Going to War on STEEM
I normally try to be a Live and Let Live kind of guy. Lately though, some of the blatant abuse on this platform has been starting to get to me. There are only so many times that you can warn off an abuser and be ignored before it is time to escalate and I’ve come to that point.
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I have a user who has been commenting on my posts pretty much every day for well over a month. They usually post a one-liner and often that one-liner is a copy and paste of my own words from my post so they are not only making no effort, they are not even trying to hide it. They upvote themselves at 100% and never upvote the original post. Here is a look at their outgoing votes on steemworld. No surprises here :-
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As you can see there is 100% self-voting going on here and it’s been going on for a while. Despite first warning and then flagging this user 8 times over the last 2 weeks they are persisting. I normally try and take the time to properly curate comments on my posts to boost up the more meaningful comments and this users self-voting is consistently pushing themselves to the top. That is annoying enough and it’s probably the reason why I’ve noticed them, but now that I've investigated it's the consistent and blatant abuse of the platform which I’ve had enough of.
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If this is the sort of behaviour that is now the norm on STEEM then I am clearly in the wrong place. I can see that some people are really trying to work within the spirit of the platform and are promoting the long term interests and values of all Steemians, but I am becoming increasingly demoralised that the good guys are losing this fight.
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So I’m taking a stand. I am escalating. I might be about to go out in a blaze of glory but I am not going to just sit here anymore. I have some delegation coming back this week and then I am going to stalk this users self-votes and downvote every one of them – not just ones appearing in my own posts. I apologise in advance to my followers and followees who may not benefit from my depleted voting power while this is going on, but enough is enough.
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Please note that this is not a call to arms. It is an explanation of my provocative actions in advance. There are bigger abusers out there I’ll admit, but this is a fairer fight from a STEEM POWER perspective and I’m not quite ready to martyr myself in the bigger conflicts. Maybe the day will come soon when I don the virtual suicide vest and sign off for good, but it is not today.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au
https://steemworld.org
https://trainingalliance.edu.au
https://steemit.com
http://thehayride.com
Go get em’ mate. They have it coming. :D
Thanks. Hopefully it doesn't get too ugly :/
Let me know if it does, I can always recharge my voting power and help out if needed.
I don't think you should be stingy with the flagging option. All it does is reduce their reputation and their post reward. There is no "moderation" on steemit as far as I am aware.
My 0.2 SBD:
I tend to agree but it's easier said than done unfortunately. You could abolish self-voting but then you'll just get sock puppet accounts circle-jerking each other. That is "next level" abuse that is also going on and harder to detect. Same with upvote bots. Payment for upvotes can be taken off-chain and not visible so detection becomes harder. I like your idea about comment rewards. That's an interesting one that might work to some degree.
👍
Upvoted to give you a little boost before battle.
Thanks! Appreciate the support and encouragement. I'm just building up some voting power before my delegation comes back so it might be the quiet before the storm ;)
I totally approve your crusade. Isn't there a steemit Code of Conduct ? Is this kind of behavior allowed in our community ? There should be a minimum of rules to be followed. To whom do I complain ? I am new in steemit and I ignore many things...
I wish there were easy to understand rules to follow somewhere along with what to do, what not to do, what everything means and how to use everything properly. I've only been on here a couple of weeks and I'm stumbling my way through trying to figure it out... I think I'm slowly getting there but to be completely honest, I'm not really sure.
The behaviour is allowed and so there aren't any hard and fast rules against it. I just consider it abuse and they've been around long enough to know better. There are some guides about how to be a better steemian if you do a bit of a search.
Thanks @buggedout, I'll have to do some more looking. It is tough coming into this new platform with so very little information on how to use it. I still only have very limited understanding on everything in the wallet.
In a system where you're allowed to abuse it, you will always get those who will. Are we able to block people on here? Stop them from following you?
There is a Mute function and that might stop the irritation but it does nothing against the abuse and they'll still end up at the top of my comments with a brainless (possibly automated) comment.
It's a shame there's not better functions for this type of thing. Wishing you luck...
Mate! You gotta do what you gotta do, I’m glad your taking a stand. I’m sure that your aware on a platform like this with somewhat unlimited freedoms this kind of behaviour is going to happen, that doesn’t excuse it though and I think by taking a stand it will hopefully discourage some of these abusers. Good luck mate! We’re here for you if you need us!
Thanks. I really appreciate the support!
if I upvote but I don't comment I deserve the hammer too??? I just want to make sure I have the rules clear
No. As I mentioned above, there is no rules. It's just about etiquette and ethics for me. Once you understand the system is designed to encourage social engagement then it's pretty easy to spot abuse.
well I'm new on Steem it, so far I've seen the good side of the site, I've read only good comments on the posts, I find people here is more encouraging and supportive that other sites, maybe later on I find myself with those you mentioned, there are all kind of people everywhere, right?
I am admire your efforts. @patrice and @steemcleaners and all the hardworking souls who spend countless hours going after the abusers only have so much time. They need to earn a living and feed their families, too. Steemit is our community, and as such it is up to each and every one of us to keep an eye out and work together to keep our community safe and clean. If we each do a little, so much is done.
Thanks for your encouraging comment. I am learning just how difficult the job of combating abuse can be.
I hope to get more effective as I learn :)
Yes, you will, but you will also learn about all kinds of other crazy things as you go... It's like a wormhole, lol. And the scenery changes and gets more unusual as you dive deeper!
I feel the same way. The system as it is right now with the overpriced SBD just asks to be abused since curation is heavily punished. It's far more profitable to just opvote yourself 100% or start a bid bot selling all your upvotes for more than they are worth compared to putting a lot of time and effort in making good content.
What worries me is that nothing has been mentioned about the broken curation by the devs in the latest updates.
Good luck fighting back!
Thanks. I have been banging on a bit about the curation for a while but it's all falling on deaf ears. All they have to do is split the curation reward 50% SP and 50% SBD just like author rewards and it will re-balance the playing field.
While I applaud your efforts, you're just starting a game of whack-a-mole. I don't think a single person has enough time (and SP) to deal with it on their own.
Anyhow, I wish you success.
Thanks. I hope you're wrong but I guess I'm going to find out :)