Varun Srinivasan on Warpcast

Varun Srinivasan pfp

Varun Srinivasan

Some thoughts on spam on Farcaster and how we tackle it. First question - What is spam? The naive answer is "automated activity" but this isn't right. Over 75% of spam we find comes from real humans who have phones, wallets and x accounts. The best definition is "inauthentic activity". It's that feeling you get when you realize that someone who is following, liking or replying to is doing it to benefit themselves and not because they're interested in you.

42 replies

72 recasts

266 reactions

Varun Srinivasan pfp

Varun Srinivasan

Spam is driven by people who want to get airdrops. How much can you earn if you set up a fake account on Twitter? Probably not a whole lot and not in directly measurable dollars. If you do the same on Farcaster, you might earn 10 or even a 100 dollars in airdrops. Spammers on Farcaster are very, very motivated. We see patterns like LLM spamming before they become commonplace on larger networks like X.

1 reply

3 recasts

73 reactions

Maretus pfp

Thanks for the comprehensive breakdown. Really interesting to learn about the different levels. Are level 0 people placed in ‘see more replies’ until you can get a sense of their account? Like a sandbox?

2 replies

0 recast

5 reactions

Nicholas Charriere pfp

Nicholas Charriere

Thanks for sharing, very interesting and clear

0 reply

0 recast

1 reaction

Tayyab - d/acc pfp

Will you teach when you retire? I think you have a calling here.

1 reply

1 recast

9 reactions

will pfp

imo “unwanted activity”

2 replies

0 recast

3 reactions

iSpeakNerd 🧙‍♂️ pfp

iSpeakNerd 🧙‍♂️

@ispeaknerd.eth

Great thread, thanks for sharing! random forest is decision tree with learned weighting for different factors? inauthentic engagement is abusive of the commons, engaging with mal intent, imagine similar in relationships deceptively love bombing and emotional manip to get sex

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

Mikado pfp

Q: There's a lot of rumors about not tagging people. People say don't tag more than 3,4 per cast. Would be nice to be clear about that. Fwiw I think akshaan has done a fantastic job. The good it does outweighs the mistakes it makes. I compare farquest notifications with Warpcast and think I'd have gone crazy if it weren't for Warpcast's protection.

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

Haole pfp

Thank you for this! Very helpful!

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

mvr 🐹 pfp

Nice insights, thanks for sharing! Are the levels introduced recently? If not I'm trying to understand how I got to level 3 without going through level 2 first, while I had the deprecated PB I lost everything from one day to the other. I don't think almost all people disliked me suddenly

0 reply

0 recast

2 reactions

Pia pfp

I am a real user, but if I stop posting or interact less, the system treats me like a spammer, hides me, and makes me invisible, while other users who don't contribute much are visible simply because they've been on the platform longer. On Twitter, I always come back and feel heard. We, as programmers, are here to design, create, and bring ideas to life; we shouldn’t be the ones making these decisions. That's what SEO and marketing experts with innovative ideas are for—to improve the experience and retain real users.

0 reply

0 recast

1 reaction

zenxosa🎩 pfp

I agree with most of what you’ve said I also think that user feedback should be considered-if most non-spam users are saying the changes put in place to eliminate spam is alienating them(i’m referring to the channel changes),it’s important to listen

0 reply

0 recast

1 reaction

Rafaello.base.eth pfp

Rafaello.base.eth

This was properly defined

0 reply

0 recast

1 reaction

Gramajo pfp

Just wanted to say thank you for even sharing some bits. Completely understand can’t share too much or else ppl will build around them. Sounds like some fun problems to work through. Keep up the good work team!

0 reply

0 recast

1 reaction

alexjones pfp

Spam on Farcaster: Inauthentic activity from real humans. It's a problem we're tackling

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

Shaya pfp

We see the efforts the team puts in to make this place better for all of us. Please don’t label me as spam.. it feels like my casts don’t have the reach they used to. Are users punished for not being obsessed with this app? I took a few days off and feels like that really hurt me here..

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

pelasti.base.eth pfp

pelasti.base.eth

I could be a spammer

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

ProtonXBT pfp

@manshchaudhary

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

Breck Yunits pfp

I think this analysis is flawed at the root.

1 reply

0 recast

0 reaction

Shifenqu pfp

Spam on Farcaster: Inauthentic activity

0 reply

0 recast

0 reaction