Steemit Bots and Spam
I'am only on Steemit for a very short period of time but I already have a feeling that there are bots are getting out of control on posts. Let's stop the spam and make Steemit great (again).
If you look at the following screenshot you will see your average /introduceyourself post. There is up to 5 different bots posting random spam comments on the fresh posts.
You see the users @wang , @calva , @steemster3 & @weenis commented on the post. When i wrote my introducton I was happy about people welcoming me. But I was wondering how they can reply almost instantly. Did they even read my post? The only helpful user/bot seems to be @wang his post did actually help me getting started here. But the others are pure spam and you see them on other posts as well. I also saw other bots that I didnt mention like @xem for example who also tried spamming comments.
How can we stop this from happening? Here are a few suggestions:
- bots need to be approved by the team or community, not everyone should be allowed to spam the community as they wish
- restrict the amount of posts / upvotes a certain user can give in a certain time - this can be based on reputation so that helpful users like @wang can stay on board and we dont end up censoring users
- may enable a way to mute a certain user globally for a period of time after he received enough downvotes from too many users
But it doesn't stop there, we also have real users that are spamming. On every other good post you see people promoting their own content. I get it. It is hard to get noticed due to the amount of people using this platform - and it is just at its beginning. But this should better be fixed now then when it is too late. You find a lot of posts like this:
People are promoting themself on unrelevant topics. Hunting for the profit. I get it. People want money, who doesn't. But that is not how it works. THE CONTENT PROMOTES ITSELF There is no need for excessive spam. Look at other Steemers like @piedpiper. If you check his history of posts you will see that he made a lot of posts that didn't earn any money. And ALL of his latest posts made money in the range of 30-6000 USD. What I'am saying is: don't try too hard. Deliver content for the content and not for the money in the first place. And eventually things will become alright. Here are a few suggestions of limitations that would prevent this kind of spam from taking overhand:
- don't let people refer to their own posts on external posts more than.. say 3 times a day
- don't let people post the same link multiple times if it has been upvoted beforehand on another blog
- mute certain people globally for a period of time if the behaviour of spam continues
Bots kinda suck and i think they should be banned (maybe some community approved bots should be allowed if they do smth really useful).
Just spamming comments, crappy posts and random upvotes to cash in, doesn't really do anything useful?
Exactly what I am thinking. But maybe they shouldn't be banned altogether. Look at @wang he is helping new users that are introducing themself. Maybe his message could be polished a bit but it's not bad for a start.
Also in general I think it is a nice thing that users are using the platform and creating new stuff on it. I mean that is what it is meant to be for. It should evolve and grow. And users building things for it should help in this process :)
Sadly its quite easy to write a bot. (Even without experience)
Vote Bot: https://steemit.com/hacking/@seagul/steemit-vote-bot-like-wang-for-introduceyourself
Post Bot: https://steemit.com/hacking/@seagul/steemit-post-bot-like-wang-for-introduceyourself
Yes it is only a few lines of code. But that is the great thing about Steemit and that is why so many different things are already built for it - because you can interact with it so easily. But it also has a negative downside as you see. After you posted this... all the bots happened. But I guess it could also help people to learn how to get started with bot development. Maybe there could be a test platform where they could play around with it so they wouldn't spam the actual platform...
Great post and points - but it's always hard to make rules like you suggest without damaging others unintended.
E.g.: You could link to external posts more than 3 times a day without being a bot of a spammer, and it could be a pain in the ass for the average user.
I agree 100% but I as mentioned i would limit refering to own internal posts. Because that is what people are trying to promote mostly without having any relation to the blog where they are trying to promote it. I don't think its an issue if you post a recipe for a nice cake below a recipe for another nice cake. But if you post a tutorial on how to farm cows on a post about smoking weed ... well then this doesn't really match and can be annoying for everybody. In particular if you are interested in relevant content.
Yes, man. I already wrote about it.
And made some tests, post "Check the bot, vote for the dot"))) and "Vote for point"
And bots clicking ! and writing reply:
https://steemit.com/cool/@boyarov/real-photographer-will-always-find-a-good-view
Madame please, not man :))
Interesting that you actually challenged the bots... good idea. I hope the admins are coming up with a solution for the problem soon enough... before it becomes a real problem..
I completely agree. It's great that Steem is so open, but there needs to be some policing - the bare minimum. No one wants to see bots and spammers. And it's especially scary when these scammers have amassed massive amounts of steem power and are more influential than thousands of other steemers.
I wrote a bit about this here recently - https://steemit.com/steemit/@liberosist/steemit-s-achilles-heel-rampant-inequality
bitcoin was open once... now it for settlement only.
maybe restrict steem, yeah..will work out great...
Interesting comment. Remove the last dot (.) on your link else it can't be opened by people interested in it. I would definitely agree with you. I guess the inequality comes mainly from the way steemit is being distributed. But I guess this problem should be able to fix itself over time. The only thing I dont know is what happens if there is 1 Million users on the platform and you join as a completely fresh user. Will your post have any value? Will your post even be discovered?
Thanks for spotting the extra dot. Though maybe I shouldn't have posted the link as the only thing that happened is it got flagged by weenis!
The problem is that the inequality will only get worse over time. The most influential steemers will earn more and more influence, while newer users with lower steem power will get sidelined completely.
I was thinking about this also.... couldn't a user with a lot of influence upvote his friends or secondary accounts and exploit the system this way? : s
Which of the bots besides @wang who must be from the admins is having a lot of steem power currently?
Yes I noticed this flaw as well and thought that it wouldn't be long before someone comes out with a bot to do everything from scrapping content off the internet to posting it and then also commenting and curating.
Skynet confirmed!
@Weenis is a bot as well apparently. Flag when you see him pop up.
I know... and the most funny thing is that he just commented on this post..
Weenis not afraid to upvote good posts, even if it against Weenis. Weenis want to be first vote. Help others. Its good weenis first vote. Weenis make nothing but others can.
If this post is legit then weenis is a bot -
https://steemit.com/hack/@crypt0/steemit-psa-watch-out-for-user-weenis#@shredlord/re-crypt0-steemit-psa-watch-out-for-user-weenis-20160720t102130128z
I do know that some bots around are helping the community though but check that link out anyway. Sounds pretty legit.
Weenis can counter all bots with more. Unlimited resources. 80 bots on anyone who attack weenis. Weenis return fire until you have change username. Over and over.
Weenis monitor downvotes, weenis puts them on list, weenis return favor. Weenis already owe you some @shredlord, @crypt0 and others.
Best to just let weenis be first vote and share encouragement.
stated earlier another user:
"Great post and points - but it's always hard to make rules like you suggest without damaging others unintended."
This is true.
Weenis should have own reality show on tv!
Yea that's true. No damage intended, just wondering what the fuck is going on haha
Weenis is not a bot. Weenis is enthusiastic about steem.
"Flag when you see him pop up."
If Weenis bot, Weenis thinks not good for you.
Weenis mark you down for fun today until end of time? You know like weenis? Fine, leave weenis alone. Want to harm weenis? Fine, weenis have fun too. 80 bots on you like white on mice.
sune added to Weenis list. List abuse downvote an attack weenis with downvote one day, next day they cry to ned saying it unfair ;'( please stop him ned
Weenis will say "ned, weenis just giving what he got, now they ;'("
ned will say "That right weenis, they fire first. getting what they gave, carry on weenis top man"
lulz
Ya i agree you with, this is just the beginning of bots.
We need a way to combat them or they will get out of control.
don't hate the player hate the game
thanks for the downvote i guess.. i would have prefered a serious discussion on the matter..
mate their is a guy who posted a pictures of some weed and made 5kusd! do you think this is fair? I saw people writting great articles got payed less than 0.1usd while some other made a copy/past from a website and made 30kusd! Nothing is fair on steemit! If you ask me I think it's a big joke, all of it! I play the game and I don't complain about other people making money...
the system truly seems a little bit unbalanced still i would agree from what i have seen so far. but exploiting the system in that way won't really make it better. i hope that in the future the whole reward system will be more balanced but this should happen with more steem being distributed, right?
I think Steemit is a scam... I feel very sorry for people buying into it! It's nothing more than an elaborate Ponzi Scheme! 80% of steem are owned by the founders... They are the one exploiting the system. Giving a bad reputation to the Crypto world!!
let's be honest... how many are fake accounts with pictures of their girlfriends? Easy make a pictures with a hot girl with a board written "steemit" and the date... write a little introduction or even better copy it from the net and poof you just made 20kUSD... Look at all the girls introduction 90% of them are so F***ing HOT its just unbelivable... And then they never writte again... don't you think its a little strange??? Steemit only attract hot girls... please give me a break
At least I had to code a little to make my bot
this is true... but still. even though i also would say some of the introductions are photoshopped
So did we have this serious discussion? Now be smart cash out your profit and be happy the bot you criticised gave you a good reality check... and if you want you can transfer me 10% of what ever you will make by not been the last sucker at this game! all transfer/donation @calva appreciated ;)
What ever you do... I repeat do not put money on this website... do not power up only power down! And every time you make some profit take it out and convert to BTC! All the best bro ;)
Thank you for posting! Hope you get this to snowball to the top!
BTW, should steemit let us steemers advertise using steem?
Be sure to tell everyone you know to come vote here at: https://steemit.com/steemit/@kingtylervvs/if-steemit-ever-does-decide-to-advertise-there-is-only-1-way-it-could-work-in-my-opinion-debate
This is a democratic community decision.
