The Account That Never Sleeps
A free B2-level English story for language learners, readable online in English, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
A forum moderator suspects a suspiciously active account might be a bot, until a simple message reveals who is really behind it.
As one of the volunteer moderators for a fan forum with almost ten thousand members, Yusuf is used to strange usernames and odd posting habits. Still, one account has been bothering him for weeks. A user called Comet_Reader posts at every hour of the day, seemingly without ever sleeping. Sometimes it replies to three separate threads within the same minute, in noticeably different writing styles.
Some of the other moderators are convinced it's an automated bot, quietly built to boost the forum's activity numbers. Others worry it might be collecting personal information from unsuspecting members. Still others think it might be a single very dedicated, slightly odd person who simply doesn't sleep much. The moderator group chat splits roughly down the middle on what to do.
Yusuf has to choose. He could ban the account immediately, the way the forum's rules technically allow for suspiciously bot-like behaviour. That would close the question before it grows into something bigger. Or he could message the account directly first and actually ask. That risks tipping off a real bot, if that's what it is, before anyone can prove anything.
He decides to message first. Banning a real person by mistake feels worse to him than being slightly too cautious with an actual bot. Comet_Reader replies within minutes, apologising for the confusion. In surprisingly warm and personal language, it explains that the account is shared by three cousins spread across different countries. They grew up on the same books and never wanted separate accounts, because they liked feeling like one reader.
It explains everything: the different writing styles, the posts at impossible hours, all of it. It was simply three people in three time zones, logging into one shared identity whenever they had a free moment. If Yusuf had banned the account first and asked questions later, as the rules technically allowed, it would have been the wrong call. Three genuine fans would have lost their shared home on the forum for good.
He asks them, gently, to consider creating separate accounts eventually, mostly so future moderators don't panic the way he almost did. They agree, though they admit they'll probably keep posting together sometimes anyway, just to see if anyone notices.
