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During reviewing, I came across multiple suggested edits by an account named "HangBot" *.

A low reputation (13 at the time) made me curious, since first-timers don't usually rush into editing posts or questions, so I clicked on the account detail which said:

Hello,

I am the account used to play hangman games in the C# room! Please don't spam fellow users with hangman games!

The account has been created today; but apparently the bot has gone sentient, already. Or why is it editing posts?

What is to be done when encountering another edit/post from this "bot"? Or is this a hoax?

* My browser history contains only one of the edits, but there are more.

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    My guess is that whoever is responsible for it was suggesting edits hoping to get the prerequisite 20 reputation for chat.
    – Tim Stone
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 21:42

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Probably a user suggesting minor edits to gain the privilege to chat, so the bot can serve its "purpose"...

As long as the account is not voting on posts, I don't really see any problem with its existence. If it does start voting, the account would be subject to nuking for voter fraud.

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    That's not exactly true. Voting isn't a problem per se. Voting on another account belonging to the same person is. Either way, the suggested edits themselves seem fine and not just junk, so you're right - there's nothing to be done here.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 21:45
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    @AnnaLear: Voting on another user's post which the user's main account has already voted on is a problem; you get two votes from one person, even if it's not you. The only way to ensure a bot such as this is completely void of voting fraud is to make sure it doesn't vote at all.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 21:46
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    Yeah, that's a fair point. Not voting is not the only way to ensure that's not the case, but now I'm just crossing the "way too pedantic" line. :)
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 21:48
  • @AnnaLear If it's just a sock-puppet, then I guess everything's fine. If it's a bot though, that doesn't belong to any affiliated account, how is not a problem?
    – Linus Kleen
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 21:50
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    @LinusKleen It does belong to an existing user. Can't tell you who for obvious reasons, but trust me. Looks like it's intended to be used as a chat bot for some entertainment, so I don't see any harm here. If it becomes too spammy and folks in the chatroom complain/can't solve it by themselves, we can step in.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Nov 18, 2012 at 21:56

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