i keep noticing more and more random bot-like accounts interacting with this sub and spreading pro-IR propoganda.

due to the current situation and this platform, unfortunately these are expected. but i feel like i keep seeing more and more of them. some have almost no post history, hidden post history with low karma/new account age, all under "unspecified" flair which is equivlant to no flair really. i mean accounts with really almost no activity.

i do find this pretty worrying, as this place seems to be almost the only one not infected by IR propoganda on reddit. in these sensitive times, its important to make sure there is not propoganda being spread on this subreddit, and keep it a place iranians can come to reliably. it still is such a place, but as time goes on, i figure there will be more and more of these accounts flooding this subreddit. specially whenever theres any attacks.

to counteract this, i think the mods should probably remove the unspecified flair, and not allow users without a specified flair to post or comment. there are already alot of flairs that literally anyone can choose. "new iran" flair is pretty non-political, and if you dont want a new iran well then you support the IR. this is explained in the rules too. im not sure why the unspecified flair stays, i think its much better to let people stay unflaired and have automod reply to them, inform them they need a flair to interact and remove comments and posts of unflaired users. many subreddits do this already. and, if youre a foreigner you can just pick your country's flair. being a foreigner also stops you from interacting with important discussions that shouldnt be commented on by anyone not iranian, which i already find great. however, ive also seen cases where people who clearly were of another nationality based on post history were speaking over iranians under unspecified flair. so, overall, i think this will help alot with filtering out the bots. of course, some people will just lie about being iranian anyway, but it would help a good bit. if there are concerns of people not knowing how to change a post flair, there can be a tutorial post linked to the automod message.

there should also be karma and account age restrictions on who can post or comment. ive seen users with practically empty accounts comment pro-IR things, and sometimes ones with outright negative karma, which makes me pretty sure its either an account made specifically for spreading such propoganda on this subreddit or some sort of ragebait or troll account that does that sort of thing in different communities.

of course, theres no real way to just automatically filter every bot or propoganda spreader, but these are some ways that almost every large subreddit implements and considering the current situation, i believe its time for this sub to implement this as well.

has everybody else been noticing this as well? of course thankfully they usually get removed in a bit or at least downvoted to oblivion, but i just think these measures would make it easier for the mods and maybe stop some bots. what other ways can others think of?