I’ve been on Steemit for a few months already and I can easily see the big picture here: freaking spam is murdering it and setting its corpse on fire while most of us watch, unable to do anything. It’s quite a horrific image, but a real one.
How come, you ask?
Well, you’ve probably been distracted, as it is very clear that Steemit is being taken over by spammers and other entities with malefic intents. The amount of trash that I was already used to see (and ignore) on Facebook and other social networks is spreading like wildfire on Steemit. Posts with no content whatsoever, stolen pictures and text, beaten to death memes and self-entitled crypto analysts (the new plague) are popping up in every place of the New and Trending pages, destroying every little bit of hope that a proper content creator could still have to be noticed by more than a bunch of fellow creators. Not a whale, not a shark, just someone REAL and capable of engaging in conversation.
You know, not the kind that leaves comments such as “Great post, dear”. Those persons are in fact a major part of the problem.
Steemit has turned into a circle-jerk fest. If you have a friend in the right place (which translates into having a lot of voting power), you can do this vote dance where both of you win. Just create a piece of shitty content and vote your asses off, day after day.
And the rest of the community loses. This is not what I was told Steemit was. This is not the future of social networking. This is turning into a place where those with the most money rig the game, becoming whales thanks to a shady scheme that involves purchasing SP with real money and having a few friends (or fake accounts) to do the circle-jerk thing.
Creating content? That’s for dummies. Just flood the page with trash, invest in bidbots to take your post to the Trending page and screw the little guys who have no way of getting noticed, apart from a few due exceptions, which I applaud.
I know I’m not the greatest content creator ever. I like videogames and have worked as a journalist for over two decades in this niche. But it is a niche – and a niche with amazingly talented writers. But the amount of unoriginal photos, blank posts, vomited words and such that I see whenever I click the New page… Geez, please just stop!
It’s not easy to put an ending to this plague. And I’m not talking about good quality topics that I have no interest in – for example, I don’t really care about motorsports, but I'm convinced that I can tell the difference between a good post and a fast attempt at cashing in. But I do believe that Steemit needs real moderators really badly, as the flag option just doesn’t cut it, and can even be abused when you want to bully someone, pretty much ruining their efforts. I don’t know if the Witnesses should do this, or if they should do more of it, but I do know that someone has to put an ending to this before Steemit burns in a blinding ball of scorching spam.
Some folks are already trying to do some good in their own way, such as @grumpycat or @berniesanders, but they are mostly acting as vigilantes, dispensing their justice but also taking some innocent victims with them as well. Not the perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing for sure.
And now for the solution to this problem
Or, at least, a partial solution, as this would help prevent spam, but wouldn’t kill it for sure.
My suggestion is to add a daily post limit to suspicious accounts, or accounts that seem to be based around mistrust and abuse of the reward pool without any proper quality content, niche or not. For example, limiting someone to two daily posts would diminish the amount of spam and the abuse of bidbots or whale friends to reach the Trending page.
Because, let’s be honest: if you’re posting 4 to 5 times a day or more, just how great can your content be? I see some content creators taking 3 or 4 days to come up with a good post, and others just spew stuff several times a day? Sounds like nonsense posts to me.
Also, the Trending page must be redesigned in a way that posts using bidbots should be separated from posts that received organic upvotes. I have no clue how this could be done, and considering that there’s a Promoted page already that I doubt anyone actually sees anyway, I think this is a tough one. But since bidbots are real (I’ve used a few of them as well, sometimes heavily regretting it after) and they are suffocating the organic content, some sort of differentiation has to be done.
Hopefully, some witnesses who are doing something for Steemit such as (but not limited to) @jesta, @curie, @pharesim, @therealwolf, @aggroed @jerrybanfield and a few more are aware of this issue and will do whatever they can to prevent this from escalating.
Ironically, I’m utterly convinced that this post will be buried and lost amidst the very same things that I’m complaining about right here. I’m not expecting some massive feedback, but that conviction surely says something about the severity of this issue.
I don’t want to end this without sending a heartfelt thank you to some of the folks that have supported me for a while already. It’s been an absolute pleasure to discuss some of the most diverse stuff with you (I’m sorry if I forgot anyone): @charline, @pixelbites, @xr-hammergaming, @bestbroplayer, @sebi99p, @lenskonig, @hr1.
Im going to resteem this post after I finish writing mate. I completely agree with you on the limited post front, that In it's self will cut the spam posts in half, after all if the spammers arent able to make money as fast as they think then surely they will lose interest and leave the platform, or one hopes anyway.
There should have been extensive monitoring put into place from the very beginning to stop the spam from happening, the influx in the past few months has been staggering. I really have high hopes for Steemit but it is getting harder to enjoy the platform.
Thanks for the mention and I honestly feel the same about you, It's great to have a few good pals on here that I feel I can just jump on a post a chat with. It makes being on Steemit worthwhile 😃
(Upvoting because I work hard and deserve It 😆)😝)
I also hope so, mate. Maybe when most of them see that this is something that requires years of regular content creation and community interaction to go somewhere, they will just leave Steemit for good. It's definitely harder to enjoy our work when sometimes we feel like we are talking to a wall. :D
Well, we have to keep at it and hope that the witnesses do their best for the platform, as this definitely deserves the extra work. It's funny to notice that when I joined in October 2017, pre-Bitcoin boom, Steemit felt way more "cozy", spam-free and friendly, but I guess the crypto boom of late 2018 attracted a lot of unwanted leeches to this place.
I suppose with the recent changes that Youtube have put in place, users are looking for another quick get rich scheme to jump on, unfortunately for them Steemit is not the answer. It won't take them long before they realise this but there's still just as many spammers joining Steemit as there are leaving so Im going to assume this is how the platform will stay for a while.
I agree that Steemit felt cosy and friendly. It took me a few months to get into it but when i did it felt like home.
It takes a while for them to realize that this is hard work, so we're bound to get more spammers than those that leave. Measures need to be set in place before it gets out of control and some spammers with too much money in their hands organize their circle-jerk networks of trash content.
I get the same feeling. I haven’t been active for a while because of life things but will be interested to get back into Steeming soon and seeing what it looks like now.
I dunno if post limits will help. Sounds too restrictive for this supposed digital sandpit. It may just be a broken system.
What I think would help is if people stopped being so meta. Steemit talking about Steemit needs to evolve into Steemit talking about other things!
Anyway, that’s my tuppence.
Resteemed.
Steemit right now is people talking about Steemit, and TONS of nothing. It's a bottomless spam pit that many are cheating to get on "top". There are so many things to talk about and many users are posting feelgood sayings, copying (or making up) crypto analysis info and pushing that stuff to the trending page.
I'm curious to see if by 2019 this has improved or it has evolved into utter chaos.
I have just recently got into Reddit. Steemit seems to aspire to a similar model. I wonder what would happen if Reddit karma was crypto currency...
If they could get something like that going, it would be very exciting. Although Reddit would attract a ton of spam accounts in the blink of an eye. That's the downside.
Funny thing is upvotes in my videos have halved because some bots have stopped voting me.....
Hm, my guess is that some of those bots are penalizing you because it's only video content. I'm guessing they need/want some text to go along with the video, I wouldn't be surprised if that is the issue.
I mean like spam bots. Some bots that had upvoted me up from 100. Some of them did not actually even comment, just upvotes. Those bots seem to be still following me though.
I'm still not sure how that works. But I know that I had more votes (bots?) in my first posts than what I am getting lately, which I assume is the same that is happening to you.
I'm fairly new on steemit as well and would agree with you. I don't like the idea of hiring "gun slingers" (bots) for upvotes. It degrades talented creators efforts. It reminds me how corporations have purchased congress. I know many steemians use them and somehow justify it but maybe I'm new here and just don't understand but it seems like cheating to me.
It is cheating, in a sort. I've used them before because I see it as the only option to get some content noticed, but after doing the math, I end up losing SBD that I'll never get back. But it is the only way to get your post in the trending page, and I've only seen one of them there once (Ghost Trick, if I recall).
Was it worth it? Probably not. But it's a way of getting some SBD back and the all-important Steem Power along the way, instead of just investing all in SP and being left with nothing.
Accounts with tons of SBD don't have these dilemmas, but others do.
Bidbots need some serious refinement, and I'm glad to see some of them already working on it, such as @smartsteem, which blocks spam accounts from voting. This is the future, every bot needs to do the same.
Thanks @gamingstation for this article! You really did say everything that is happening. I have already made a constructive criticism in the @steemgc discord about why most of the posts are only dlive or dtube. Because there really are good reviews, good news, good articles on games, and are those that only have videos that get the most attention.
Then, of course, there is the problem you mentioned above. The SPAM. How can I see people who do not even have a reputation for crypto as if they were the masters of the subject? One thing is if I actually see the ones with 40 or 50 reputations, and see that their theme is based on crypto and try to give good advice, another is to see these newbies with the craze they know of the subject. I do not understand anything about crypto, and gradually I liked to understand more about it, but it was just an example I gave among thousands.
I think it's fundamental that we highlight more articles, with good content, which really is what we are looking for.
You're pretty much treading the same ground as I did. I came into Steemit without knowing anything about crypto, bitcoin included. I liked the platform and the general idea, did a lot (a LOT) of reading and studying and now I think I have a nice grasp of it. It was a nice place to be, to make some friends and suddenly, it's filled with trash.
Those crypto analysts... Everyone's an expert now? I can throw some shit to a wall and something will stick. Sadly, more and more users are doing the same scheme, even some of them with higher reputation are just saying bullshit and the ignorant crowd thinks they are somehow reading the future of crypto. Funny!
Remember to enjoy your time as a creator and not expect to find riches here - I see Steemit as a bad MMORPG right now: you have to spend a lot of money to get to the best parts of the game.
PS: Estou a ver que és do meu país ;)
Pera...és português? :D A sério? ahahahahah
Yeah I know that...that's why I want to stay in my niches. I don't want to talk about about crypto and other stuff. I want to talk about something of my life: games, anime, mysteries, and other stuff.
Qual e o teu discord, para falarmos um bocado :)
Sim, sou Português :) Já vi mais um par deles por aqui.
Good luck, it's not going to be easy no matter what choice you make. Take it as a hobby so you don't get disappointed.
Prefiro irmos falando pelo Steemit quando der, não uso Discord ou outros chats, isso tira-me o pouco tempo que tenho :)
Força então :P
E sim vou levar como um hobbie, senão também não faço mais nada da vida xD
This was my first concern, we need more anti-bot-bots
Or heavily redesigned bidbots. I've seen most of them taking measures to avoid ripping off curation rewards, and now my main worry is avoiding trash content. @smartsteem is on to something and should be seen as a good starting point for the fight against spam.
Maybes the site creators will be smart enough to see the problems we face and do something about them?
Well, that's what I'm hoping for. I've seen changes and I'm convinced that this also has to be addressed.
Let's hope so!
HelloOo @gamingstation I see you revolted like never, but you raised a lot of problems with steemit that I also regret to meet !!
It really should some people leave here, which are useless except to claim votes and want money and rot the network steemit !!
And the problem of whales sending money between them ... that's another problem, it's true that people like us are lost, drowned in the mass, I have never copied anything, and always write my articles in my own way, and sometimes I tell myself that everyone does not care ...
Thank you for mentioning me It's a pleasure for me also to have been able to speak with you, about everything and anything 🙃
I hope people will read your article and it changes something finally 🤞🏻
Hey @charline! Well, it's incredibly hard to get noticed here nowadays. Even with all the ideal practices that you also do so well - mostly interacting with your followers and having some nice discussions -, every new post is a shot in the dark and pretty much doomed to obscurity.
I like your posts and your findings, both old and new, and your texts are funny to read as well. I see you use a bot now and then and I think you do it for the same reason that I do - to get a regular return of SBD and SP and to keep investing on your account in the long run. I may be wrong, but I think this is your idea.
Is it fair that your content is buried under tons of spam as it goes live? Absolutely not. But I know you're not one of giving up and slowly but surely you're on the right track :)
HelloOo @gamingstation 🙃 this is the problem that we meet every 2, our articles are not all read and seen and are often forgotten 😩
I use one but it's been a few days that I have not used, I ask the question for several days, whether I should continue or not use a ??
I'm just happy to be here to talk to some great people, and to meet them in IRL too 👍
I'm here to talk to people, to show my passion, for the community and not for the money (otherwise I'll be gone)
This definitely has to be faced with passion and as a hobby, as seeing it as a scheme to get some money just won't work. I see myself here in five or more years, not as active as I wish to be, but it will be fun to see where we are in a few years :)
Your Post Has Been Featured on @Resteemable!
Feature any Steemit post using resteemit.com!
How It Works:
1. Take Any Steemit URL
2. Erase
https://3. Type
reGet Featured Instantly & Featured Posts are voted every 2.4hrs
Join the Curation Team Here | Vote Resteemable for Witness
HelloOo @gamingstation I see you revolted like never, but you raised a lot of problems with steemit that I also regret to meet !!
It really should some people leave here, which are useless except to claim votes and want money and rot the network steemit !!
And the problem of whales sending money between them ... that's another problem, it's true that people like us are lost, drowned in the mass, I have never copied anything, and always write my articles in my own way, and sometimes I tell myself that everyone does not care ...
Thank you for mentioning me It's a pleasure for me also to have been able to speak with you, about everything and anything 🙃
I hope people will read your article and it changes something finally 🤞🏻