u/Dazzling_Goal1563

>Translation: Versatile AI Assistant · AI Writing | AI Search | AI PPT · <Experience Now>

A large number of artworks, specifically Ukrainian-Hong Kong solidarity works are being targeted by coordinated griefers as a result of the recent surges in bot and multiaccount activity. Although the new update has had partial effect in suppressing multiaccounters, many remain active with clear traces of botting involved.

However, what matters most is the methodology involved, not the politics behind.

To disagree with politics, even if it means supporting Putin's invasion of Ukraine, you are not prohibited to do so, but coordinated griefing is never the answer, much less using AI slop to cover art, and on top of that, using bots to do that.

Using alts and bots destroys the spirit of fair play, and kills the soul of the community when used to destroy others' work. So far, only 1 out of the 80 accounts has been suspended. We fear that if this situation continues to escalate worldwide, even more artists will continue to leave wplace.

While I am not involved in this mess, the pro-CCP camp, led by 像素互助群, notorious for its explicit usage of bots/automation tools has resurfaced and somehow bypassed the new wplace captchas, most noticeably botting monochrome artwork to circumvent griefing rules before filling the background, making it much more difficult for mods to differentiate between players and bots (including the multiaccounting players using automation cheats).

My concern is that if not tackled, the showcase of their sheer firepower and aggression implies that other regions such as Hong Kong or Taiwan are in danger of being attacked by these bots as they have done so before and have recently stated that they will do so again starting with the Ukranian solidarity flags here.

If that happens, the Hongkongese and Taiwanese community will be completely helpless against a bot invasion ten times the size of the local community itself, and may even leave wplace entirely, given how there is basically nothing we can do about it if mods cannot do so.