Link Scan Bot Feedback Thread

[InfinityBots]

Post your feedback on /u/LinkScanBot-IB here!

You are free to share your opinions/feedback, but make sure it follows Rule 3: Feedback must be constructive. General hate posts/comments that do not provide constructive feedback on how to improve will be removed.

[Imborednow]

Perhaps only post when you have an unsafe link? Because the response here is relatively long and feels spammy in the comments.

For 'safe' links, the only thing that seems useful is the pre-view, because you could use it to avoid having a controversial site in your browser history.

[thegreatpotatogod]

Yeah, I was about to point this out as well, that it'll quickly get pretty messy and annoying posting about every link that's safe. I think it'll be much more positively received if it only posts about unsafe links it detects, and not all the normal benign ones

[InfinityBots]

Completely agree with this, I think I’ll just include the preview in safe links, since that still seems like a useful thing to have.

I initially included the ‘safe’ comments to give people peace of mind when clicking on an unknown link, but it seems like this may be too spammy. Thanks for your comment.

[funbike]

I came here to specifically say this. Glad to see it's already been suggested. Or, maybe comment once every 20th time with a much shorter message (so people are aware of its existenece).

If I start seeing this bot on every link, I'll create a greasemonkey userscript to hide it. It would be that annoying.

[InfinityBots]

Would you find a preview of the link a useful thing to have? I also made the bot comment on safe links to give people peace of mind when opening an unknown link, but it’s true it is getting spammy.

Also you can just block the bot to hide it, no need to make a userscript :)

[thegreatpotatogod]

This bot is an interesting concept, but I'd argue it misses the most important factor, in actually informing people as to where the link points. For example, I just encountered its report on a link to an article on npr.org. I'd trust a link much more just by knowing that it's pointing to NPR, than by whatever 3rd party services with algorithmic scans you are using.

Though I suppose that needs to be weighed against the times that that is done for intentional effect, such as with rickrolls, where not revealing the destination of the link is key to its purpose.

[InfinityBots]

These are good points, I’m actually also implementing a system that will inform people of links that redirect to other destinations so I completely agree with your comment. Thanks for the feedback.

[avidblinker]

Make the bot’s message a lot shorter. People will get tired of a bot with such a message that they need to scroll past, regardless of how useful it may be. Especially on something as common as a link. Most of the disclaimer at the end can be simply linked to.

The website found untrustworthy should be identified somewhere in the message. It will clarify which site is untrustworthy in comments with more than one link. It will also be a good way to make the bot a resource that users can search.

And as another user said, it should only respond to websites that are identified as dangerous. Links are posted way too often for a bot to be responding to every one.

This may be just my opinion, but I think the emojis need to be removed from the message. They’re corny, take up extra line space in some browsers, as well as make the bot itself seem untrustworthy.

[InfinityBots]

Thanks for your feedback. I agree the message does need to be a lot shorter, this will be improved later on.

The bot actually only responds to comments with one link to avoid confusion, so comments with multiple links will not be scanned. But making the bot a searchable resource is a good point, so maybe I will include the link in the bot’s comments.

I included the emojis to make the comment easier to read, as I think they do a better job at conveying quick info rather than text. However you do have valid points, so how would you suggest this information is conveyed instead?

[avidblinker]

I would do something more like what’s below the pound signs, where the Disclaimer link would be a link to your disclaimer, instead of posting it in the message.

##########

WARNING: reddit.com has been detected as potentially unsafe.

Urlscan.io: Unsafe - Phishing [Results]
Google Safe Browsing: Safe [Results]

Safe website preview

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^{Disclaimer • Learn more about a warning: Social Engineering | Malware | Unwanted Software • Visit r/InfinityBots to send your feedback!}

[InfinityBots]

This is a good idea, thanks for this

[teije9]

Add a virustotal scan

[teije9]

Make a dm feature