Grindr users have enough pitfalls to worry about without the concern that the cute guy they’re talking to is actually a spambot hellbent on spreading viruses and phishing for personal info. But one guy has sleuthed out a clever way of telling the real users from the automated ones.
Related: Ex-Grindr employees expose dark side of world’s largest gay hookup app
“Perhaps it’s already obvious to everyone, but I finally found a use for ‘X viewed you’ feature,” he wrote on Reddit. “Before I even look at an incoming message or tap, I first check the ‘viewed’ list, and if the sender of the text is not on it, it’s a bot.”
“That may not work for those of you who get dozens of views per hour,” he added, “but it’s never been my problem, so that’s my new Grindr routine.”
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When one commenter listed “Joined recently, no distance, and clichéd bios” as other telltale signs of a bot, the original poster begged to differ. “A lot of guys (including myself) have distance checked off,” he responded. “And yes, 95% of [the] time, you can tell the profile is a bot, but I was getting annoyed at myself for answering the other 5%. A nice pic and wishful thinking would do that to me.”
Another commenter, meanwhile, reiterated the strategy Queerty covered in 2015: “What I do is break the traditional flow of conversation. The main benefit is it makes you sound more interesting to most (real) guys. But a side benefit is the bots can’t deal with it.”
Related: Compelling new study offers yet another reason to delete your Grindr account
And yes, spambots have been a problem since 2015. That’s when a Grindr spokesperson assured PinkNews that security improvements were a “top priority” for the app developers.
“In fact, we devote significant engineering resources and expertise to addressing the spambot issue. We use automated tools to detect spambots, and our team of moderators diligently track and ban these kinds of spam profiles,” the spokesperson continued.
“We know that companies like ours can never be complacent about spambots — and want to assure users that we have more tools in development — including authentication and authorization tools — that we believe will significantly reduce the spambot issue.”
Anyway, one Reddit user has his own reason for hating bots. “They are very bad after sex, no cuddles,” he wrote. “They don’t deserve my love, miserable robot f*cks.”
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1898
there are two reasons why this “pro tip” often doesn’t work
1. not all spam bots are the same. today and yesterday i got spam bot messages and the profiles DID show up in my “viewed me” list
2. if a real person has Incognito mode enabled, they will now show up in your “viewed me” list
as far as grindr’s contention that they devote time and resources to rooting out spam bots… all i can say is that the problem has only gotten worse since 2015, not better. and considering that other apps like Scruff are virtually free of spam bots (i’ve only encountered ONE spam bot in my five years of using scruff), you really have to wonder whether grindr cares about this problem at all or if they simply allow it to happen
Prax07
They really need to get some sort of system into effect to just stop the bots all together. Maybe a verification system for accounts. Dunno exactly how they’d do it but the bots are rampant lately.
1898
i think they just don’t want to bother. other apps like scruff are 99.9% bot-free and have been for years. clearly its not rocket science if other apps can do it
Jerry
For me, it’s easy. If anyone remotely attractive shows me attention, it’s a bot.
Andy
Jerry
You shouldn’t sell yourself short, I think you’re quite handsome.
Happy Thanksgiving!
[email protected]
That must be why good looking men don’t reply to me. I’m so handsome that they think that I’m a bot? I never looked at it that way.