[hawk_]

May be the ones that are dead are from poor imitation of more successful bots that are operating in our midst whose comments aren't dead?

[jessetemp]

I always wonder how much of HN is just bots debating bots

[AaronAPU]

Social media is becoming less a place to communicate with people and more just a place to navigate the hierarchy of potential conversations.

[hawk_]

That's totally something a bot would say to blend in ;-)

[Dansvidania]

I swear I make all my captchas

[Richard__Smith]

Yes, down with bots.

[rtaylorgarlock]

Or asking baiting questions just to appear intellectually connected?

[gregjw]

nice try clanker

[kilroy123]

Sounds a lot like X these days.

[Ancapistani]

In that vein - if they are upvoted by real people, does it matter?

[bluefirebrand]

Of course it does. People are using forums and social media to connect, however flimsily, with other people.

Replacing that with bots and thinking that's equivalent is actually really sad

[Ancapistani]

For what it’s worth, I agree - I’m just no longer certain I could tell.