After the political shenanigans and other episodes of social media hysteria over the past few years, I'm beginning to think the bots are like little seeds of exotic or dangerous plants, waiting for the chance to germinate in the right conditions. Like the spore pods in "Alien." The bot that took my photo and started following Loyola basketball was putatively a Sox fan, also. I think whomever is sending out all these bots is trying to control narratives with these little sleeping soldiers, bots that exist for a while to establish credibility but are ready to spring into action at any time if needed. I guess they could be deployed at other tasks, like politics or social issues, to bend consensus or start chaos.

As for Bill Behrns, I don't think he's a bot. I think he's part of an overworked and understaffed athletic communications staff, and here and there he's had to triage his efforts and quickly slap some overused bandage terms like "rising star," "heartbreaker," "lift the lid," and "raise the curtain" on some of the text. (By the way, have you noticed that the MVC doesn't even really write releases about stories anymore? It's like a slide show or something.)

Interesting take on bots, JCT. It kind of relates to my question what is the financial or other incentive for these Bot creators to have their bots follow certain accounts like Loyola basketball.
I understand the Richard Roeper-type situation where a bot creator or broker sells bot followers to somebody trying to inflate his numbers, but what is to be gained by a bot just following somebody in an unsolicited and probably unwanted fashion?

As for Behrns, "Lift the lid" is one of his go-to phrases all right, if I remember correctly.

Looks like I missed a couple "Rising Stars":

Drew Valentine: "Drew is a high-energy individual and is a rising star in this profession."

Bryan Mullins: "Bryan is a rising star and possesses all of the traits necessary to be a head coach."

Armon Gates: " Without question, Armon is one of the fast-rising stars in the coaching profession..."

Jevon Mamon: " ... We have had success in bringing rising stars into our program" [Editor's note: I'll say!] "and Jevon is another individual who has a bright future."

I read Ramblermania often but rarely post. As one may guess by my pseudonym I been around Loyola athletics for fifty plus years. I would like to say that Bill and his assistant, Ryan, do a fantastic job as the Sports Information Department of a Division One NCAA Athletic department. These two men cover all intercollegiate sports for both the mens and women’s program. At other universities the tasks that these men perform are carried by staff much larger than two people.

General Swella is ordering a strategic withdrawal on the Behrns-Bot Front. (Some might uncharitably call it a full retreat or even a rout.)

Reasons:

-He is impressed by the support for Behrns expressed by many Ramblermaniacs.

-He has been informed by a trusted source that Behrns did not receive swella's email.

-He has discovered that he and Behrns share a common opinion of the Grace Calhoun era.

-He accepts that his is the minority view regarding whose responsibility it is to purge fake Twitter bot followers.

-He is getting bored with the whole bot business.

As a consequence, swella no longer claims that Bill Behrns is a bot.

Swella disavows his prior charge that Behrns writing is formulaic.

Swella still hopes Behrns finds an alternative for "rising star" the next time Loyola hires a young coach.

Swella still hopes all the fake bot followers go away.

In conclusion, you all wasted your time reading this crap, because it didn't lead anywhere and didn't accomplish anything.
I'd apologize except I'm sure I wasted more of my time than you.