I received an email from someone - that was a friend request from someone at FHO. In all the years I have been around, I've never heard of "friends" on FHO.
I have assumed it was phishing - and reported it as spam and blocked it.
This is just a heads up in case this is an indication of a rash of similar request.
...or someone tell me about this "feature" that I never heard of.
Tony - Look at your homepage here. You have 34 friends, so you must have been aware of the feature.
Unless there was something unusual about this request, its just a feature of the site. If you have any pending requests there will be a message at the top of the forum page.
quote:
Originally posted by DougDTony - Look at your homepage here. You have 34 friends, so you must have been aware of the feature.
Unless there was something unusual about this request, its just a feature of the site. If you have any pending requests there will be a message at the top of the forum page.
Well now don't I feel foolish. I seriously didn't recall any of that - and even now, it still seems vague. That was a LONG time ago.
Why would anyone want to be my friend? 
I also received a friend request recently but haven’t responded because I’m not sure the new member is human and not an AI.
This gosh durn Internekid thingy so much more complicated then the old phone with the crank on it. When they coming out with a keerosine powered one.
Considering that kerosene is currently about $6.00 a gallon delivered, I think I'll stick with lithium ion batteries!
quote:
Originally posted by tonyelderquote:
Originally posted by DougDTony - Look at your homepage here. You have 34 friends, so you must have been aware of the feature.
Unless there was something unusual about this request, its just a feature of the site. If you have any pending requests there will be a message at the top of the forum page.Well now don't I feel foolish. I seriously didn't recall any of that - and even now, it still seems vague. That was a LONG time ago.
Why would anyone want to be my friend?
You may remember that old saying: "I'd never want to be a friend to someone who wants to be my friend!"
Tony, sometimes you drive me nuts but I still want to be your friend.. on Hangout or off!!
Edited by - TuneWeaver on 09/26/2026 15:06:19
quote:
Originally posted by TuneWeaverquote:
Originally posted by tonyelderquote:
Originally posted by DougDTony - Look at your homepage here. You have 34 friends, so you must have been aware of the feature.
Unless there was something unusual about this request, its just a feature of the site. If you have any pending requests there will be a message at the top of the forum page.Well now don't I feel foolish. I seriously didn't recall any of that - and even now, it still seems vague. That was a LONG time ago.
Why would anyone want to be my friend?
You may remember that old saying: "I'd never want to be a friend to someone who wants to be my friend!"
"...sometimes you drive me nuts" ...that's my charm (and my secret weapon).
quote:
Originally posted by tonyelderquote:
Originally posted by TuneWeaverquote:
Originally posted by tonyelderquote:
Originally posted by DougDTony - Look at your homepage here. You have 34 friends, so you must have been aware of the feature.
Unless there was something unusual about this request, its just a feature of the site. If you have any pending requests there will be a message at the top of the forum page.Well now don't I feel foolish. I seriously didn't recall any of that - and even now, it still seems vague. That was a LONG time ago.
Why would anyone want to be my friend?
You may remember that old saying: "I'd never want to be a friend to someone who wants to be my friend!"
"...sometimes you drive me nuts" ...that's my charm (and my secret weapon).
Your super power!!
TVB - I agree that there are several first time posters I'm not so sure about because of their writing style, and sometimes avatar picture.
Depending upon what one asks A.I. to do, the most common place to glean info is message boards. Our little corner of the internet is tiny by comparison. Over on TalkBass, one can see both the humans and bots online at any given time. I heard as much as 80% of all message board traffic is bots. You can watch hive mentality a lot on the bigger sites. It's weird. Bots have the grammar thing down now. But colloquiallisms still throw them. Thank goodness! Ask them if they can sit on a lifesaver and tell the flavor. The older slang, the better. Talk about getting down to "brass tacks." "What is this gut-bucket you play?" Hah!
EGAD (I feel like this should be every violin/fiddle player's exclamation), the bots! They are everywhere. I hope they're not invading here too.
I have made zero posts in a social media account which I only created to follow my daughters... but I have 47 followers. Like yea, how likely is that to be real people! I get messages that my LInkedIn is getting lots of views (yea but uh, how many are human and how much of that is bots driving me to log in and post content on LInkedIn?) In other words, all this "interaction" and "following" is meant to get us to engage and post content, but these are not humans...
... sometimes I feel like playing the live music is my only refuge from the bots! I wanna be with real humans, doing real stuff together.
(But Tony, this is not to say that your friend request is not real! :-)
Edited by - NCnotes on 09/28/2026 11:07:43
Okay, then: Hey, newbies! Are you real or are you bots?
Check out a recent post from Newbie, ShadowFrost.. sounds good but there is something suspicious about it...
Looking at you, Alex Morozov - are you a Real Human?
If you are…then I’m very sorry for suspecting you!!!
Edited by - NCnotes on 09/28/2026 18:49:12
And Alex Morgan ... and David West ... and that other guy .... !
Only a little off-topic now, here's an interesting video that YouTube, in its infinite wisdom, suggested for me: youtu.be/B1TSInsUfj0?si=AX7iVNc2ElbgT4v1
I believe this is entirely AI, both music and visuals, but interestingly the AI summary for the "Bluefield Billies" treats them as real, "known for fast flatfoot picking!"
Edited by - DougD on 09/29/2026 01:31:53
quote:
Originally posted by DougDOnly a little off-topic now, here's an interesting video that YouTube, in its infinite wisdom, suggested for me: youtu.be/B1TSInsUfj0?si=AX7iVNc2ElbgT4v1
I believe this is entirely AI, both music and visuals, but interestingly the AI summary for the "Bluefield Billies" treats them as real, "known for fast flatfoot picking!"
It makes the Dead Internet Theory sound a lot more credible!
Hmmmm... I've seen two types of bots here, the obvious Spammers that insert a deceptive hyperlink in their message, and the 'benign' ones just sliding in with no personal info, insipid comments and a habit of responding to old threads. Now it seems like they are trying to make friends?! That seems like a bit of an escalation!!
I think it would be good of the forum adopted and enforced a 'no bots' policy... they add nothing of value, and they are easy to spot.
quote:
Originally posted by JonDHmmmm... I've seen two types of bots here, the obvious Spammers that insert a deceptive hyperlink in their message, and the 'benign' ones just sliding in with no personal info, insipid comments and a habit of responding to old threads. Now it seems like they are trying to make friends?! That seems like a bit of an escalation!!
I think it would be good of the forum adopted and enforced a 'no bots' policy... they add nothing of value, and they are easy to spot.
And a "no friends" policy. What are friends even for?
There’s definitely a new wave of infiltration. I’m getting a new friend request every day now.
quote:
Originally posted by The Violin BeautifulThere’s definitely a new wave of infiltration. I’m getting a new friend request every day now.
So you know it must be fake! (just kidding, Rich)
Does this have any influence on some or your suspicions? Here is the opening line from "About" for a few new members.
David West
I’m a music enthusiast with a particular interest in fiddle, acoustic music, traditional folk, bluegrass, and live performances.
Alex Morgan
I’m a fiddle player and musician with a strong passion for bluegrass, old-time, folk, and acoustic music. I enjoy learning traditional fiddle tunes, experimenting with different playing styles, and discovering the stories and musical traditions behind the songs.
Morgan Todd
I'm a music enthusiast with a particular interest in fiddle, acoustic music, traditional folk, bluegrass, and live performances.
Alex Morozov
I’ve always enjoyed music and the way playing an instrument can bring people together.
Well ... you have to admit - they're very NICE bots, aren't they?
Two other message boards I frequent have trial periods. You can only post in the newbie area. Only the mods can promote you. No amount of likes or post count. Some folks get irate about it. Hey! That's a sign you're not ready.
There's no friends count, but people can 'follow' other members. If you've found someone knowledgeable. There's also an ignor button for those members that troll.
One of the bots is even liking its own posts. I didn’t realize it was possible for a poster to promote his own posts. Vanitas vanitatum!
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