avatarGFC: Grown Folk Conversations

Summary

The author discusses the challenges of dealing with racist comments and potential bots on Medium, reflecting on their experiences and advocating for better platform security to protect writers against abuse and harassment.

Abstract

The article titled "Battling Racist Ro(Bots) and Trolls-The Struggle Continues" delves into the author's encounters with racist and negative comments on their Medium posts, which they suspect may be from bots or trolls. The author initially blocked these accounts but later chose to engage and document their interactions to identify patterns. They highlight an instance with a user named Patrick Morris, who exhibited bot-like behavior by commenting without having written any content themselves. The author has also written about previous attackers and the transition from comments to cyberstalking, expressing uncertainty about the authenticity of these profiles. The piece concludes with a call to action for Medium to enhance its security measures and response to abuse reports, emphasizing the need to protect writers, especially those addressing racism and discrimination. The author acknowledges the time-consuming nature of responding to such attacks and suggests that writers can turn their responses into separate stories to potentially earn revenue through Medium's Partner Program.

Opinions

  • The author believes that Medium may be targeted by racist bots and trolls, similar to other social media platforms.
  • They express that responding to these attacks is crucial to dispel false information, but it is not a part of the Medium Partner Program and can be time-consuming.
  • The author suggests that writers should consider turning their responses to attacks into separate stories to monetize their efforts.
  • There is a concern that Medium's response to reports of abuse and harassment is slow or non-existent, while content violations like improper captions are addressed swiftly.
  • The author calls for Medium to prioritize the protection of writers, particularly those who combat racism and discrimination and amplify marginalized voices.
  • They appreciate the support from readers and maintain that the battle against racist bots and individuals will continue, with the hope that Medium will improve its security and response protocols.

Battling Racist Ro(Bots) and Trolls-The Struggle Continues

How I use writing to rage against racist machines

Photo by Rock'n Roll Monkey on Unsplash

I’ve heard of antagonistic bots on Facebook and Twitter posting racist comments and rhetoric to cause racial conflict, but I think they’ve started targeting Medium. I just discovered possible bots that have been responding to my posts or responses to other people’s pieces.

Over the last year, a number of negative and racist comments have come from weird accounts that appear to be white men have increased. At first, I blocked them, but then I started to respond.

I thought I should chronicle my experiences because they are a little creepy and I wanted to see if there was a pattern.

This week’s bot is Patrick Morris he hasn’t written anything — but I responded 3 times before I suspected it was a bot:

In September 2020

I wrote about 2 more attackers — this may have been a real person or bots. I’m not sure.

In October 2019

Again, I’m not sure if this was a real person or a bot.

Lesson and Conclusion

If you’re writing about race, equity and inclusion be prepared to be attacked by real people and racist bots. You could choose to go down the rabbit hole, but DO NOT TAKE IT PERSONAL. After all, it’s probably bot or a miserable person with issues… Try to respond to dispel or refute false information. That’s all we can do.

However, understand it can time consuming and responses are not part of the MPP even if you make it a story. Therefore, if your goal is to make money for your thoughtful words and rebuttals, make your response part of a separate story in the MPP. This story is an example of a response — that I turned into a story.

I would like to thank all the readers who’ve read and supported my efforts.

In the end, writers like me can continue to battle the racist bots and people, but I think Medium needs to improve their security and their response time to reports of abuse and harassment. I’ve seen some horrible comments and reported them with either no response or slow response. Yet, a picture without a proper caption will get flagged and your piece will be removed in a matter of hours…

I think Medium needs to prioritize protecting writers especially those of us who are doing the work to combat racism and discrimination and amplify the voices of the historically marginalized and silenced.

Thank you for reading.

Writing
Bots
Racism
Ｍedium
Ｍedium
Cybersecurity
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