Easy as 123

I currently have about 4.1K follower
Roughly 1.1K of those are profiles called 123 Movies.

I really want to say I am exaggerating a bit here, but just try going into the search option and type in 123 Movies, click “more” on the people option and scroll down. Just for the fun of it. Does that look like 1.1K to you? I am convinced that most, if not all, are following me.

I don’t think I’m special that all these movies are following me. They are probably following you, too. You know those profiles that make nasty comments and have, like, 10 people following them? 8 of those followers are probably 123 Movies.

And every other day, a new 123 Movies will follow. This website (I guess?) has more profiles than your hovering narcissistic ex. Which I am sure is giving your ex a real complex.

I’m not going to be yelling “bot!” here because I am sure Medium has some anti bot measures in place. I also noticed that some of the profiles are spelled 123 MOvies. So instead what I picture is this sweaty, dimly lit warehouse with grimy space dividers making tiny little cubicles and noisy wall mounted fans all around — the kind that have a little ribbon attached to the center — that lazily sweep from left to right with a repetitive squeak that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, not unlike nails on a chalk board. And these supervisors who have been trained with old 1940s SS manuals, are pacing through the rows of cubicles, hands clamped behind their back, watching, but above all listening; listening for the sound of pauses in the clicking of keyboards, or escaped sighs, so they can loom over the poor writer and breath hot breath down their neck. The writer, with slightly shaking fingers and sweat gathering on his brow, rattles out yet another article for yet another 123 Movies profile. They don’t even provide mechanical keyboards. The bastards.

I get it. In a virtual world of popular streaming services, shady movie sites need to do something to get some traffic. And the people who write for these profiles all have bills. They all need a bit of cash for the back pains caused by sitting bend over a keyboard for hours on end and cheap liquor to drink away those regrets about what they are doing with their lives.

What can you do, really? Block the profiles? Report them? Not only is that a full time job, the net result is that those terrified writers will end up in the big, air conditioned office of the head of the SS supervisors to get chewed out before getting the boot.

I honestly don’t even wish to push that responsibility off on the people at Your Friends @ Medium.

I guess all I can do is ease my annoyance with a bit of Netflix binge.