Um, I know this isn't like the point of your blog so I hope it's ok to ask, I thought I would since you talked about bot comments before
what's the problem or point or whatever of the praise spam comments? I don't really get whats wrong with them if they're just saying nice things?
You're good, I don't mind answering! Although if you want examples specific to AO3 you may want to talk to the AO3 people, my answer is going to be based on my experience across multiple sites :)
So the problem is usually that they aren't just saying nice things. A commenter that just says something nice, even if they're saying nice things on every chapter or multiple times on a single chapter, isn't necessarily spam.
Spammers/scammers don't usually stop at that, though. It's more like a honey pot scam. They say nice things to gain your trust, then use that to manipulate you. That's where the second half of that bullet point from the AO3 post comes in - unsolicited advice. Of course, not all unsolicited advice is spam/scam (although it can be a bit rude if the author didn't ask for advice). That's part of what makes these bots/scammers harder to spot.
Some of the potential outcomes/goals of these types of comments:
Flooding the comment section with bot comments to discourage other commenters or the writer
Manipulating the writer into making changes they don't want to make (to flex power or as part of some other goal)
Gaining your trust, then convincing you to contact them outside of AO3 (where they can then steal your data or manipulate you further)
Trying to convince you to pay for a writing class run by them (a class that may or may not exist)
That last point almost happened to me once, but not on AO3. A commenter started off saying lots of nice things, and then they had a few tiny suggestions, and then they had much bigger suggestions, and then they said I should take a class to refine my writing and wouldn't you know it they just so happened to offer a course that would be perfect and it would only cost $50! I was 13-ish at the time, so I had no money and knew enough not to steal my parent's cards, so I declined. And then this person who had been so nice to me before got kinda mean, pushing me to "just find a way" to scrape together the money, and then stopped talking to me entirely all of a sudden.
Having said all that, these types of spam/scam comments are harder to spot than the ones that lie from the jump or say hateful things. Most nice comments aren't trying to trick you, and sometimes people offering unsolicited advice are genuinely trying to be helpful. You can't approach every interaction like it's 100% a scam, but you also shouldn't ignore red flags when they pop up.
Here are a few red flags to look out for when trying to spot these types of scammers/spam bots:
Originality of the comments: Are they commenting a lot, but it's all the same copy and pasted? Depending on the comment itself, this could be a low or high red flag. Longer comments copy and pasted is a big red flag, but shorter ones could just be someone with low energy. I know I've been guilty of commenting just "I love this!" on multiple chapters in a row because I was tired when reading but wanted to leave a comment. Use your best judgement and check for other flags.
Frequency of the comments: If the comments are appearing at a rate too fast for humans, that's a bot, likely trying to flood the comment section and overwhelm you.
Something off with the suggestions: Are they leaving suggestions that don't seem to line up with your fic? Like suggesting something that doesn't fit the genre or wouldn't make sense in the AU you're writing. Little things could just be a difference of opinion, but if it's something more obviously wrong it may be a sign that the comment is from a spammer/scammer who isn't really reading the fic.
Escalating suggestions: Did they offer small tweaks at first but then started suggesting more significant changes? They're either spam/scam comments or a legit commenter being rude.
Reactions to you: How do they react when you don't follow their suggestion? Do they start insulting you, guilt tripping you, or pressuring you? That's bad!
Reactions to you 2: If you do implement one of their suggestions (whether intentionally or if it just happened to be something you'd planned on doing anyway), how do they react? Do they gloat, start escalating things, or even demand compensation for their "service"? That's also bad!
Taking things off-site: If they start pressuring you to switch to emailing them or joining their private discord server, that's a red flag. I know discord is pretty popular with The Youth, and not every invite is inherently nefarious. Someone asking if you want to join their writers group may be perfectly nice and not malicious at all. But be aware of other red flags and stay cautious.