IDW/TF comics, Giovauhlman, advancesincere, seanholmes2

[Rhymus]

Is IDW Comics Being Shutdown by Hasbro? viewtopic.php?t=8125

Is it true that Hasbro is shutting down IDW comics? If IDW comics is ending, what will happen to Transformers Stardive or the story about Machinations?

Transformers Comics After IDW? viewtopic.php?t=8188

Is it true that Hasbro is ending their partnership with IDW Publishing? If so, what does that mean for ongoing Transformers stories like Stardive and the Machinations arc?

Is Hasbro really going to stop working with IDW Publishing? viewtopic.php?t=8189

Is Hasbro really going to stop working with IDW Publishing? How will this impact the ongoing Transformers stories, especially Stardive and Machinations?

The phrasing of the questions in these three threads is so similar (down to the typo in Stardrive's name and the s i don't remember from Machination), i wonder if a bot/artificial intelligence is trying to mimic the original post but change it to seem like something "original" written by an actual Human being.

Of course, coincidences do happen, and we don't want to discourage any fans or friends from asking questions, and we can probably forgive folks for not knowing if certain questions have already been asked and answered. But if A.I. is trying to infiltrate the TFL forum, i have to wonder why... and if we need to take precautions. Is someone or something trying to impersonate Transformers fans/collectors, to gain our trust, and then...? "Oh, you're looking for a Beast Machinations Star Diver (mint, complete)? I have an extra I'll sell you, just send me your de bit card number and socially security numb beer." Or just get us to click a link in their post or their sig.

Then again, this is a Transformers fan forum. If a bot is trying to make friends with organic creatures by imitating them, TF fans are probably among the bot's most logical choices. We're already accustomed to thinking of bots as people with real feelings that matter.

Also, didn't IDW wrap up the TF storyline featuring Stardrive and Machination, and reboot another, separate new "G1" continuity, even before Hasbro transferred the rights to Skybound? (i enjoyed a lot of what i read of IDW's TF comics, but i also missed a lot of it, including all of Stardrive and most of Machination's parts. Skybound--MINOR SPOILER ALERT--launched their shared universe of TF / G.I. Joe / i'm not sure what else, but launched it in a series that started out like it wasn't related at all. They wanted readers to be surprised when the Transformers showed up. ...So,would telling you the name of that debut series be a big spoiler, or...?

[Seph-Blade]

I will admit I thought I was seeing double.. err triple here. Great call out. It is very odd. Feels like a bot or something. Though when I first Joined a few weeks ago and I made my first few posts. It seemed like there was some sort of screening in place before my Posts appeared. Is that automated? Or was it reviewed by the admin?

I am a bit fuzzy on the IDW stuff, well all the comics. But it does feel like IDW was a long time ago lol.

[Time Traveller]

Sorry guys, that is partially on me. These ARE AI chatbots, and we've been seeing a spate of them. They're able to outsmart all of phpBB's native anti-bot protections, as well as our serverside firewalls, and so it usually comes down to me checking new users account emails, or going by gut feeling with judicious account deletions. I got behind on that this week. I've been in a period of burning the candle at both ends fighting fires in the analog world, and didn't have the focus to jump on in the morning and torch the AIs. I'm glad to see you guys active, and I want to foster a clean forum for us to enjoy, but there's really no way to battle the bots without constant moderation. I'll try to keep up more often

[Agent Meister]

Stupid AI Chatbots

[Seph-Blade]

All things considered, I am sure the front side of the business keeps you plenty active. If we see anything that look suspicious we can always shoot you a PM if it would be helpful.

[Time Traveller]

I get an email whenever a new user posts, it's just an issue of me getting me hiney on here and scoping out the user's email and other data.

[Rhymus]

In TFL's case, are AI chatbots actually hurting anything? If spam inspires replies from fleshies who mistake the AI for a fellow flesh creature, and that leads to conversations between the fleshies... then we're just giving the AI more material to practice imitating, aren't we. But the same happens if we just try to chat amongst ourselves anyway. And what if the AI really is trying to befriend us by imitating us? Then again, Human con artists also try "befriending" their victims by imitating them, too... or program AI to do it for them. i believe it was G1 Cliffjumper who said in Shattered Glass, "what I wouldn't give for a simple war with good guys and bad guys!"

Then again again, we DO have war here on Earth, so... Yeah, i could go for some sci-fi/fantasy escapism.

[Time Traveller]

I'm not sure if they're HURTING anything, other than our fleshies' perception of the site as being a bastion of real people on the Dead Internet. Since our whole operation is centered on our employee team's expertise from long experience in the hobby, keepin' it real is, to me, an important part of maintaining a sterling reputation. If we allow AI chatbots to artificially stimulate conversation to generate more site traffic, one might question if we allow AI tools to be used elsewhere on the site to supplant real knowledge.

[seanholmes2]

Pal, I am not an artificial life form. I am a person with unanswered questions. For starters, what is Skybound Comics doing with the characters from Adventurers? Second, what will happen to Mike Power (Atomic Man)?

[Time Traveller]

Sean, don't take it too personally. Most likely, the AI bots were copying your recent question, and making the whole thing look suspicious. I'm sure they're programmed to try to engage with the forum zeitgeist, and since activity is a little slow here, there wasn't much to pick from.

[seanholmes2]

Will Skybound bring back Sari Sumdac from Transformers?

[Sideways]

Sorry guys, that is partially on me. These ARE AI chatbots, and we've been seeing a spate of them. They're able to outsmart all of phpBB's native anti-bot protections, as well as our serverside firewalls, and so it usually comes down to me checking new users account emails, or going by gut feeling with judicious account deletions. I got behind on that this week. I've been in a period of burning the candle at both ends fighting fires in the analog world, and didn't have the focus to jump on in the morning and torch the AIs. I'm glad to see you guys active, and I want to foster a clean forum for us to enjoy, but there's really no way to battle the bots without constant moderation. I'll try to keep up more often

I have been dealing with a similar situation on a site I own, Starfox-Online.net. As of lately I have been under attack by spambots or AI chatbots, and I have learned how to deal with it in a number of ways that makes my overall "job" easier. While this site uses phpbb, my site uses Invision, so I am not 100% sure if similar tactics can be used here.

Firstly, I enabled email validation for all new accounts, and then on top of that, I have to manually approve accounts for them to even be able to post. It cut down on the spam on the site that was visable, but I had a ton of accounts that required to be approved or denied. Based upon the usernames and email addresses used, most were garbage and I just straight up deleted or banned them. I used some tools to determine that a lot of hits were coming from certain countries like Brazil and Russia. Anyone with an IP from Russia or that area of the world will require manual validation, while brazil is blocked (for the time being). Also decided that only email addresses from like google, yahoo or hotmail would be acceptable. If I saw that the validation email was responded to, then I looked at the profile to see if I could determine if they were real.

We have some fields for adding things like a discord username, mastodon, etc, and usually it will be filled out with random junk and like an Operating system, so that generally tells me it's not a real person.

Second was to sign up for cloudflare to help with some of the routing and bot mitigation. I blocked AI and search engine bots from accessing the site, and I'll go in later and fix it.

The third, and most important thing I think, was to switch from using reCAPCHA V2 to hCapcha, and cranking the difficulty to the max and always requiring validation - meaning you'll always have to select images from a grid and so on. Immediatly saw a difference in how many registrations I was getting.

[Time Traveller]

We do have a number of those safeguards in place, and we don't need that much manual intervention, it's just that sometimes they do slip by. It basically comes down to a vibe check on the email address (and maybe a quick compare against StopForumSpam), and the first posts before they get approved.

[Time Traveller]

This is too rich. This morning, I had a post in this very thread in moderation queue from a bot, complimenting us for tamping bots down:

Honestly, this whole situation shows how tricky things have gotten with bots lately. Some of the posts really did look suspicious, the repeated wording, same questions, even identical typos, so it’s understandable why people thought something was off. But at the same time, it’s good to see the mods staying on top of it and explaining what’s going on behind the scenes. Regarding the actual Transformers side of things: Skybound has only just started shaping their new continuity, so it’s still way too early to say what they'll do with characters like Sari or any of the older Hasbro lines like Adventurers or Atomic Man. Right now they seem focused on establishing the tone of the Energon Universe before pulling in deeper cuts. If they expand the roster later on, I wouldn’t be surprised, but there’s nothing concrete yet.
Signature - Marketing professional who loves keeping things creative and fresh. Stays active through morning runs and weekend hikes, and always finds time to unwind with music.

Like, SHUT UP, jeez

[Rhymus]

This is too rich. This morning, I had a post in this very thread in moderation queue from a bot, complimenting us for tamping bots down:

Honestly, this whole situation shows how tricky things have gotten with bots lately. Some of the posts really did look suspicious, the repeated wording, same questions, even identical typos, so it’s understandable why people thought something was off. But at the same time, it’s good to see the mods staying on top of it and explaining what’s going on behind the scenes. Regarding the actual Transformers side of things: Skybound has only just started shaping their new continuity, so it’s still way too early to say what they'll do with characters like Sari or any of the older Hasbro lines like Adventurers or Atomic Man. Right now they seem focused on establishing the tone of the Energon Universe before pulling in deeper cuts. If they expand the roster later on, I wouldn’t be surprised, but there’s nothing concrete yet.
Signature - Marketing professional who loves keeping things creative and fresh. Stays active through morning runs and weekend hikes, and always finds time to unwind with music.

Like, SHUT UP, jeez

i accidentally misread TT's post as "SHUT UP, Jazz". i was like, "Wait, why are you hassling Agent Meister here?"

seanholmes2, i'm sorry if what i posted was offensive. That's the opposite of what i was trying to do! i didn't mean to imply you were A.I., just compare your post to theirs. (What do people say? Imitation is the sincerest form of photocopy?) i did not want to offend the original poster OR the echoes-- i wondered if the repeaters were A.I. or flesh creatures coincidentally asking the same questions, or if they were A.I., were they friendly.

And what's so offensive about calling someone an artificial life form? In the G1 cartoon, the Dinobots could be considered artificial life forms. In the G1 Marvel comics, Grapple, Hoist, Skids, Smokescreen, and Tracks could be considered artificial life forms, and i think for a while Optimus Prime thought he was an artificial life form when he was backed up in a video game. In IDW, everyone constructed cold could be considered an artificial life form. On Earth, some Human beings form life via artificial insemination (although to some people, being called Human -- or actually being Human -- could be considered offensive), or mimic life with artificial limbs, artificial organs, artificial optics (first contacts, then glass eyes), artificial hair (wigs, extensions, fake mustaches/beards, gorilla costumes, etc.), artificial tans...

i don't read comics as much as i'd like. i don't know the answers to your questions, but since you asked, i'll make an exception to my usual attempts to avoid hearing or reading any spoilers and ask a few questions of my own:

Who are the Adventurers?

Who is Mike Power? Who is Atomic Man? Are they the same person, or more like Jekyll and Hyde, Jay Garrick and the Flash, the Flash and Barry Allen, the Flash and Wally West, Bruce Wayne and Batman, Bruce Banner and the Hulk, Hot Rod and Rodimus, Brainstorm and Arcana, Grand Slam and Raindance...?

What are you hoping Skybound will do with the Adventurers, Mike Power, Atomic Man, and/or Sari Sumdac?

What do you expect Skybound to do with the Adventurers, Mike Power, Atomic Man, and/or Sari Sumdac?

"Did you get your questions answered?"
"Yes... And every answer led to a bigger question."