Be on the Lookout for AI Bots in Our Forums and Our DM's

[pmmg]

Well, writers are not known for being rich but they are after money. Maybe they want to steal a written story but…. If i cant sell it, neither can they. Maybe they’d do me a favor. Plus, they can just steal my story from KDP and i would never know.

Just say no. It the only practical policy.

 

[ThinkerX]

In my (painfully gleaned) experience, they are after fees for their fake book club, optimization, reviewers, or whatnot. The best will put forth just enough effort to keep the fees rolling in.

Big giveaways: They will insist on bank transfers or extremely suspect PayPal accounts. The Nigerian ones are fond of words like 'kindly.'

 

[pmmg]

Ah...they got their hooks into you once?

I've been zapped by things in my life, but so far, not a book scammer.

 

[ThinkerX]

Ah...they got their hooks into you once?

I've been zapped by things in my life, but so far, not a book scammer.

Twice, to my shame. I was naive and they were expert manipulators, proving the illusion of progress.

I almost lost my Facebook because of one, but I did get the wensite and a few reviews from the other.

 

[pmmg]

Live and learn, without mistakes, we cant really do that.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

You guys know I've said for years that no one is going to steal our work? Yeah. These guys are not only after the money in our pockets, they want our WIPs and finished manuscripts. Why? Because they want to publish our work as theirs and get the money. Sometimes they will change titles and names and that makes them harder to find, but it gets better. When we do get to where we're ready to publish, Amazon refuses the upload because they already have the book, but now you get to prove it's yours.

 

[Karlin]

I've had Festus, who was stupid, and rose1, who was slightly more convincing

 

[Diana Silver]

In my (painfully gleaned) experience, they are after fees for their fake book club, optimization, reviewers, or whatnot. The best will put forth just enough effort to keep the fees rolling in.

Big giveaways: They will insist on bank transfers or extremely suspect PayPal accounts. The Nigerian ones are fond of words like 'kindly.'

Oh, that sucks! I'm sorry this happened to you, and thank you for sharing!

 

[SamazonE]

They are like most monsters. Their weakness is waffles and plastic.

 

[cornu aspersum]

precious thomas.

 

[pmmg]

Talk about failing to read the room.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

Six new members joined all on Monday alone. I'm willing to bet they all might be bots.

 

[Mad Swede]

And now we have the next oneSheilawisz: precious thomas

 

[ThinkerX]

And now we have the next oneSheilawisz: precious thomas

From the Nigerian group. They are fond of quasi-religious names.

 

[skip.knox]

You guys know I've said for years that no one is going to steal our work? Yeah. These guys are not only after the money in our pockets, they want our WIPs and finished manuscripts. Why? Because they want to publish our work as theirs and get the money. Sometimes they will change titles and names and that makes them harder to find, but it gets better. When we do get to where we're ready to publish, Amazon refuses the upload because they already have the book, but now you get to prove it's yours.

I for one would be astonished if pirates could sell my books. I certainly can't!

But I do take the point that if I give a WIP and the pirate publishes, then at Amazon--and presumably D2D--would reject my genuine book as the duplicate. That would be beyond disheartening. I would never hand an unpublished manuscript to anyone I did not know, so it's not a problem for me, but thank you A.E. Lowan for reminding us all of this danger.

 

[pmmg]

I can point the Ban Hammer where it needs to go, but I can't actually ban anyone myself. My job is a little different. So, I'm really not sure how this will be addressed, but address it we will.

Incidentally, why dont you have this ability? I think you would be fine with the Mod tools.

When I look at the staff of MS, there are a lot of members who are mods, and they have not been here for years. Probably the staff could be cleaned up a little.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Incidentally, why dont you have this ability? I think you would be fine with the Mod tools.

When I look at the staff of MS, there are a lot of members who are mods, and they have not been here for years. Probably the staff could be cleaned up a little.

Making me a mod was talked about. But, with my mental health challenges I've disappeared for long stretches. I also have periods of psychosis, and the last really bad one cost me 6 months. It was 2023 and I remember that April, then the flicker of maybe memory, like old movie film, and then it's most of the way through October. I woke up inpatient at the "spa," and had apparently been there a couple of days, mostly sleeping.

I have no idea who's doing the driving when I phase out. I just know they are stupid, more than a little mean, and a terrible writer. And I think that probably wouldn't work well, if Mod! Me and Crazy! Lowan can't share space. I spend a fair bit of time looking for breadcrumbs of inanity that she leaves behind. I'm not DID, but that's probably the only issue not in my subscription.

 

[ThinkerX]

Making me a mod was talked about. But, with my mental health challenges I've disappeared for long stretches. I also have periods of psychosis, and the last really bad one cost me 6 months. It was 2023 and I remember that April, then the flicker of maybe memory, like old movie film, and then it's most of the way through October. I woke up inpatient at the "spa," and had apparently been there a couple of days, mostly sleeping.

I have no idea who's doing the driving when I phase out. I just know they are stupid, more than a little mean, and a terrible writer. And I think that probably wouldn't work well, if Mod! Me and Crazy! Lowan can't share space. I spend a fair bit of time looking for breadcrumbs of inanity that she leaves behind. I'm not DID, but that's probably the only issue not in my subscription.

A major character in my next WIP ('Game of the Gods') has similar amnesiac episodes, though in his case, they are deliberately self-inflicted.

 

[pmmg]

It looks like the Mods are:

Skip
Shiela
Steerpike
Legendary Sidekick
Devor
Ban
and Ankari


Skip and Ban are here almost daily.
Devor is an infrequent visitor
Sheila seems to appear when there is an issue.

So, I would not call them everyday members.

Steerpike, LS, and Ankari almost never show up. I think Ankari has been on only once in all my time here.

And then for staff, you have people I have never seen. Who even is Cody Amprin and Nathan Laufler? Chilari, Chessie, Caged Maiden, Helio, Phillip... I mean, they may be back, but I've not seen them in years.

All of which is to say, you are on far more often than most of the staff. Even if you flaked off once in a while, your still more connected to the community than some others. You've also shown a propensity to be a peacemaker and calm things down...You'd be a fine Mod. I'd vote for you.

The Staff list could be cleaned up. Old members that are not coming back, should not really be mods. They dont know the people here anymore.

That is all. MS is pretty tame. Its not like we need more Mods.

 

[ThinkerX]

It looks like the Mods are:

Skip
Shiela
Steerpike
Legendary Sidekick
Devor
Ban
and Ankari


Skip and Ban are here almost daily.
Devor is an infrequent visitor
Sheila seems to appear when there is an issue.

So, I would not call them everyday members.

Steerpike, LS, and Ankari almost never show up. I think Ankari has been on only once in all my time here.

And then for staff, you have people I have never seen. Who even is Cody Amprin and Nathan Laufler? Chilari, Chessie, Caged Maiden, Helio, Phillip... I mean, they may be back, but I've not seen them in years.

All of which is to say, you are on far more often than most of the staff. Even if you flaked off once in a while, your still more connected to the community than some others. You've also shown a propensity to be a peacemaker and calm things down...You'd be a fine Mod. I'd vote for you.

The Staff list could be cleaned up. Old members that are not coming back, should not really be mods. They dont know the people here anymore.

That is all. MS is pretty tame. Its not like we need more Mods.

Lessee...

Ankari ran the 'Iron Pen' challenge, which taught a lot of folks here how to actually write. I took it over as 'Top Scribe' after he left.
Legendary Sidekick was here frequently for a long time, using comedic fantasy as an escape from his real job.
Steerpike popped in and out frequently for a while.

Chilari posted a challenge long ago that inspired a short story series of mine.
Chessie...didn't last long. If memory serves, she was a teenager in High School back then.
Caged Maiden wrote a ten-volume fantasy epic to escape the drabness of her job at an auto dealership...then went and deleted everything from it that she feared might be offensive. I see her occasionally on another site, where she posts about scammers in between writing historical romance-type tales.
Helio rings a faint bell.