How do you deal with spam/bot comments? (Discord invites, etc.)

[rest256]

I wanted to ask how you all handle spam/bot comments.

Since I started posting, I've already received a few comments that seem suspicious. They usually try to lure me into joining a Discord server or contacting them immediately ("WebNovel Editor" etc.), without mentioning anything specific about my story.

This is actually a bit of a culture shock for me. Back when I was posting on Japanese web novel sites (like Narou or Kakuyomu), I almost never encountered these kinds of spam bots. The comment sections were usually very clean. So, being targeted by bots here was a surprising (and slightly confusing) experience!

For now, I've been deleting them, but is this the standard practice here?

It's a bit disheartening that my first few "comments" were all bots... I'm still patiently waiting for the day I get a genuine comment from a real human reader! (lol)

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Louhi]

Report them all. The mods will DATA LOST them. Our staff members learned from the best, ORT.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Ignore and report. If you don't respond, they won't come looking again. They are not usually targeted, usually it's a generic compliment, OR if they were savvy bots, they had read the latest chapter at least and asked about the interactions between two of the characters.

 

[writerwolf359]

Spam bots have become a plague everywhere in the last couple of years. Scribble Hub is actually one of the better sites in my experience.

Beware that the more sophisticated ones will tailor their initial comments to your story (and I've seen some that include criticism). If you're ever suspicious, take a look at a user's activity tab. If there are a lot of similar-sounding comments (often the exact same), it's a bot.

 

[SouthernMaiden]

I got a couple spam comments on my first chapter, but never again

 

[L1aei]

I wanted to ask how you all handle spam/bot comments.

Laughing. What are they going to do? Be offended?

 

[Corty]

Report comment, report profile (they began disabling that) then delete comment.

If it's a DM, I usually write back something outrageous and also report the profile for spam/harrasment.

 

[rest256]

Thanks everyone for the quick and reassuring replies!

It’s a huge relief to know that this is just a common "plague" everywhere (as @writerwolf359 mentioned) and not just me doing something wrong.

I see the consensus is basically "Report and Delete/Ignore". I'll follow your advice: I'll report them to the mods as @Louhi and @Corty suggested, and just laugh it off like @L1aei said.

Hearing that it might stop after the first few chapters (@SouthernMaiden) gives me hope too. I'll focus on writing and waiting for the real humans!

Thanks again!

 

[L1aei]

Hearing that it might stop after the first few chapters gives me hope too. I'll focus on writing and waiting for the real humans!

It'll stop with the bots, maybe, but not the scammers; those folks will try anything. Just wait for them and laugh when you catch onto their tricks.

 

[JordanIda]

When I realized some of my "readers" were really bots and scammers, I tried to find the size of the Scribblehub active membership list. For a baseline estimate of the actual reader pool. To esimate how many people were actually reading. Couldn't find it.

I decided the easiest thing all around would be to delete my series and see if any humans noticed.

They haven't. So that box is checked. Which is nice.

 

[Raven_paw123]

I wanted to ask how you all handle spam/bot comments.

Since I started posting, I've already received a few comments that seem suspicious. They usually try to lure me into joining a Discord server or contacting them immediately ("WebNovel Editor" etc.), without mentioning anything specific about my story.

This is actually a bit of a culture shock for me. Back when I was posting on Japanese web novel sites (like Narou or Kakuyomu), I almost never encountered these kinds of spam bots. The comment sections were usually very clean. So, being targeted by bots here was a surprising (and slightly confusing) experience!

For now, I've been deleting them, but is this the standard practice here?

It's a bit disheartening that my first few "comments" were all bots... I'm still patiently waiting for the day I get a genuine comment from a real human reader! (lol)

Thanks for your advice!

Yeah I get them all the time on Wattpad. I just ignore them.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

I capture them all and throw them into a Gu Jar and wait for the strongest to emerge which then eats other bots which try to bother me.

that... that was an option all this time?