21 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Crowd Control and Other Safety Updates
The older a thread, the less likely you are to comment on it, one of the factors making your decision is the likelihood of wasting your time yelling into the void. It feels less likely if the number moves. It might not work on you or me, but that it exists is a testament that it works on enough people to justify it.
Comment by relic2279 at 03/03/2021 at 05:34 UTC
12 upvotes, 1 direct replies
A half decade ago (or more), I was told by an admin that the votes fluctuating was to thwart bots & spammers. If a bot/spammer posted a submission and the upvotes never changed, the bot would quickly deduce they've been shadowbanned, or that their post was caught by the spam filter. With the numbers of the actual vote totals fluctuating, a bot or spammer can't be sure if the post just didn't do well, or was pulled by the spam filter.
Obviously a much more sophisticated spammer/bot could get around this, but I would bet this anti-spam feature still tricks quite a few bots.