[Steemit-Discussion] Bots. Are they good or bad?
We all know some bots. Most popular are the voting bots like @randowhale, @booster, @minnowbooster and @minnowsupport. They will up vote your posts for some SBD in return. Some other bots you might have spotted are here against plagiarism like @cheetah or @steemcleaners. Those are the useful bots. And then we have the welcoming bots….
Well I want to start a discussion on those bots and if they have any value. What is the upside and what is the downside of those bots.
Upvoting Bots
Voting bots. The good, the bad and the ugly. Everyone used them so you must have an opinion about them. I use them as well and I do like them. It gives you that boost in your posts. All and well and I see it as an investment. But… What I really do think about them is that there is someone behind that bot. Someone that is getting rich and can drop the bot whenever they want and keep all that money. I don’t think that is ‘fair’. I would suggest an official Steemit upvoting bot that has ‘sisters’ like @randowhale has (randowhale1 and randowhalebonus). All the SBD you send towards that bot would go into Steem Power and afterwards will be invested in Steemit itself to let it grow. That would be a better use. So I’m in doubt, I like it but also dislike the reason behind it.
Plagiarism Bots
The plagiarism bots are in my opinion needed for sure. They have some real value so that you can spot people that are fake. Whenever you see a comment from @cheetah you click on the link and see if it’s really copied. I have got 1 comment of cheetah recently that was linked to one of my other blogs. Yet I do not understand why though. It had the same topic but didn’t had the same content. But I was actually very glad that I got that comment because that means it does it’s work properly of spotting such things. I really don’t have an argument against these kind of bots but the two we have now is more than enough!
Welcoming Bots
These bots are the worst! When I joined I had one or two bots that commented and that was fine. One of them was @botty and he is really great. But since then there is an increase in bots and there are probably ten welcoming bots now. A bit overkill and isn’t needed at all. It takes away the interaction with real users. A welcome should be done with real users so you can connect and interact. A bot has no empathy, doesn’t give a great comment and people using those welcoming bots just want more followers. These should be removed and there should be only 1 bot that welcomes you, an official Steemit bot or something.
First off, @minnowsupport doesn't charge SBD for upvotes, it's a free service of the Minnow Support Project.
As for the rest of the upvote bots, I don't have a problem with it. And I don't think the people behind them will take the money and leave steemit. They receive curation rewards on the posts they upvote (as well as the SBD/STEEM people send them) and the more they invest back into Steem Power the more successful they can be.
@cheetah is cool although it can be a little too tenacious when it comes to someone posting a series where the previous posts may have used similar language or content. It seems as if you have come across this problem personally. I think people tend to misunderstand @cheetah, though. When it comments on your post linking to similar content, it isn't necessarily accusing you of plagiarism and actually it upvotes you. Only if you repeatedly plagiarize content does it blacklist you and then it downvotes your posts until you follow the link and clear up the issue with whoever is behind it. So, no need to worry about cheetah unless you are actually doing something wrong!
Yes, I agree with you, the welcome bots are quite annoying. I would much rather upvote/reply to someone who took the time to actually read my introduction post and leave a REAL comment.
Thank you for your reply.
Minnowsupport doesn't charge SBD every time, although you have to pay a (very very little) amount to get a registration. That one is one of the good ones though!
I don't think the people behind those upvoting bots will leave Steemit on short term, but it might end someday and then they can cash out. It's a doomsday scenario ;).
You're right about Cheetah too, it does bring up similar content and the one thing that 'frustrates' (Sounds heavy but my feelings are way less) me is that it brings up your own content. Its something you wrote yourself so it shouldn't get the attention of Cheetah. Only when you copy paste from an other author or a source from internet.
This post received a 3.7% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @rkrijgsman! For more information, click here!
Yeah, totally agree about @cheetah. It should have a way to differentiate between your own posts and others'.
I am still new to this and still working out the bots..thanks for the info, sorry I don't have an informed opinion to share :)
This post received a 3.3% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @rkrijgsman! For more information, click here!
@minnowsupport free
@minnowbooster - seen only profit
@randowhale - profit
@booster - sometimes no profit (but un-quantifiable boost to post visibility)
@lovejuice - no real profit but nice to give as a present :)
@bellyrub - same as above
@discordia - same as above
@treeplanter - small profit
That's my opinion as of today, and it may change tomorrow!
This post has received a 0.32 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @rkrijgsman.
Nice post! :)
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by rkrijgsman from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
You should look into @gentlebot and @thing-2. They don't charge for upvotes.
@rkrijgsman got you a $1.91 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)
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I'm a newbie and I've used resteeming bots to try and boost my presence. If bots are just a product of smart contracts operating on the steemit blockchain, I don't understand some of the negative comments I've seen posted regarding their use, saying they're undermining the legitimacy of the platform, or are merely instruments of spammers.
Being new to the community, I am seeing a number of different interpretations of what is considered ethical behavior on steem and what is not.
If I have a bot resteem or upvote my post, is that considered spamming?
What are the current ethical parameters around using bots, if any, or is this all just part of an ongoing discussion as the platform evolves.
I want to do this right, without being accused of inappropriate behavior due to lack of knowledge about whatever 'best practices' are considered the minimal standard, but as a newbie, I still have a bit of a learning curve to overcome, and I'm seeing a lot of confliction of views when it comes to the subject of bots.