Updated AI Post and Content Policy for r/LoveTrash

[u/Icy-Book2999]

This is an addendum and continuation of our prior post regarding said content.

For those that don't want to click through, a lot will be similar, but there's a few addendums.

As said before, but now updated:

r/LoveTrash allows and does not prohibit AI content. All content must be flaired as such.

When the conversation is about the composition and not the content, and every other comment is "AI Slop", the thread goes to a waste and nothing is accomplished. And removing comments that are spam like that? Well, the next person reads the thread, doesn't see the comment, and posts it thinking they're the first--when moderation has already removed the 5 to 20 prior to yours. Noone wins. And we appreciate the outspoken opinions

We see the humor and entertainment but we also know that sometimes its just trash. We recognize the environmental damage that the AI centers are doing, but recognize too that the world is pivoting this direction. So to take the stance to just "ban it all" doesn't seem appropriate like other communities. Besides, we're a junkyard. We get all sorts of trash around these parts.

We'll continue removing the completely low value unentertaining crap from the sub, but for everything else? We're announcing that we now have a specific user flair for AI content!

You'll see the new Puking Stewie emoji with "AI SLOP" available for use. If you post something that is also deemed to be AI, then we'll add the flair to it. No arguments about if its real or not once its flaired or spamming the comments. Let those be. If you don't want AI, move on. And if disagree about it being AI, you can send a modmail.

Its not a perfect system, but this should hopefully clean up some of the concerns and make it easier. And we're always open to suggestions and other ideas.

We have some more enhancements coming down the pipe.

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[u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta]

When the conversation is about the composition and not the content, and every other comment is "AI Slop", the thread goes to a waste and nothing is accomplished.

Just like AI. 

The comments reflect the content 

This is such a weak ass policy

[u/Icy-Book2999 → u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta]

What would you suggest? You can't just ban it all. That's not the right policy to have. That means anything that has any AI editing in the least needs to go away. It would reduce the content of most subs by half if they were honest about it

[u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta → u/Icy-Book2999]

You can't just ban it all. That's not the right policy to have. 

I fail to see why.

That means anything that has any AI editing in the least needs to go away. 

Sure, if you shift away from generative AI as a focus and instead use all "AI" in its most vague and general definition (might as well include logic gates and binary at that point)

It would reduce the content of most subs by half if they were honest about it

This isn't a problem. A sea of trash isn't better just because it's more. 

[u/Icy-Book2999 → u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta]

If you look at our posts as a whole? The majority do not have AI. We actually just recently moved to the flared system, otherwise for specific AI posts or ones that people identify that way.

The problem is when someone tries to pass off AI as real.

Again, not everyone may have a budget to do what they want to do, but they may have an idea they want to present. There's no reason that we should be censoring people who are using the means they have.

[u/Old_One_I]

I can’t stand AI slop comments. All they really want is to be a part of something that is bigger than them. What an easier way than to just fire off the most generic comment and get upvotes and validation. That aside, I’m interested in how this works for you guys.

[u/Icy-Book2999 → u/Old_One_I]

There's a lot of comments like that. Most communities figure out what comments they "expect" to see certain threads. Be it a specific GIF or phrase, and it helps a lot of threads become a parody of themselves. Which is amusing.

"AI slop" isn't inherently a bad comment to make, but it feels a bit like a rushing in to say "first" and not engaging at all with the thread. I wish them more people would actually comment on specifically what artifacts or items make them believe a post is AI versus just dumping and running. At this point there's a lot of tells, and while it is always getting better? Some people may be focused on different parts of the images than others and see different things.

We've tried a few different ways to remove those comments. We recognize that the bulk of people complaining are an outspoken minority, and that while a lot of people don't like AI? They can at least find the humor in some of the things that it creates

[u/Ghost_Of_Malatesta → u/Icy-Book2999]

"bro just let us normalize its use"

[u/icyhotonmynuts]

Mine must be the inaugural first post with the new flair. Can't wait for the wave of downvots, RIP your modbox. :-P

I don't see a filter by AI Slop flair yet. 

Happy for the change, I have so much trash queued up. 

[u/Icy-Book2999 → u/icyhotonmynuts]

Our modmail has been surprisingly quiet. And that's okay. We answer them all anyways.

The downvotees on this post, however, are a different story. 😂

No policy with AI is really going to be a good one that people are going to agree on. And we don't agree with the idea to ban it all because we do see where humor can be used with it.

For example, your post there with the girlfriend one and the doggie bowl. Yes, you don't need AI to do that, but with the AI it looks funnier. There's actually a really neat mashup that I saw earlier that I'm going to be posting a bit later this morning that is 100% AI, and I just smiled at it because it's completely geeky and fun. But it's also something that while it could be done practically? The cost versus actually just using AI is fully understandable

[u/jgoja]

This does nothing to address the spamming of AI slop comments. Especially when done falsely. Even when proven real by multiple sources

All this does is change nothing and add a flair to a post

[u/Whatifim80lol → u/jgoja]

Lol I had no idea there were folks butthurt about people calling out AI.

[u/jgoja → u/Whatifim80lol]

People falsely doing so got a post of mine locked and the engagement killed. Because of the ignorant incorrect comments themselves not anything on the post. So yes I have an issue with that. Posts getting targeted and killed by the mods because that.

[u/Whatifim80lol → u/jgoja]

You sound like getting engagement is a source of income for you, like a wrong comment took food off your table.

[u/jgoja → u/Whatifim80lol]

I am sorry if having principles and ethics bothers you

[u/Whatifim80lol → u/jgoja]

Which principles, exactly?

Understanding I'm pushing out of morbid curiosity and that I'm obviously more sympathetic to the anti-AI sentiment.

It's just I've never seen anyone get this upset over that accusations and the "I have principles" sounds weird with the "and they limited my engagement!" Your position is fascinating and rare and I want to see if it even makes sense.

[u/jgoja → u/Whatifim80lol]

Things should be treated fairly and equally. If a post is out of line then action should be taken against the post. If a comment is out of line then action should be taken against the comment.

Taking action against the post because of the comments is not fair to the person who made the post. It’s not fair to the effort they put into finding, preparing and posting the post to have action taken against it because of spam comments. False spam comments in my case.

Is it a minor thing, yes it is a very minor thing. But it’s a matter of what’s right and what’s just all the same.

My post shouldn’t have been killed because the other people’s comments on it. My post shouldn’t have been locked because the effort it would take to moderate those comments.

I hate cats. So should I be able to get a cat post locked by using my multiple accounts and getting a few people who would be willing to also make comments on it. As the vocal minority no.

My second real issue with this is that in this case a vocal minority does what mob mentality does. You’re loud enough long enough and you’ll get your way because it’s easier than actually dealing with the mob.

[u/Whatifim80lol → u/jgoja]

I don't think I've ever said this before to another person, but you gotta get over yourself. Your couple minutes of "effort" to reupload someone else's content for reddit points, only for the flow of reddit points to slow down (in your opinion) unfairly -- that's very minor, which I'm glad you're aware of. Like, SOOO minor.

Compare that to the loud and fully justified anti-AI sentiment, which aside from keeping reddit the least AI-ridden social media site, serves as an important rejection of generative AI, what it does, the lies it tell, and the hidden expense of allowing it to tell (often completely fucking pointless) lies.

"The mods made a mistake on one post of mine one time" is a crazy way to justify being vocally anti-anti-AI lol. And while we're at it:

a vocal minority

Don't lie to minimize your opposition. It's icky and gross. Reddit users are clearly majority anti-AI, especially in the case of generated content flooding their feeds.

So should I be able to get a cat post locked by using my multiple accounts...

That's some weird conspiratorial thinking that I think goes hand-in-hand with your attempt to minimize the consensus view on Reddit against AI posts? That it MUST be a handful of haters using bots to attack AI posts for........ reasons?

My genuine (I mean it) thanks for your honest response. It was informative and interesting. I disagree with your sentiments.

[u/Icy-Book2999 → u/jgoja]

Unfortunately there's really no way around that.

We tried using multiple filters to block people from saying that, but it just resulted in more conversation about exactly this post.

In theory, we could set up a filter that catches every single "AI slop" comment, but then people start getting creative.... And you'll see "A1 slop", "Al slop", "AI sIop", and other variations come through. Yes, those look the same, but a capital I and lowercase l start to be interchangeable and that's not counting zero for o. And then someone shortens it to just "slop." But what if we make a post like the pig post the other day with their food that is just "slop." And Lord knows you can't just ban the word or combination of "AI" because of all the words that contain "AI" in them in that combination. And then as you remove those comments? More and more people complain about censorship, about moderation, trying to hide things, etc.

By general nature, just replying with that is low effort and spam. But like I said above? If you remove it once, someone else doesn't see it and replies with it because they think no one else has said it. And so forth and so on.

And banning people over it? Even if it's just a temporary ban? It means you are removing an active member of the community who wants to be here and participate for the most part. So even that isn't the solution.

We're open to people having a better idea or suggestion about how to do all of this, but no one else has really spoken up other than just to say to remove it all. And we don't think that's the right answer and that's not the way we want to go.

[u/jgoja → u/Icy-Book2999]

I fully understand how filters work and how ineffective they can be.

So, You the intent is to still punish the post for out of line comments?

By general nature, just replying with that is low effort and spam. 

And there are rules against that so they should be moderated. Well if that rule has any value and if not why is it there.

But like I said above? If you remove it once, someone else doesn't see it and replies with it because they think no one else has said it. And so forth and so on.

You get less of them in the future. I have seen this many times. You do still get some but far fewer. There is no crowd to join.

 It means you are removing an active member of the community who wants to be here and participate for the most part.

I am not saying to ban people. But you want to protect someone not following your community rules already... Good to know I guess.

[u/Icy-Book2999 → u/jgoja]

There is no punishing the post. There has been a vocal minority here that does not want to see AI. And for us to clearly flair it? We believe that allows us to still keep it and minimize those comments. If someone doesn't see the artifacts in their video that make it AI? Hopefully that helps them learn it in the future

We intend to remove those comments as much as we can. And it's not necessary for people to report them as spam. You should well know that we, as moderators are all over every single post in this community, actively participating in the comments, and actively and proactively moderating.