys are finally paying view to this.Found another watchspam.
And thanks for banning :userTheNSA:
If people manually want to go through and click those links that's fine (to a degree). We are only concerned about people scripting mass watchers.
so does that mean something can finally be done about
those annoying ass watchers like vladyburr, death light,and akuva?
I'm fucking sick of getting watchers only to see they are watching only for the lulz and or to get popular.
seriously anyone that just sits around for hours doing nothing but watching accounts has no life.
Another watchbot :v http://www.furaffinity.net/user/igneoussnoot/
While more watchers is always nice, it decreases the impact of someone watching :/
Epecially if they are a spambot...
Thank you for taking action!
(Not to mention server loads from them, no need to waste money on them!)
It just feels more... wholesome.
FA admin, you guys need to be more proactive and less reactive. This was a issue people have been warning about for over a month.
We have been addressing it since we were alerted to it weeks ago.
I remember being watched by an account I didn't recognize quite a while ago, and when I looked into it - I found there was huge drama with the guy using a bot to watch every single user. (Sorry I don't remember the name of the account). A whole bunch of users were complaining about this guy for using the account to collect statistics by watching people. Some complained to the FA admins and they reported back that the response was "meh, so he's using a script to watch everyone... so what". I never really cared either way and moved on.
Based on that... yeah, I'd say this is an about-face. And a big part of being pro-active and not reactive. If it's a problem, then it's a problem. It's not just a problem once everyone starts doing it. Or if it is a problem, but you've given special dispensation to a handful of people to do it anyway... then call it out as such.
Oh, and the two watch-bot accounts that recently watched me haven't been touched (yet) so... we'll see how well/consistently this policy is applied.
However, the problem has grown worse. We are currently in the process of banning AND wiping all watchers on these accounts. The only people who will get an exemption are those who have responded to admin requests to adhere to the site and stop. They will still have watchers wiped across the board (as their punishment) but will be allowed to stay on the site.
As for consistently, any user who we find to be using a watchbot will receive equal treatment (unless, as stated, they were the ones who worked with us.
If you find a watchbotter report it on this journal. We are looking through knowns and unknowns, and taking action.
My point about inconsistency is that this *is* a policy change in that
And you've wiped the three watch-bot accounts I knew I had, so... I have nothing to report!
We initially reached out to discuss the issue with those responsible, and kept things in check. But things got out of hand, and we started taking action against individuals. And then it spread further, and here we are today.
FA should have made the policy from the start or simply added a limitation imposed by the system (or maybe both). I mean, is there really a good reason why anyone needs more than say 2500 watches (for example)?
--Onni
And to be honest, even at watching 300 it's still almost too much stuff to go through. It's certainly hard to keep up with. And I don't mean just look at the thumbnails and trash most of it. I mean look at the pic, read the description and some comments and maybe even add a comment.
So... I can't imagine watching 2500 people (or eight times what I watch now), unless it's just people that rarely if ever post art or journals. No, I think if someone watches, say, 10000 people they have to be nuking every now and then just to keep up.
--Onni
But you're right, the site shouldn't limit things like that but then again I don't think it's unreasonable to set some limit. Maybe it's not 500, sure, but it doesn't need to be 50000 either.
no clue why you deiced to wait so long AFTER you suspended the account
One bot that has just added me is PurrForn.
Cheers!
--Onni
Another thing would be those who have blocked you for no reason and use to be friends .. when you are still watching them and want to fave something from the gallery,you can't do it.
I know it's no "big deal" for someone watching us, but sometimes you just don't want to be associated with those people.
What would be nice is a button to click and remove them from watching us. Would destroy their popufur egos.
So if I block someone and they're still watching me, can I go to an admin and get them removed from my watchlist at least?
If it were possible, implement something in the pre-existing function of the 'block user' command. As it stands right now, if someone watches your account, and then you block them afterwards, the watch with you is still in place. The blocking just forbids this person from adding comments, shouts, or notes to you. The only way to forbid a watch in the first place is to somehow preemptively know about it and add the offending user to your block list, which will forbid them watching you at all.
What if the block list also severed watches two users put with each other? This way a user had the freedom to axe any unwanted watchers, and keep watchbot accounts at bay? The block list functionality is already there, it just needs a little more beef to it is all.
--Mozdoc
hell I have someone watching me that has been suspended the day they made the account with the name "BlowJobUpMyAss"
if you ask me I think if an account has been suspended for over a week or month or so without the person questioning or reasoning the B& the watchers should be removed as well
Or, if not to sever the watch, just to hide the offending watcher from lists and counts.
And somehow I have lost 5 watchers overnight...
I usually look at the watcher, and the accounts that are watch-bots are... pretty obvious. Anyone who has 10.000 watchers is popular. Anyone who has 10.000 watches... is probably a bot.
"Oh look, watcher...oh, they just watch everyone and their grandmother. Oh." [DISAPPOINTMENT INTENSIFIES]
There's evil afoot!
*takes off shades*
Unwatched.
YEEEEAAAAAAH!
Honestly, I'd rather have a handful of actual watchers than these bloody automated watching accounts.
Hmm, I wonder If I've been getting watchbots....
Are these Bots just usally users with little to NO content on their pages, like just a few favs or something?
Cause Ive gotten a good number of those.
But i have noticed that its either a few favs or haven't been active for least a year+
How does a user page exist this long and not get any page views, does no commenting, no favorites, no anything but one watch which is specific to me. Not what they do as a new user either they've BEEN there an entire year at the very least and all that the accounts ever done is watch me. I am sure you all can understand why this feels shady.
I doubt this answer is a yes, but should I report users like that or anything?
You shouldn't just assume the worst based on an empty gallery or minimal/no profile.
So of course even though I'm not greatly worried everything that could be thought of I think of twice and maybe thats people say I care too much.
I typically just shrug and go on about my day, but I saw this and felt it worth bringing up.
The Equalizer has been banned and wiped.
Is this anything caused from this?
Thanks for taking care of this though. It was honestly good to know that the watch-bot that watched me just spamming users with watches.
Why can't someone use that on me?
generally, I think a watch script idea was probably not thought up right through in long term probably. but I do believe that the general population of FA did't need this.
you could have asked the mass by making a poll, asked for vote in comments on what improvements and updates that is needed for this site, certainly not for any addon content like watch script.
the entire population of FA really relies on what you're making the site as it should be. I really don't know exactly how much of a population that dislikes watch script, but.. I can't know for sure.
so I'm just saying.. is that you have to understand where it's coming from a point of view in a user of this FA, you know?
I understand that the law is the same for everyone, though.
this is sad some are old accounts. why people ruins theyr stuff like that ....
Good idea getting rid of them. They don't belong here.
Wish I'd of not purged my new watchers at this point.
save even moar bandwidth
BTW, this is dep https://www.youtube.com/watch?annot.....;v=dmVWvOC_2HU
Mass-watchers, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...
But consider... how will you be able to tell the difference? If someone has 30K+ watches, were they added manually or by script - hard to tell.
But point taken - again, thanks for responding.
Or so I hope I'm not. I mainly submit photographs and watch here n there... not to mention rant.
So, yeah, now you know it's not a problem - even if you want to give yourself carpet tunnel by clicking on all those watch buttons! LOL
While I don't care if someone decides they don't want to watch me anymore (if they really don't want to, it's their decision, and I respect that), I don't usually get anyone watching and then unwatching me overnight.
This was really upsetting to hear D: I was happy to get new watches and then I realized that they unwatched me. It made me sad and for some reason nervous, like what did I do to make you unwatch me? D:
Glad to see they're just annoying watchbots. Let's take 'em all out, in the words of falco.
I have no relation to anything sexual at all, so they had no need to watch me, and they did (which they'd know if they actually were legitimately looking at people)
Saw this coming a mile away.
-Canis
I don't mind being watched, but I'd rather have genuine humans
bots make me feel as though there is someone who will never actually look at any submissions, or perhaps even auto-download them and upload them elsewhere without even needing a person to do it.
I mean at least on deviantart people spam with lamma badges, but why are people doing it for page views? Isn't the entire point of a community like this, to foster active engagement with other people.
//hugs
After this, I'm not so certain I want to use the site for more than viewing things. Not with the way this is playing out.
Actually, looking in the ToS itself, I don't see a section on that particular situation. The closest would be "exploiting the site" in the CoC, but even then, grounds on that would be iffy as far as suspending people who may not have known it could be considered abuse. "Ignorance is no excuse" only goes so far, and is a shaky argument at best. I can see the original author of the application knowing what they were doing, but not all of the others.
I can't tell you how many bots have watched me.
Sometimes I just don't get people.
THE SUNFA.I was wondering why two of my watchers had been removed. That'd be why! I knew I was getting watchers from my ad being up, but some of them struck me as strange...
Thanks for removing the vermin from my watch-list.
:(( so annoying lol
Thank you kindly for removing them all they were annoying :(
EVERYONE CALM THE F**K DOWN
but maybe you have seen people freaking out elsewhere
As in, the user A wants to watch user B.
User B gets a question to give user A permission to watch him.
User B can accept or eject that.
If accepted, user A happy.
If not, user B could also block user A at the same time.
PROFIT
Pretty sure that system prevents a lot of drama.
It would prevent unwanted users from following a person, but it wouldn't prevent drama, because...furries. xD
In that case, I think that user A should learn that not everyone likes to get attention from him/her/it, and that other people has also their own 'borders'.
1. Be gone for a week for a con or family function or something
2. Return to find you've got 100+ new watcher requests
3. Spend the next several hours going through and approving/declining these watcher requests
4. Contract carpal tunnel and become unable to produce new art for several months.
(Please take the above tongue-in-cheek, while I do think this is one reason such a system would be impractical at best, there's a good bit of hyperbole mixed in there.)
I watch others if they have at least three submissions that appeal me, and quite frankly I think everything is appealing xD I don't do it for returned watches, but I always reply to a thank you and stuff.
But if that's what's considered a "watchbot" then I apologize on my behalf.
I have a few watchbots watching me though. I return watches, even to them. I should unwatch them to be safe, right?
And then some of those people will visit that person's page, they'll get pageviews, people will look at their art or writing (a certain percentage of visitors will do so), and some of those visitors will watch them back. It's a painless way to get a few new watchers or advertise yourself to new watchers you'd never meet or see if not for the program. As you can see above - it is very disappointing to artists to find that their works are really liked - they were just a statistical gain for the watchbot.
Based on what your said you're far from that. And I would say you SHOULD unwatch the Watchbots because a watch is what they were going after anyway, but that's my opinion.
Thanks for clearing that up! I feared I'd try to log on and see my account was suspended ><
Thank you for taking care of this.
First, FA. Then the world.
--<THE END IS NEAR>--
What counteracts having your account permanently removed when you are not a bot?
"}
Princess CelestiaFender and fa team.To spare me some time, I bookmark artists I want to watch in a folder, in my browser. When I switch accounts, to watch them at the end of the day, I turn off images loading, open the folder all at once and watch them step by step.
I am able to write some useful scripts for my gaming mouse and use these as makros. For example, I just push a button to call out Spies in TF2, by simply commanding my mouse to "write" X+2.
This also helps me browsing, just click a button for another setting and I can switch tabs, by commanding Ctrl+Tab to my mouse.
I could also extend this to the extreme, by following some keys and repeating them.
Question is, by turning off the images loading, and just using my mouse as tool to quickly watch each one of those, is this now "illegal"?
this is likely to give sad people ideas when hardly anyone even knew anything was going on.
could have added it to the TOS and noted a TOS change and no one would have been the wiser.
on another note,.... what kind of bot is a good bot anyway?
answer is there isnt a good bot. if people cant do something themselves then they shouldnt do it at all.
...Still, the space on my watched-by list is smaller now. Oh, the agony (T nT)
[*Watch spaces for free*]
Next time, I bet it will take 6 months.
Thank you!
Joke account or not, they knew it was bothering people and they kept right on going while flaunting it in everybody's face - at least the account got shut down, even if they didn't get what they deserved.
Yeah, they triggered my anxiety. And I'm sure it happened to others, too :(
Or anything else that has to do with proper care of a website, for that matter.
Think about it.
FA decides to freeze all registration.
I decide to make an alt account just for art that I've either bought or have had gifted to me.
Registration is frozen... can't do it.
My entire point is that your suggestion of a TOTAL blackout of all registration would punish all the rest of us.
There are plenty of people out there who are trying to make legit accounts for whatever reason, alt account or brand new, who would be unable to. All of this is because a few asshats went and caused problems.
It's not QQ'ing just because someone is pointing out the flaw in your argument.
I don't need to be watched by somebody who has no intentions of interacting with me.
I understand bots are a serious issue, and yes, they may have other secret functions we might not know of, but has anyone caught these bots doing anything other than watching people?
It's baffling, I just had 4 of them (because i saw that a few of my watchers were labeled as "removed" as of today)
Maybe it's considered cheating...?
I really don't know, I just think it's odd is all, I don't think they're a good idea or anything.
Maybe I'm missing part of the story, but it just seems odd that people are mad. If they were posting links, files, notes, or comments, then maybe it would be more reason for alarm...
Keep a cool head about this people though, the bots are probably being removed as we speak, it doesn't seem like something worth fretting over.
That's just my two cents.
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/purrforn/
got watch-botted by two people today... please ban!
I swore there were one or two others too pretty recently but they're no longer watching.
Should I say who they are here and now?
I've lost so many amazing artists in my sea of watchers, some don't post soooo. ? ?? ?
=_=
I guess I should thank you, so..thanks~
Watched me at somepoint this morning, and had like 8,000 something watchers, now has over 14,000 a few hours later.
Has no connection to me whatsoever
it's just a numbers thing, no offense
and a bit of a blow to the self esteem :P
If you can get it taken down, no one else will find it.
He knows a lot of people through Furmeets and cons, because he's fairly popular in the fandom.
not saying he -isn't- because I don't know that for sure, but I doubt he would be
I've never met him...
Could that also be because of those watch bots? Are they actually increasing in number?
What I don't get is, that some of them seem unlikely to be like that.
They've been on FA for a couple of years and have a name, and a bit of past, so why would they even do that?
In fact, I don't get it in general. Watching a a lot of users does what purpose?
...but really, it just seems like I've lost some of my watchers. I know those watches are fake, though, so whatever.
This concerns and amuses me.
(this is like a scene where me, the cowboy, enters a bar full of thugs who despises me) xD [/b]
My latest watcher is http://www.furaffinity.net/user/purrforn/ and I find this member's page to be suspicious. There's like 14 thousand watches now.
It's an insult to the artist when they get a watch and find out the person isn't even looking at the art. Please remove me from this watch list, if you even can, and rewatch me on your main account if you actually care about my art. It's insulting to me and my partner to have someone watch, but not even care what art they are getting. To not even look at the art they are getting in their inbox.
Or something along those lines anyway. I have no idea if it worked, don't really care. But I hoped by just contacting them with such a note maybe, just maybe, they will read it and realize that they were rude and insulting. I personally don't care if they are using a bot, it's no skin off my back if they are. I think they are causing more problems for themselves! I mean, really, how could someone sift through 1000+ people's worth of art a day anyway?
I realize there are people out there, legit non-script users, who watch that amount, and they somehow deal with it. Kudos to you. But those bots? I feel sorry for you.
Just my two cents.
Paleo
I've been watched by 4 of these today, and 1 yesterday. the problem is magnified by people then going back and thanking for the watches on their shout wall.
Thank you.
Pretty sure I was also the first, so I apologise for kinda starting an annoying trend (though maybe I wasn't, I stand to be corrected)
Overall I am gonna regret posting this, I don't want to start stuff but I felt like I was being grouped in with a bunch of people I do not want to be grouped in with.
XD
I think there does need to be a line drawn between "script kiddie" and "script writer"
You inspired the ire of thousands. Pretty impressive.
I think that this mass watching of users should not be allowed or limited to one FA "admin" Page.
This is destructive.
That is all ^^
Just watched me along with two other ones this morning. :/
and this oooone
Manual watchers is the least of their concerns.
Mass watchers get people all excited about gaining new watchers, when you just watch everyone.
I haven't thanked anyone for watching me in a very long time because of you guys. You ruin it for everyone.
Literally.
I don't want ALL of the attention but like... how can I word this.
If you work hard on something and want recognition for it, you're excited when a REAL person sees it and is like, "Hey that looks nice!" But when someone sees your profile and merely watches you for a chance at a freebie or just because 'they can' and try to wrack up pageviews and watch-backs it's like... How does that deserve a 'thank you'?
I have a handful of people on my watchlist that specifically watched me for a Freebie thing when I post that I'm doing a freebie for CURRENT watchers only.
Does that make sense? TnT;;
It doesn't help that I've read a lot of profiles that say "Don't thank me for stuff" and my profile is one of them that says it, so I generally don't.
Occasionally I'll do watcher appreciation stuff and browse a watcher's gallery and draw them something so I say 'thank you,' but in a different way than just a shout.
As Fender and others has stated, anyone caught using the watchbot script gets punished by having their watches "nuked" (wiped clean) and their account suspended. So it was one of the FA admins that caused those 7 watchers to be removed, not the watchbot script itself.
Sadly a few people removed me since then...Maybe I post a shout next time...
i am suck to the fucking teeth of these stupid 'WATCH EXPERIMENT' people!!
Many people will return the favor when they get watched....
people that use watchbots know this.
One guy that used a bot had over 2000 watches and only 3 images in his gallery.
Yea thanks...
If you manually browse the site and watch any artist whose work you like, you're completely in the clear.
... The NSA!
I've gotten at least a dozen. I've seen a few suspended and a few have unwatched as well, though I have a feeling that was due to accounts getting deleted.
Glad to know the admins are awake and noticing things!
Ads are a pretty good way to get your name out there too, and it helps the site.
Yes, I need to clean out my notifications more...
Did you see the Reddit thread about the guy who announced he was going to publish his script online to allow anyone make a bot to do this?
darn watchbots
Don't worry! I'm sure Project Phoenix will fix-OH WAIT HAHAHAHA.
Surely there has got to be some form of caching and/or load-balancing in place to prevent these kinds of things, or else every scriptkiddie and their grandma could DOS the site by simply checking their notes a hundred times every second using a script cobbled together in 3 minutes.
Thank you!
Definitely a Yay...aw moment.
Mass de-watchings.
Whether his account was hacked or not is beyond me.
I honestly never had a problem with the watch bots. I guess some people are simply annoyed too easily.
better take action on the source code of the site then
I just wish there was a way to keep "robot" watchers away from watching my account. But all in all, it's really not that big of a deal.
Finally the admins of this site addressed this stupid and annoying practice of baiting someone into checking out their profile by a watch. This stupidity just annoyed the hell out of me to the point I locked my FA profile to just slide by all the stupidity.
Goodbye you moronic watchbot users. I'm pointing to you Valdyrburr and Deathlight. Two of the very first offenders that started all this stupidity.
--Mozdoc
Thanks for the update. :")
=^.,.^=
Also http://www.furaffinity.net/user/watchbot/
This account is pretty damn stupid and seems like it's just going to cause problems.
Why do you get them and I don't?
Feels kind of lonely guys ._.
(JK)
this would explain the sudden appearence and disappearence of several new watchers ^^;
*Tears of an engineer*
I hope that you folks rule out the problem out and innocent people won't be harmed.
And.. could anyone be so kind to explain why does anyone even will be thinking about performing mass watching? Is it just I-do-because-I-can, or...? *confused*
-ahem-
I try my best not to rant as much, but there are times I can't control my thoughts and opinions.
By "mass-watch" I've meant the topic being discussed, i.e. subscription to enormous amounts of utterly random people performed automatically by scripts.
He may say to just test his skills or something with codes. Still a source to turn to.
I somehow might accept the point of encouraging other artists and photographer to keep their work up by watching them (someho-o-o-ow because of the following doubts: a). I think that personal contact like commenting is way better option to archive that goal, provided that the comment is more than just "wow, so much art" b). the bigger number of people you simultaneously watch - the less special would anyone who you watch next feels himself; it is like a drop in the ocean)
But what advantage from crawling through other people favorites or just the plain browsing using the "browse" section the way you get new art beneficial of?
slowfix
Another Watchbot, that seems to have not been noticed yet. Just thought I'd put it here.
-stares at his icon- o,o
Pls see here.
(Beg pardon; not meant as spam)
Do you want your name removed from the list? If so, done as soon
as you say.
(With respect, not something a watchbot would offer, you'll notice.)
Ah, with respect again, did you want your name removed? Without a yes or
no, nothing happens.
What counts is there's a yes in there. I'm required by an interpretation of the TOS/AUP to say
the following:
Your name is promptly removed from WRITERS PAGE R26 and POETS PAGE R10,
May 28/14, 7:58 PM, FA system time.
Removals are immediate; FA's server isn't involved.
Shall put the name on the Omit list; guarantees it won't accidentally get on again. (Note: Not a
'block' list. Anybody asks, they can be listed again in a second.)
As rules go, this one is cast in steel: Nobody's name stays listed on the FAWD if they don't want
it listed. This rule just worked for you.
To close, there's an article on the main page about the asking issue. If you want to discuss
this further, please read that, PM me, and I'll be pleased to talk about it.
And we leave it that, since I think we've taken up enough room on this journal, no?
lol
I lost a lot of >actually valid< watches, and as a small-time artist that relies on word of mouth (watches and faves) for advertising, it's kind of devastating to see my already small number of watches go even smaller.
i was like no i only watch like 4 a week maybe moar and i was rly scared of lossing my account @~@
Exactly... I feel the same. I'd prefer to know how many legit watchers we have...
Anyway, I don't have much of a problem with it. That is, until FA starts lagging. At that point every single one of these watchbotters must be burned, destroyed, and set on fire twice so I can check my new submissions in under five seconds. Thanks. :D
Seriously though, a script to watch people?
Makes no sense, why not just enjoy the artwork?
Thank you all P.s my englisch is realy big bad German its my first language
Iv had to unwatch about 50 people whome it claims im watching, yet i have never seen their page, never heard of their name, and often they dont have any submissions nor views to their page.
Actually, we'd highly prefer TRUE watchers over fake numbers, so we're glad this got somehow reduced.
BTW but it's okay to go to random users and mass watch them if one does it 'on foot'/'by hand' so without a bot? (not doing so, but wondering)
I think it's okay to have thousands of watchees if the watcher cares enough to actually look at the submissions^^
Just came along for da submissions ;_;
Which do indeed look good enough to sell towards other users... nice digital art ;3;
One day, one user watched me 3 times with 3 different accounts, one of then has a picture of a dick in the icon =o
Agh, these bastards...
I'm watching a LOT of people, so, hope I don't look like part of the issue. XD Well over 6000. If I like a persons art, I watch. :/ I like to be social. I wouldn't want to be mistaken for this? >>
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/iwatchingyou/
-Granted I don't upload much very frequently nor am I very talented but still... All my sads.
There should be private settings for journals and submissions.
I know two of those had been following me for a very long time, I interacted with their accounts and I was very sure they were actual people, though I don't remember them from memory and just cant check on them not to see whats up.
Just thought that was interesting.
Also, my butcheeks resemble the hindu god Vishnu. Just wanted to say that.
At least what other users say.. and Fender.
Also Princess Luna rules. She can raise my moon any day. :p
As has been previously stated, pretty much every other website like FA, all social media websites, and almost anywhere that people interact with one another (except here), allow you to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information, email, IM service aliases, intellectual property, etc. Privacy and security being the major issues that they currently are, one would think that you guys would be more empathic towards the feelings of your users.
From a technical standpoint, I think it's PURE laziness. I see no reason why the UX designer, if there is such a person, wouldn't target this as a major and important feature. There is certainly a lack of oversight in terms of development on this website. Though perhaps the real reason is that such matters would actually require analysis instead of conjecture.
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dadbot68/
Kill it with fire.
Interestingly, one of the one's using said bot claimed it was sanctioned by an admin.. I'm glad that isn't the case.
Good Luck,
Kristal Moon
But there are also a lot of others who violate FA rules, yet they are still here.
Like
Most of pieces are not by them or are traced (like with lightlingwolf50, who is also 11 years old)
How many ticket should i send about glitches?
I have not seen a watchbot yet, though...but I have seen some very odd behaviors, like i got five new watches, and they all were then deleted o.O
But back to the third-party thing. Does that mean, that soembody using a third party tool/addon will no longer risk a perma ban now?
Don't worry, be happy!
Not trying to be of any offense nor am I trying to get those who assume banned, I just... im just giving my views on the situation even after its been settled.
I hate when people assume, both online and in reality.... sorry
People like you is why this system needs a real blocking mechanism!!!
You are an offense! Watching thousands of accounts on here shouldn't be your goal in life. Watching complete strangers just because you can, doesn't make it right!
So, I concur that accounts like yours should be shut down!
What is the point of your little counter? Looks like watchbot code to me! "Watching status"?!?
WATCHING STATUS: OFFLINE
TOTAL WATCHES: 17,500+
PREVIOUS TOTAL: 17,185
That "watching status" is there to let other users know if im on or not or if im watching a list of people.
A few users are entertained (somehow) by the numbers when they massively F5 their page and see me
watching. There's nothing to worry about ^~^
-pats his head gently-
I have asked you to stop and you haven't. WHY?
RE:
Sent By: iWatchU to d_bandit On: June 3rd, 2014 01:31
"I am not amused...
Please -watch me.
You read my feelings on the matter in the Watchbot Spam post. This constitutes harassment and I will have no problem reporting you to the admins!!
Thank you!"
What I read was "please -watch me" in this message as seen above... and I understand your feelings on the matter, but frankly
I am not obligated to un-watch you. Also, I am not a watch-bot, this is not for (whatever the hell) Popufur (is) and not for all da
views. I simply do this for fav'ing and commenting on the artwork of other users around FA. Sometimes I spread the joy of raffles,
if asked upon. That's all, but either I am not un-watching you.
**Fender, himself, has stated that watchers like me who "manually" do it are "not of their concern." So I may proceed...**
Have a good rest of the week, Mr. Bandit!
~ A.T.
I'm sorry, but I want people to watch me because they went through my gallery and liked my stuff; or I have met them in real life. Not because they see my name on a screen, go and click a watch button because it takes whole 10 seconds to do.
There's a difference between watching someone, and just clicking a watch button, which is what this guy and several others do.
For example: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/purrforn/ watched me. if you read my profile at all, I am assexual, I have my account on NSFW because frankly, dicks and vags and whatever else people have do not interest me and I do not want to see them. So I'm left with 1 of 2 possibilities; Either they just clicked a button and know nothing of my account, or they read my account, and purposely watched me just to piss me off since they knew that I want nothing to do with Porn and sex. At which point it becomes harassment.
See where it can be irritating?
This is why people are upset.
And your comment that, "Others don't have a problem", is a flat out lie because your shouts were full of people complaining about you watching them for no reason. Your journal entries are full of the same.
If you don't want people calling you out for your abuse, then you should just unwatch them when they ask you to. There are thousands of others to add to your tally. Give up on those that have asked you to cease and desist. When we block you, it should be your final warning that you are not liked!
Watching is harmless. If iwatchyou was actively... say, stalking you and hunting your comments and connections, that would be another story. If you have a problem with people watching you for any reason. If you feel threatened by some stranger peeking in you may want to reconsider being here at all.
And just because you don't know the reason they are watching you doesn't mean they don't have one, and doesn't mean the reason they do have is malicious.
17708 watches, including me.
Seeing more dead/inactive accounts from 8+ years ago become zombie accounts, and new accounts popping up and favoriting and watching everything.
As much as I love getting favorites and watches, I'd much rather they came from other furs instead of bots.