• ErraticDragon@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      From my understanding, they already aren’t using the API.

      If the spam bots were using the API, then Reddit would have been able to shut them down trivially. Part of logging in via API requires a “client ID” that uniquely identifies the creator of the app/bot being used.

      They could theoretically have each bot account create its own client ID, but even that would be a pretty obvious thing to look for.

    • troybot@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Correct. Now the bots will be constantly scraping the pages of every post which will be a much bigger burden on their servers.

      • Skray@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        It’s funny, years ago websites switched to openly available APIs specifically to lessen server burden because of bots. Now they’re swapping away from APIs because of bots, but those bots are just gonna go back to scraping.

      • CoderKat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yeah. The unethical bots will just use scrapers, as they already do for the many websites that don’t offer APIs. They’re already violating ToS, so they don’t care. Ethical ones won’t have that option (at least not past the fairly low quota).