- The NFT community has lamented the involvement of bots after Reddit dropped its Gen 3 NFTs
- Some claimed the bots prevented them from laying their hands on the limited-edition digital artworks
- The mint site also experienced some downtimes causing some collectors to blame it on automated NFT trading tools
The NFT community has lamented the involvement of bots after Reddit dropped its Gen 3 digital artworks earlier this week. According to collectors, the automated trading tools prevented them from purchasing the limited edition artworks while others claimed the bots overloaded the minting website causing it to crash. The collectors blamed Reddit for failing to incorporate anti-spam measures to block automated trading tools.
300,000 NFTs Bought in Under 3 Seconds
The Gen 3 Reddit NFTs feature the platform’s logo as a collectible avatar which Reddit said can be taken “on or off Reddit.” Its launch instantly received widespread adoption from collectors causing issues that crashed the minting website.
🚨#RedditCollectibles fans, the wait is over! Gen 3 is officially available with limited-edition designs from over 100 different artists. Jump into the next dimension and get yours now.🚨 pic.twitter.com/QcCSAUs8rE
— Reddit (@Reddit) April 11, 2023
However, some collectors claimed that the crash came from bots that “bought 300K avatars in under 3 seconds” consequently causing the average Reddit user to miss out on a chance to own a piece of the new collection.
The glorious experience of trying to buy a gen3 @reddit NFT (Collectible Avatar) in one picture.
That was a proper sh*itshow. Apparently, bots bought 300k avatars in under 3 seconds.
That’s how you make your average users happy! 💀
Still, thanks for the alpha @CoinGurruu 🫶 pic.twitter.com/rbkFYCmLik
— W3nzel.eth (@thisiswenzel) April 11, 2023
A section of the disgruntled buyers aimed their guns at Reddit for not incorporating anti-spam measures such as the use of a captcha to block bots.
Bots Don’t Need a Website
However, while some lamented the involvement of automated trading tools, others revealed that they were among those who benefited from the bots. One Twitter user, for example, disclosed that their “bot partners” helped them scoop “a good” number of Gen 3 NFTs even when the mint website was down.
Even though the site completely died we managed to hit a good amount before the hour thanks to our custom Reddit monitor by our member @CheekyZoot
No need to guess links 🧑🎨
Checkouts thanks to our bot partners @orcarobot and @MinTechBots
Pastel on top 🫡 pic.twitter.com/vVd45om8ZW
— Pastel Alpha (@PastelAlpha) April 11, 2023
The new NFT collection is part of Reddit’s efforts to empower creators on the platform, a movement it started in July last year. However, the push comes roughly over a year after it declared interest in Web 3.0 and crypto.
With bots preventing the average NFT collector from accessing an initial mint, entities planning to conduct an NFT drop can block bots in the initial mint phase to ensure a fair distribution of a project’s collectibles.
