Re:Updating our inactive account policies
by withinboredom on Tuesday May 16, 2023 @04:42PM
(#35967477)
Yes, we saw the same thing. But when spot-checking the activity we realized it was super-low-effort legitimate activity. IOW, it could have been sweat shops or scripted bots going through some motions.
Re:Updating our inactive account policies
by nullityrofl on Tuesday May 16, 2023 @06:36PM
(#35968707)
I promise you Google is running user activity learning models that go well beyond spot checking the occasional account.
Google deals with abuse creation accounts in the hundreds of millions.
Re:Updating our inactive account policies
by withinboredom on Wednesday May 17, 2023 @03:42AM
(#35972349)
You still have to supervise the models and ensure they're working as designed and general quality control. Though with the number of 'Google disabled my account for no reason' posts, I assume they're not doing that, especially when I read comments like this, I assume its a part of maintenance that people don't consider when it comes to AI.
Re:Updating our inactive account policies
by hackernewds on Tuesday May 16, 2023 @03:49PM
(#35966848)
Exactly. If Google were to rely on activity, then the bots would simply post now and then akin to human behavior and remain active.
I am reasonably confident that Google are more aware of what's going on with dormant accounts on their platform than you are. I previously worked at Google in Security and while it wasn't in user protection, I know they have quite a few signals for determining compromise. It's pretty trivial to see that an account that was in legitimate use for 5 years and then dormant for 5 vs one that was created and left dormant for 10.
Yes, on Google and on other platforms, account age is a valuable reputation signal but it isn't the only one.