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More AIs Are Taking Polls and Surveys

Posted by Bruce Schneier

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/05/more-ais-are-taking-polls-and-surveys.html

https://www.schneier.com/?p=70280

I already knew about the declining response rate for polls and surveys. The percentage of AI bots that respond to surveys is also increasing.

Solutions are hard:

1. Make surveys less boring.
We need to move past bland, grid-filled surveys and start designing experiences people actually want to complete. That means mobile-first layouts, shorter runtimes, and maybe even a dash of storytelling. TikTok or dating app style surveys wouldn’t be a bad idea or is that just me being too much Gen Z?

2. Bot detection.
There’s a growing toolkit of ways to spot AI-generated responses—using things like response entropy, writing style patterns or even metadata like keystroke timing. Platforms should start integrating these detection tools more widely. Ideally, you introduce an element that only humans can do, e.g., you have to pick up your price somewhere in-person. Btw, note that these bots can easily be designed to find ways around the most common detection tactics such as Captcha’s, timed responses and postcode and IP recognition. Believe me, way less code than you suspect is needed to do this.

3. Pay people more.
If you’re only offering 50 cents for 10 minutes of mental effort, don’t be surprised when your respondent pool consists of AI agents and sleep-deprived gig workers. Smarter, dynamic incentives—especially for underrepresented groups—can make a big difference. Perhaps pay-differentiation (based on simple demand/supply) makes sense?

4. Rethink the whole model.
Surveys aren’t the only way to understand people. We can also learn from digital traces, behavioral data, or administrative records. Think of it as moving from a single snapshot to a fuller, blended picture. Yes, it’s messier—but it’s also more real.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/05/more-ais-are-taking-polls-and-surveys.html

https://www.schneier.com/?p=70280

The OTW is Recruiting for News Post Moderator Volunteers!

Posted by an

https://www.transformativeworks.org/the-otw-is-recruiting-for-news-post-moderator-volunteers/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=265239

Are you interested in helping keep OTW news post spaces a welcoming and safe space for engagement? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting!

We’re excited to announce the opening of applications for:

News Post Moderator – closing 28 May 2025 at 23:59 UTC [or after 40 applications]

We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always be available at the volunteering page. If you don’t see a role that fits with your skills and interests now, keep an eye on the listings. We plan to put up new applications every few weeks, and we will also publicize new roles as they become available.

All applications generate a confirmation page and an auto-reply to your e-mail address. We encourage you to read the confirmation page and to whitelist our email address in your e-mail client. If you do not receive the auto-reply within 24 hours, please check your spam filters and then contact us.

If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.

NEWS POST MODERATOR

News Post Moderation is a Communications subcommittee that is responsible for moderating comments on AO3 and OTW News Posts as well as liaising with other OTW committees to respond to individual commenters as needed.

News Post Moderators freeze, hide, or disallow comments that do not comply with our News Post Moderation Policy. We approve comments that do comply, respond to user questions and concerns, and communicate with other OTW committees so that users can receive helpful, accurate answers.

We are looking for volunteers who can maintain a consistent level of work, ask for help and collaborate both inside the team and with other committees, and make fair and objective decisions about what comments to moderate.

Applications are due 28 May 2025 [or after 40 applications]

Apply for News Post Moderator at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.

https://www.transformativeworks.org/the-otw-is-recruiting-for-news-post-moderator-volunteers/

https://www.transformativeworks.org/?p=265239

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Interesting Links for 21-05-2025

1. Avenge yourself on the icebergs that sunk you in Titanic Re-Christened: Maiden Vengeance: (tags:stupidity games titanic review )
2. UK Suspends Trade Talks With Israel Over 'Abominable' Situation In Gaza: (tags:uk israel gaza )
3. What happened to American manufacturing is not unusual - here's what experts says helps: (tags:manufacturing economics )
4. Chicago Sun-Times prints summer reading list full of fake books: (tags:newspapers ai OhForFucksSake )
5. How many carers does it take to afford a flat? The answer is Labour's big problem: (tags:economics labour care precariousness migration )
6. The Hive - a glorious piece of art in Kew Gargens: (tags:bees art gardens viaKenny )
7. Flying dinosaur fossil with intact feathers reveals how first birds took flight: (tags:birds dinosaurs flight fossils paleontology )
8. The Default-Parent Problem (I am delighted that both school and nursery have now mostly learnt to call me first): (tags:parenting sexism society )
9. Israeli MP Yair Golan hits out at own country for 'killing babies as a hobby': (tags:Israel genocide )
10. The mayfly's lifecycle: a fascinating, fleeting story: (tags:life insects )

Cinnabar moth

Saw one of these this morning in the garden, although the red markings were fluorescent pink on mine:

https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/cinnabar

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film

[film] Pepi, Luci, Bom

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

(no subject)

Happy birthday,

lotesse and

nilchance!

Current Mood: calm

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books,
read25

2025/076: Knave of Diamonds — Laurie R King

2025/076: Knave of Diamonds — Laurie R King

I'd planned this. (I plan everything, so you can bet I'd worked on how to do this.) (Not, mind you, that I'd entirely decided just how much to tell her.) (And about whom.) [loc. 602]

I was an avid reader of Laurie R King's Mary Russell books (in which an elderly Sherlock Holmes marries a young woman of considerable talents) -- my enthusiasm waned around Pirate King, and though I've read and enjoyed several novels in the series since then, there are definitely others I've missed. No matter! This, the nineteenth novel in the series, more or less stands alone (though there are clear and rather intriguing references to earlier books) and I found it engaging and fun, though (again) Russell and Holmes are separated for a good part of the novel.

The year is 1926. Mary has just returned from a wedding in France (cue a lot of namedropping: Hemingway, 'Scotty' Fitzgerald, Picasso...) when she's visited by her long-lost Uncle Jake, who she hasn't seen since before her parents died. ( Read more... )

(no subject)

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250520.html

Have you ever seen the band of our Milky Way Galaxy?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250520.html

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How Much Longer Until I Can Quit These Clowns?

You know your relationship with someone is bad when you find yourself doing the math to answer the question, How much longer until I can quit these clowns? In this case the clowns are my mortgage company, and "quit" means pay off my mortgage so I can be done with them.

I've noted before that I don't like my current mortgage company. My loan has been sold a few times, starting from the originator, whom I genuinely liked. Then it was sold from Originating Lender A to New Bank B. Bank B worked fine when everything could be automated but was a pain in the neck to deal with every single time the computers kicked out an exception that required human intervention. Now Scumbag Debt Collector C— yes, my new mortgage servicer is a scummy debt collector— pisses me off with every single communication they send me because, well, they're a debt collector. All their processes as they try to move into mortgage servicing still read like they're a debt collector, treating me like a deadbeat borrower who's fallen behind on payments.

The answer, BTW, is 6½ years. In another 6.5 years of steady monthly payments I'll have this loan paid off.

Could I be done with these clowns sooner? Oh hell yes! I could increase my monthly payments to retire the debt sooner. Hell, I could just write a check to pay off the balance. The whole balance. It's not that big anymore. I've been paying down the mortgage for 20+ years and have never taken cash out on refinancing.

Of course, just because the balance "is not that big" doesn't mean I have that kind of cash sitting around. I'd have sell a few things from my investment portfolio to pay it off. But the thing is, investments are investments. They earn money. And the cost of this mortgage— the financial cost— is small. I have a rate below 2.5%! It's financially a loss to sell assets that return way better than 2.5% APY to pay off a loan that costs less than 2.5% APR.

What would change that calculation? One thing is if the emotional cost of keeping the loan with these clowns becomes too expensive. The first time these clowns screw up in a way that's more than just passively irritating, I may just pay them off and be done with them.

Current Mood: busy

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Thanks to a donation from

lone_cat, you can now read the beginning of "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden." Lawrence and Stan look for their classrooms at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

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wiscon

Wiscon

I just bought a membership in this year's Wiscon, which is entirely online, so I don't have to worry about energy levels, or covid risk, and all I'm paying for is the con, not airline tickets and a hotel room and all.

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Someone in South Korea made a good choice

Kanye West was supposed to have a concert in Korea at the end of this month, but after he released a song called "Heil Hitler" on VE Day, his concert was canceled and — perhaps even more devastating — sales of his merch were stopped. Hopefully we'll see more of this sort of thing going forward.

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Five Baby Raccoons

Having heard babies in the attic after Momma Raccoon was taken away, a different fellow came to set a trap for them in the attic. He was very thin though and realized that he could shimmy into the narrow space above our vaulted ceiling in the attic and then reach the baby raccoons with his grabber. He collected all of the baby raccoons that he could find and put them in the traps. The four of them were *extremely* cute when he brought them down.

He was still sitting in his truck outside when there was more noise from the attic above the living room, which was noticed because Gretchen and K hadn't gotten out of there yet. This meant that he could be asked to return to the attic and not long after that the fifth baby raccoon had been collected.

We now believe that there are no more baby raccoons.

We hope we are right.

And *someone* has gotten a very good review...

Current Mood: busy

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Coral Reefs

New 7-mile-long underwater sculpture park invites snorkelers to save coral reefs

With construction starting this year, the Great Florida Reef will soon feature a 7-mile public art installation: The Reefline.

Both a sculpture park and a snorkeling trail, the development will also serve as an artificial reef to offer shelter to fish, which will, in turn, help corals thrive.

( Read more... )

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Catching up...

What's been going on? Oh, nothing much. A tornado missed touching down in my hood on the way to downtown by an uncomfortable margin last week - it ended up not touching down, at all, fortunately for us. Unlike poor St. Louis and elsewhere. I did get from the attic to the basement with essentials, my emergency lamp/charger and 2 elderly confused kitties in 3 minutes, so good to set a preliminary bar to improve upon.

I went to the Independent Book Publisher's Association Pub U Conference on Friday in St. Paul. On the plus side, I met some lovely people and had a nice lunch. I also scored contacts at two book distributors to have chats about how to try and "level up" sales at Queen of Swords Press so I think that part was worthwhile. The one workshop panel I made it to was...an experience. Apparently, they don't really vet their presenters. Or maybe they do and thought this was fine? I went to a panel on fundraising and grant writing for publishers at which: one panelist conducted a sort of revival meeting about writing mission statements and believing in yourself (but nothing about finding sources of funding, applying, etc.); there was a mildly terrifying New Age skinny white lady who had no noticeable publishing experience, but was apparently trying start a cult, and urged us all to ask our personal communities for $5000-$25,000 to “be a part of the process” (head slap! Why didn’t I think of that?); and then there was the moderator who urged us to go through our mail to look for possible local funding sources to approach (I’m sure the fly-by-night realty companies trying to get their hands on my house would tots be interested in our books! Or maybe the gas company!). Then there was the AI panel, about which the less said, the better and which also could have done with several fewer people who were all unquestioningly “shiny toy!” and utterly clueless about the fact that if they get the brave new techbro future they are so excited about, no one will need them (hint: avoid NYU's publishing program. Just saying). Would I go again? Not unless someone else was paying for it.

Saturday was Rochester MN Pride, which was mostly delightful except for being cold and windy. My friend Matt was great and we found a fun new restaurant.
Sunday, I went to breakfast with Caroline Stevermer, who is a marvelous dining companion, and to a matinee of "Things Like This" with another friend. This is a new indie gay romcom in which one of the protagonists is fat, but that is not the central conflict of the story and no one insists that he get skinny to get the guy! It was charmingly uneven and enjoyable.

This week is a mad scramble of stressors - my work contract is up in a couple of weeks, my mortgage just took a healthy leap upward, etc. So I am dealing with it like an adult and fleeing town for part of the weekend. My cat sitter is camping out here by way of a mini vacation for her and I am off to Red Wing, MN to hang out at a delightful Victorian hotel with a whirlpool bath (my sore hip is craving this!), go to tea at the local tea shop, look at antiques, write a bit and such. Oh, and log in to WisCon online for our 4PM Saturday panel on small press publishing. Is this wise? Nope! Very much looking forward to it.
Have a grand holiday weekend, however you're spending it!

Current Mood: tired

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(no subject)

Shidarizakura (part 1 of 1, complete)

Shidarizakura
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1625
[Thursday, 24 March, 2016]

:: Diane Cort makes time to follow her family tradition of hanami. She also makes an effort to include an acquaintance who could become much more important to their family. Part of the Mercedes story arc in the Polychrome Heroics universe. Written for the April 2025 Feathering the Nest prompt call, from a suggestion by

siliconshaman, and posted because I just couldn’t let it get lost in the ether any longer. ::

Shidarizakura

Blossoms peek between
curtains of leaves to weep
for a trembling world.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Pool Open!

fuzzyred is hosting a pool for the half-price sale in Polychrome Heroics. Comment on the pool post there if you wish to join the fun. You can name your own targets if you wish, but the pool targets are starting with these Shiv poems:

If I have enough interest, I would like to purchase one of the three giant Shiv epics, or open one for microfunding if there is a good start but not enough to buy it outright. If there is not enough interest, I have two other Shiv poems in mind instead.

Giant Epics
"The Release of Human Potentialities" $568 (q.p. $284) OR
"Shopping for College" $639.50 (q.p. $319.75) OR
"The Bones of Chihuly" $618 (q.p. $309)

Cheaper Options
"The First Swath Cut by the Scythe" $106.50 (q.p. $53.25)
"So Monumental and Still" $162 (q.p. $81)

(no subject)

Super Birthday Wishes are going out to the one and only....

CHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AA Happy Birthday 3

Watch on YouTube

[ SECRET POST #6710 ]

⌈ Secret Post #6710 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #959..
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Current Location: Cambridge

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Comedy as Therapy ...

Watch on YouTube

I love his work normally in regards to reflections on the news and political scene, but this isn't that. This is about his Childhood, College, Army Experience and Adult life and Therapy. Personal rather than his usual slightly snarky humor and very enjoyable if you have the time for and hour & 15 minute dialogue.