For the love of God, clean up steemit chat

in #steemit8 years ago (edited)


Slime illustrated

I've been watching a trainwreck lately on steemit.chat. I would particularly like to draw attention to the #general channel. The amount of smut and blatant disrespect for others in the community is getting out of hand.

Let's keep this a professional platform and maintain some dignity. For the influx of newcomers, instead of offering a welcoming place of help and advice, these chat channels are littered with pettiness, rude insults, and generally comments in poor taste. I have never seen so many "fuck yous" in my life.

You could say "Well, no one is making you come here." Yeah, I get it. I don't HAVE to read the nonsense. But if I have a question I'd like to get an answer for, I don't like to see people treating each other so badly. That doesn't do much for steemit's behind the scenes reputation, does it?

I thought steemit was supposed to be a supportive community where we all tried to uplift each other by encouraging a flourishing creative environment? Instead, I see rude personal attacks, disgusting subject matter thrown around, and overall questionable behavior.

Let's quit the cesspool of low quality interactions and use chat as a place to forge new connections and help each other out.

As a woman, I'd like to add one thing - there seems to be a misogynistic trend lately on some of these channels. Without naming names, you had better dial it down.

Women are vital contributors to this community, and if this kind of nonsense continues, steemit will get a reputation as a place that is dominated by a bunch of rowdy women bashers. Don't piss us off or call us names when we say or do something you perceive as a personal affront. It just makes you look bad. And as you know, here, reputation is everything.

Class it up, eh guys? Clean up your banter and don't treat steemit like a bad porn show. You are ruining it for everyone. Got jokes about genitalia or defecation ? Use your PM privileges. Or how about a new channel called "Juvenile Humor?" Then at least we know where we can go to be entertained without any surprises.

Illustration ©Johanna Westerman, exclusively for this steemit post, because it fit

Sort:  
There are 2 pages
Pages

Some people just don't understand that you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. This is a social media platform, and peoples actions have repercussions. Treat others nicely and they will respond in kind. The chat is no exception, people shouldn't be going around talking bad about anyone. If you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all, is the old adage. It applies as much now as it always has.

Always nice to see it applies here! Some people had got it into their heads that these scales had reversed since the dawn of the millennium, but instead only their perception had changed.

Nice to see that someone out there in the steemit world has a moral compass... It was looking a little 'iffy.' I was raised by, mostly, all women growing up and they are easily the best of us here walking the planet. Thanks for the post and CHEERS to a woman with some real class!

I was raised by, mostly, all women growing up and they are easily the best of us here walking the planet.

Change the word "women" for "men" and suddenly that is an unacceptable, sexist statement. See the double standard?

I would like to point out that men are women are equally awesome. Bad people come in all shapes, sizes, races, and genders.

Yes - I think that is an important point that a lot of people are missing. Sexism can go BOTH ways!

Yes abuse can go both ways and isn't acceptable but sexism can't...sexism is a systematic oppression and men aren't systematically oppressed in our society. Having said that, abuse is never acceptable!

I can only think of one society that is systematically oppressing women and it sure as hell isnt the west.

Sexism can't go both ways?
I disagree, I think it just has done right here in this exchange of comments

Completely understand. Point well taken.

That sounds terrible - misogynistic comments shouldn't be tolerated on any channel. I've stuck to the comment sections and haven't seen anything offensive as of yet (fingers crossed).

Glad to see Steemit is having this kind of discussion! Has anyone considered developer a code of conduct for the community?

I would hope as grown up anarchists we can be self-governing

All I can say is thank you for this post. When i started on steemit i had a rough beginning and strayed from my true self. I heard about steemit.chat and thought finally somewhere to get some advice and opinions on where I went wrong. I went into the General section and tried to seek out some answers to my questions. Instead I was met with hostility and an unwillingness to help. The whole point of steemit.chat was to help other users and to get to know eachother a little better. It seems the chatrooms are full of groups of people pissed off at steemit or wise asses who say FU when you ask for help. Thanks for broadcasting this issue. Great post.

Sorry you were treated poorly, it has happened to many people and I hope to help change that. Feel free to come ask questions in our non abusive live chat.

Looks like someone is stirring up a "hornets nest"; I do agree, if there is a seasoned argument or discussion everyone involved should be treated with respect!! Unfortunately this is the epidemic that is sweeping our society; I was always taught............. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"!!!

What a sad indictment of our "social" society or should it be "antisocial"??

Bring it on!

Excelent! comment! (Y)

I think it's important to remember that Steem only has value if people see it as valuable. If no one uses this platform because it is full of garbage comments and posts then it will have no value. Do your part in helping this community grow and Steem gain value by keeping your mouth shut if you can't think of something constructive to say. Not everything has to be nice, but at least provide a bit of substance and explain what you think and why. "This sucks." helps no one.

There are plenty of other sites to be an ass on. I am hoping Steemit can stay being something that everyone can benefit from.

it only will if people are willing to go beyond the monetary aspect. odd how we do not really compare steemit to reddit when attempting to assess a standard for content.
The only way everyone can benefit is if people are free to say what they wish.

Couldn't agree more. What's stranger is that this platform is built on positive social interaction so this kind of behaviour is even more pointless. Fingers crossed things improve.

@rea, let's hope so

Well said, I would also like to see people to quit referencing their posts or promoting them in any manner in general chat other than as an answer to a question.

Shameless, isn't it?

Money is involved. I'm of the mind that Steemit needs to take the slow approach to success and give up on the get rich quick big payout model of promotion. The incentive of big money motivates people to be douchebags.

It is a little peculiar that the site values are not transferring to steemit.chat. Maybe a bit of an indicator that the true person is on the chat site, and the person they want to present themselves as is shared here. I also went there looking for support and advice... actually support FROM advice. It is just people promoting their posts (which is great!) and not caring much about what anyone else is doing. It is not entirely true for everyone by any means, but the majority rules and it degrades from the experience and prevents an easier adaptation to anyone truly interested in benefitting from, or even contribution to the site.

Thank you, @clevecross. I agree completely.

This is the first social media site I have become involved in. So I care also lol. Thanks for responding, reading through past posts now. You are fantastic and I look forward to more from you. Glad you raised this issue though. I would like to see change from it.

Just a friendly reminder that https://steem.community is another Slack alternative chat that is open for community use. I'll happily to promote some moderators to regulate disrespectful behavior. I'm all for freedom of speech, so long as the speech doesn't turn into verbal abuse to others.

I've been there several times and have never noticed the issue you describe.

How would you clean it up? It's the internet there are trolls everywhere. Ban usernames? They don't have to use a steemit ID if fact chat wouldn't let me use mine because of the - I was forced to change it. Ban IP of the offender? They just hop on the next VP or reboot their router if they have dynamic IP. Best way to deal with them is to ignore them and they will move on to where they are getting attention. In fact a thread like this just plays right into their hands.

The comments section is much cleaner

The only reason the comment section is cleaner , is because you might get a nice upvote from someone with a lot of steem power thus $$$. So of course , it's cleaner...it's your reputation at stake!

But reputations carry over

Your posts here directly affect your reputation score. Comments in an external chat room affect it indirectly at most.

Why not aim for a consistently good one?

Ha true! You get 1 vote ;)

I'm talking about rocket.chat

Is that the same as steemit.chat? I've never been to either, just curious.

I've just been in there and everyone has been perfectly polite. It's just very busy so not my kinda place. Can we block people on Steemit Chat? If not, surely that's all that's needed for those who are easily offended.

Because literally everything she said is false as far as I can see. OFC there will always be bad apples.

Okay let me point out a few facts:

1.) Steemit.Chat is not now nor has it ever been a part of Steemit.com or the Steem Blockchain,
2.) The entire premise behind Steemit.com is that it is Uncensored, Haven for Free Speech and to some extent that is also the case in Steemit.Chat
3.) The General Chat room isn't intended for getting answers to questions or for getting help, there are channels dedicated to that purpose,
4.) There are features in place on Steemit.Chat to mitigate what you see or don't see. It is very easy to MUTE anyway any time. All you have to do is in any room type: /mute @username_of_person_you_want_muted,
5.) I am not a hypocrite so I will say it I am one of the offenders she is talking about but to the only time (that I know of) I have had any interaction with her is when she flagged one of my posts as for being a "repost" and it wasn't....well not entirely. I was requested to combine numerous posts into one and I did and then added more information to it. I tried to explain that to her and she wouldn't listen so I got a little carried away.

*** Now having said all that let me say this, I am not perfect and neither is anyone else on this platform and especially in Steemit.Chat and yes things do get out of hand at times but as a general rule if some asks (note: i said ASKS) the room to tone it down, they do without fail. If you complain, bitch or tell them to tone it down you will stir the pot so to speak. I am not saying it is right, but every chat room, irc channel or similar I have ever been on has been the same way. It is as much a part of the internet as websites and porn. ***

Darling you just need to make your own steemit.chat using rocket.chat software and then you can have your own group that says what you want them to say and adheres to the code of conduct you may wish to see.

The cool thing about blockchain tech merged with a blockchain is that it cannot be censored. So there is little way you can control the behavior of an evergrowing userbase. It would be like telling trolls to stop trolling.

Though I appreciate the intent of your post, I believe it is a moot point and that you are better off pushing forward with your vision and competing with others instead of warning them or telling them not to act in such ways. I suggest rather than listening to the "trash" (which is probably pretty true), just make your own group that makes you happy and upvote eachother's content. That easy....

Boom, best answer.. this needs to be upvoted

I've not encountered any of the things you're describing on the Steemit chat, and have found it a very useful and tight knit community that has served me well. It let me get to know people and forge new connections without any issues.

I am doubtful of your intentions when you use framings like:

"Without naming names, you had better dial it down. Women are vital contributors to this community, and if this kind of nonsense continues, steemit will get a reputation as a place that is dominated by a bunch of rowdy women bashers. Don't piss us off or call us names when we say or do something you perceive as a personal affront."

Using threats and hyperbole only serve to make an ass of yourself and your point. If you're taking the moral high ground then don't fight fire with fire. It's hypocritical.

Maybe the problem is not just the chat?

feel free to pm me if you want multiple screenshots of users being abused, threatened with physical harm, etc. There is lots to choose from.

What is the link to the room you said you started ? X

My guess is you've never been to steemit.chat. None of things you are bring up are remotely true. I concur with @venuspcs and @spookypooky points of view on this.

How Do I Know?
Because I'm there literally 24-7 . Ok, once in a while you'll get the whole boobs for noobs comments BUT this is not any shot an the women of steemit. It is false and unfair to plaster this on the front page of SteemIt.

Just my 2 cents.
-steemitqa <- my steemit.chat handle by the way if you want to talk about this.

I'm upvoting this because I fully agree that the Steemit Chat needs to be clean of hostility and degradation. I have never really seen it out of hand tho... Maybe once in a while it begins to sway that way but we as a community usually step in and take charge. I'm sure the same community of the usual suspects are still in the steemit chat and suggest spending a little extra time in there to see the community do just that, be responsible.

Here let me help you with the never seeing it out of hand part:

Imgur

Imgur

Imgur

I have loads of screenshots of people bullying and abusing others. It's appalling. Free speech is one thing, the chat there is outright hostility if you are not a part of the multiple factions there.

This doesn't really say much.. Someone verbally attacked you... this is quite obviously mid conversation and doesn't show anything leading to this screenshot so it's not going to change my opinion or thoughts on the chat room. I am in there quite often and respected users like @steemitqa and me are usually poking around, keeping an eye out on steemit chat abuse such as this.

I am quite interested at how this seems to be directly aimed at @venuspcs and nobody else... I have had my immature moments as well, quite a bit actually.... why hasn't anybody presented any screenshots of me or the other regulars.

Maybe everyone should reconsider this post and think about the fact that a few notable accounts have gone out of their way to smear a particular user actively contributing on a regular basis. Before you look at someone negative, really take a look around you and consider who is encouraging you to do so. #nobodysperfect

Also, take a look at our project... #nobodysperfect

We all have our moments... don't be stupid, be a community... be a neighbor.. Help, not hate

Actually, I was involved in no conversation with him until that point.

so...

I think the issues have been resolved bud, I'm sorry you had a bad experience.. the chat room is very responsible and does not promote bullying that you experienced.. if anything I can promise you that won't happen again

Totally agree. that is why we made our own chat with 400+ live members there. Feel free to message me, we are all very kind there and do not allow abusiveness. Enjoy slubuv @fairytalelife

totally agree. In the beginning i was accused of catfishing and later on, I was introduced to some not so really nice "artistic" post.

not all men write that garbage, just young men who have alpha male issues.
I've aged out of that nonsense, but yes, I'll agree with @condra and say if you changed 'women' to 'men' you'd hate what you just wrote.
My suggestion... toke up and let it take you away to a place where disrespectful youngsters don't exist...
Here @fairytalelife, take my hand, we'll both go there!!
I was just headed that way!
:^)

You got it right @fairytalelife, I visited there once but I dont like the atmosphere. I think this people have not been thought by their parents on how to respect somebody. They just dont care.

By the way, I wonder if you can help this woman gain support https://steemit.com/life/@juvyjabian/to-kind-hearted-steemit-this-woman-suffering-from-unknown-skin-disease-for-20-yrs

Well I haven't seen all these "f**k you" in the general chat and I am spending hours in it...

I logged into the chat today for the first time, it seemed really dead with minimal activity. I posted some of my content after nobody responded but I wont be doing that again.

This because one of the most active person @venuspcs is thinking to quit with steemit

I suggested it was a bad idea when I first saw the post about Steem.chat. It shouldn't have been launched before a Steem oAuth was finished, so that reputations could be carried over to chat. There's tens of things wrong with the idea of a chat that isn't linked to the Steem chain in any way, it creates a serious PR problem.

I don't see the problem with posts from our moderator like this.

generalchat7caea.jpg

This is the who we've chosen to promote in the community.

Exactly what I have been saying for weeks.

We made our own chat server - nothing against riverhead - I really like him - just sick of people treating others like trash.

We allow free speech, we do not allow abusive behavior - feel free to hit me up for the address - we have over 500 active members in there.

I'm all for keeping it classy... But, this is the internet and this type of stuff happens on every social media site. I don't think we need to remove freedom of speech.

+1 for freedom

:D we need more freedom and less non-freedom

there seems to be a misogynistic trend lately on some of these channels.

Thank you, thank you for calling attention to this. Unfortunately, the misogynistic trend has also made its way to the platform as well (check out the abuse @veralynn has had to endure). If people want steemit to succeed, they must, as Abigail Adams aptly put it, remember the ladies.

I admire you for taking a stand against all the bs going on over there. Steemit needs and deserves more corageous women like you.. :)

I know it's not an excuse but it's the internet. There will always be trolls and people who don't know how to behave themselves.

But, as a community, we can make the rules of engagement clear and enforce them. The "don't use @ all" rule gets enforced with an iron fist, and we could do the same with "treat people with respect". If we want Steemit to go mainstream, then making all parts of Steemit a welcoming place is important. (This isn't endorsing censorship, it's about developing customs that make Steemit a place where all kinds of viewpoints can coexist without annoying each other.)

@fairytalelife I didn't know yet about steemit.chat. I guess I would need to add rude and childish users to the 3rd-type of users (on steemit and in general) I discuss is this brief post of mine

https://steemit.com/steemit/@readwriteshare/what-type-of-user-are-you-what-type-of-users-i-hope-to-find-on-steemit

I wonder if only being able to chat with people you follow would help? Sort of like friending on fb or instagram

You attract more flies with honey than u do with bad breath. So I take the risk of losing connections away by constructive criticism. The platform seems to reward good behavior over smut, and this seems like a short term problem rather than a systemic one.

Not only all that, but the rocket chat platform sucks, you can't even block dm from somebody spamming you to upvote their posts, or that harasses you after you flag said post.

I believe that any direspect should be threated quite simply with forbidding the person to either upvote or post anything for a week.
Second time around he is out of the game

Disrespecting people is not our style of play guys.
Be gentle, if you feel that its heating up, just smile, nod your head and go a different place... like the real world.

At the end of the day no one will notice of you lost an argument over the internet to someome you never will know )

"Forbidding a person to either upvote or post anything for a week" .... "be gentle" ....
Sorry but Steemit is not a Buzzfeed Safe Space. You'll find most people interested in crypto right now are vehemently against censorship. I'm all for courtesy, and I will block trolls unceremoniously, but I'm completely against collectivist authoritarianism in the name of protecting peoples feelings.

One thing is feelings, another is what the author istalking about, and thats pure disrespect to users.
I think that if someone swears at others, acts aggresvly, there should be consiquence.
Thats why we should give all a chance, and make a warning for the first time.

I am not talking about showing your feelings, i am once again, talking about pure aggresion and swearing (in an illiterate way), racism, pheadophilism and so on

"One thing is feelings, another is what the author istalking about, and thats pure disrespect to users."

Again... I don't care about "disrespect". Nobody deserves respect. Respect is earned. If someone "disrespects" you, it's their prerogative. You can choose to ignore them. I get disrespected all the time in the comment section on YouTube. No biggy. It's words on a screen.

I think that if someone swears at others, acts aggresvly, there should be consiquence ..... swearing (in an illiterate way), racism, pheadophilism and so on

As above.. it's just words on a screen.

Perhaps it is more important, actually let me rephrase that... Perhaps it would be more "progressive" if people developed thicker skins, rather than insisting on censoring everything that challenges their beliefs/ego.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion =)

But hey, we are ven kind of agreeing, my advice to the heated up, was:

nod your head and go to a different place...

Well put. Do you have a YouTube channel?

I think you hit the nail on the head here, clever guy!

 8 years ago  Reveal Comment

@fairytalelife
Wow, I had no idea it had gotten that bad. Judging by some of your comments I'm assuming steemit chat is almost if not completely un-moderated.

I've honestly never used it before. I'm almost always doing something online and that leaves me with very little time to just chat it up with the rest of the community. I was going to pop my head in there this weekend and have a look around. Has anyone suggested adding mods?

I know Steemit was meant to be a sort of free speech forum, but so was IRC and even IRC has the ability to assign Op's, Mods and Channels for the very reasons you mentioned above...

Glad to see you say something, as a newbie I didn't think it was my place to say anything.

Don't hold back!

I figured something like this would have happened, sadly - but I expected the chat to be overrun with spam instead of being blighted by outright rudeness.

haha- this was a good post.

All can not be perfect, something must also be out of balance, that it would be something to learn. I hope you are ok...And I hope your day is good.. :)
But here it is a pleasure to read, well written. @foxkoit I hope you like B&W

General is a cesspit.. there are a few other channels where people actually geniunely exchange value. I'm sure youre a member of a few :)

@wingz, only use it now for PMing. Thanks for the comment

I just looked into Steemit Chat for the first time today (it's my one week anniversary on Steemit, and I'm still finding all kinds of new things about it). I didn't spend much time on it, because chat rooms really aren't my thing, but I did think maybe I could develop some important friendships/partnerships there that may help my development on the main site. I'll probably look into it more deeply later.

The only thing I noticed in the brief time I was logged in there, was that there were a lot of people promoting their posts in the General section, where the instructions clearly say that's not allowed there. There's a Promote Your Post section for that. I didn't see anyone telling them they couldn't promote posts in the General section, though.

First, welcome to SteemIt! & glad to see you made it to SteemIt.chat ;)
There are a lot of people bonding there it's a great platform to generate the proper networking SteemIt requires.
As for posting in #general it says in the chatroom title no posts leave it in #postpromotional. Either way, if you have any questions def. hit me up! and enjoy!

Thanks for the welcome, @steemitqa! It's always nice to be made to feel at home on a new platform. I'm following you now, so I can find you again, in case I DO have a question. Things are still pretty new to me here, and I'm figuring out new things just by trial and error and exploring every day, so having a source to answer a question now and then for me is awesome. Thanks for the offer, and I just may take you up on it.

Dude.. you sure you were in PostPromotion? We usually are pretty quick about reminding you not to post there

I apologize if I have contributed to this. Thanks for bringing some awareness here.

@fairytalelife great article. I am one of steemits women, I try to treat everyone with respect and I don't even respond to the rude comments anymore. I have dealt with haters all my life. I have upvoted and followed you. If you get a chance check out my blog @halo

I agree and I'm new here. After reading your post, I went to the Gnl chat and gave it a quick look and I didn't notice any derogatory remarks. Perhaps I missed something or they cleaned it up. Michael did state that the behavior you are talking about won't be tolerated so I hope those people were warned or ushered out. Thank you for your post.

Great post... i have seen some crazy things on the Bitshares troll box as well.

Well said @fairytalelife I was thinking the same and in order to make the steemit spam free we must have to clean up the steem chat because everywhere I see is just promoting. huh!

There are 2 pages
Pages