Are you real?

Are you a real person?

How can someone tell? On the internet, no one knows you’re a bot. Or a dog. Or an Aibo.

So — how would I tell? Is there a second-order Turing Test to prove your humanity?

In any ecosystem that rewards follower count — which includes most social sites — there is a pressure toward imposterhood. What can we as designers do about this? What should we as readers do?

Welcome, new readers! Drop me a comment or a clap or something so I can distinguish you from spambots. It’s a rough world out here.