Hello Steemit Friends,
I guess I hoped that when my fight against SPAM started, other people would come forward, so it wouldn't be just me.
It was just a hope and... has become a reality.
A lot of new friends have been added in this crusade, and now we are stronger and determined to fight SPAM… It’s like a scourge that is spreading through our steemit community.
I've decided to merge my two previous guides into one:
Newcomers, minnows and spammers.. this post will save your reputation!
Newcomers and Minnows: how to write a "quality" comment
I removed a lot of images to shorten the guide, so it can be more clearly understood.
Newcomers, Minnows and Spammers.. Read this post carefully! It will help you grow faster here in Steemit.
I'm not overreacting, my friends... If you give me a chance, I will prove it to you…
I know what it feels like, to be the newest member of a community… It feels disorienting… But that doesn't give you the right to disrespect other users!
You must be modest and take time to look around, get an understanding of how the steemit community works!
This guide is composed of two parts:
- How To Avoid Posting Spam Comments
- How To Write a "Quality" Comment
Part one - HOW TO AVOID POSTING SPAM COMMENTS
STEEMIT ETIQUETTE
FIRST OF ALL, I suggest you read STEEMIT ETIQUETTE before anything else.
VOTE FOR VOTE --- FOLLOW FOR FOLLOW
I'll tell you right now, THIS DOESN'T WORK!!
Whether your goal is to grow in the steemit community, or simply to earn money, it certainly won’t be other newcomers who take you there! So what’s the point of this waste of time?
In fact, if you propose vote for vote or follow for follow in all your comments, hoping that some experienced user (whale) will check you out, you'll appear desperate, and risk undermining your reputation… Because you’re going to attract a lot of downvotes! The only ones who will accept this will be other newcomers (or minnows) like yourself… It isn’t very useful for your goal…
Most of the minnows will stop writing after a short time, becoming what we refer to as a "dead follower"!
Keeping Dead Followers makes no sense! It's better to have 100 active followers, with good reputations and decent SPs, than 1000 followers with low or poor reputations and hardly any SP weight… Most of those will become dead followers…
QUALITY IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN QUANTITY!
You could verify this on your own what I've been telling you. Use the steemit Dead followers app created by @mynameisbrian
PLAGIARISM
It's worst crime you could commit here in steemit!!!
If you take content from the internet and copy/paste it on steemit, trying to pass it off as your own, rest assured that you'll get busted… There's a bot called @cheetah which performs this task, but there are also users that monitor this… To help control plagiarism, please report any issues to @steemcleaners..
Always remember to cite your sources!
SPAM
Try to write good comments!
Take you time to read posts carefully, and write relevant comments! Don't comment with caveman answers like, "good post", "nice post", or "great"… Also, don't post unrelated links in comments! That will get you a downvote for sure...
REPUTATION
Keep in mind that your reputation is your Business Card
When you write a post or a comment, typically the first thing a reader sees is your reputation. If you put a stupid or mean comment, you’re compromising your future here on Steemit!
So in short, my ADVICE is:
- don't ask vote for vote
- don't ask follow for follow
- don't write spam comment
- don't post unrelated links in comments
- don't be a troll
- don't be a plagiarist
- cite your sources
- respect other users
- quality is better than quantity
Part two - HOW TO WRITE A "QUALITY" COMMENT
WRITE SOMETHING WITHIN YOUR SPHERE OF EXPERIENCE
Sounds pretty basic, doesn't it? But everyday I see people commenting something unrelated to what they’re commenting on…
My advice:
if you don't understand what you are reading, click on the steemit feed and find another post.Sometimes it is better to remain silent and appear stupid, than open your mouth and remove all doubt
(Oscar Wilde)
READ ALL OF EACH POST CAREFULLY
Another mistake of newcomers and minnows is to read only few lines of a post, then skip the rest… They begin writing a comment without reading the post! With this behavior, it's highly probable you’ll write something stupid or unrelated to the post…
My advice:
Take the time to read the post carefully, and then write your comment. A well-written comment will receive more upvotes than one written in a hurry. Quality is ALWAYS better than quantity.
WHEN YOU'RE IN DOUBT, ALWAYS DO RESEARCH
Very often, writing fast leads to a lot of inaccuracies. In fact, to participate in technical posts requires care and accuracy.
My advice:
When in doubt, always research to make sure your information is correct.
ONLY PUT A LINK IN A COMMENT IF RELEVANT!
Why would a reader will be interested in your link, if it isn't closely related to the content of the post? Unrelated links will earn you a sure downvote.
My advice:
To put a link in a comment isn't wrong, but make sure it's closely related to the content of the post.
DON'T UPVOTE YOUR OWN COMMENTS
It's a very frequent error, and very often punished by downvotes… An upvote means appreciation for your comment… Other readers are the ones who should upvote your comment… It is assumed that you believe in your comment, and you'd always vote it!
My advice:
If you write a good comment, be assured it will get some upvotes… So don't waste your effort upvoting yourself! Also, the activity is pointless due to your low SP!
DON'T ASK UPVOTE FOR YOUR COMMENTS
I know it is frustrating to write a good comment and not receive any attention… Maybe your reputation score is very low right now, but be perseverant… Everything is difficult in the beginning… But in time, leaving good comments will prove your worth to others… They'll notice, and upvote you more…
My advice:
Try to choose authors who share your own thought and ideas. It will be easier to write comments which attract their attention.
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE
If you have a past experience strictly related to the post content, share it! It will be highly appreciated.
My advice:
Include personal experiences… They add value to your comment, and often create new discussions which could turn into future posts.
ASK TOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS
Questions are useful to provide new opportunities for discussion, and add quality to the content of a post.
My advice:
This could be a really good way to interact with authors of posts, receive upvotes, and make new friends and followers.
HAVE FUN!
I’ve saved my most important advice for last: if you don't enjoy writing comments, it will be obvious in in your words. I think that positive interaction with authors is the best way to make new friends, while growing in the steemit community at the same time! It's nicer to give an upvote to a friend, keep that in mind!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
If you like it, please upvote and resteem!
A big thanks to @occupywallets for helping me to correct this.
Someone was just asking me what a good tutorial or guide on steemit looks like. THIS is what it looks like. Upvoted hard and resteemed with love. <3
Just one comment about self-upvoting comments. I have been known to upvote my own comments with 1% or 2% of my pretty heavy voting power (look, Ma, I am a dolphin!) to ensure visibility above the spam, especially in long crowded threads. I am not a fan of self-upvoting of comments, but as long as "nice post follow me" comments continue to crowd our comment sections, I will continue making sure my comments are SEEN so they can be replied to and / or upvoted.
Hi @techslut. I absolutely share your view about self-up voting comments. If you have the voting power to do it, you can get ahead of the spam, or as I have done in this case to push my reply up a notch so that the comments flow in a good order. As a general rule I don’t upvote my comments, but it’s my right to do so. In general, I prefer to use my voting to support others. With heavy voting power, I can make a difference to them.
Can I ask you a favour? You can see my comment about multi-serial spammer @jout below. He has the same reputation score as me, so I can’t do anything. He is writing hundreds of comments an hour all with the same words. Many users want to stop his behaviour, but don’t have the power.
It looks like you do have enough power.
No obligation on you - but if you do accept to sometimes stop spammers with a flag, the he would be the number 1 candidate.
Thanks!
Have you reported him to steemcleaners? Also, look me up on Discord and we'll figure out how to deal with this issue. I am on a bunch of Discords.
Hi @techslut. I have downloaded Discord and verified myself etc, and created a channel. Can’t find any way to look up users like you. Seems i have to send you an invite here first? Here it is: https://discord.gg/yMeTs9w
I know it has been a while, but I'm just seeing this. I went to look, and I can see that Swissclive is still trying to flag the guy to make him stop. A report was submitted to:
https://steemcleaners.org/abuse-report/
They know about the guy now, and hopefully he'll get squashed soon for the abuse. Thanks to you guys for bringing it up here, or I would never have known it was a problem!
He is also upvoting his own comments through an upvote bidbot @postpromoter - an interesting get rich quick scheme
I have yet to upvote one of my own posts but this makes a lot of sense. I post quality comments which add to the discussion and they are probably never seen by many because of all the cookie cutter responses.
Never feel bad upvoting to get above the bots and spammers. No reasonable person is going to flag or give you trouble for doing it. I'll remove my upvote later though once the position is secured by other upvotes to avoid the issue of paying myself with my own SP. My SP is meant for others, and I definitely don't want to game the system.
Thank you, dear ;-)
I completely understand.. I'm very active in this sense, having a campaign to raise awareness in steemit community about spam and i'm very proud I've enlisted some friends in this battle against spammers. I don't want to replace @steemcleaners or @spamminator but support them.
I too see the advice to never upvote your own replies, and I disagree with that advice as well. Typically, I will upvote my reply to get above the bots and spammers. Then once it is secured above them, I remove my upvote. Thanks and followed!
Thank you so much for this wonderful guide. If all these is taken into consideration, steemit community will go a long way. Kudos to you @miti
You're welcome @funkylove ;-)
I will definitely resteem this post so I can always reference it. Thanks, @miti for putting these together. I'll follow your blog for more.
You're welcome @fessikay
Excellent post my friend, today is actually my first day on Steemit and this is EXACTLY what I've been looking for, even before joining. Countless Youtube reviews and guides did little to provide the insight as to the nature of the steemit social network itself, Steem notwithsatnding. Social media up to this point has left me jaded after having taken the plung full "steem" ahead (I peaked at MySpace, before falling for the FB time suck trap;). I'm actually excited about the potential of this paradigm and that alone is a great value to me in and of itself. I honestly haven't a tenth of the knowledge which I imagine is required to be a compatent crypto-trader, but steemit and it's inherent system of "check and balances" provides me with the ideal platform to trade thoughts, collaborate ideas, and meet with other open-minded individuals; this is what the kids call "winning." This here seems like the best way to run a truly SOCIAL network built on creativity, partnerships, and communal alturism. They say your vibe attracts your tribe, but in this case I think the Steemian Tribe has attracted my vibes. Thank you sincerily for this post, I appreciate your time.
@fatherhoodrich
I found your arguments... very interesting, very... impassioned. Take your time to explore steemit, and you'll see that everything's fine. If you'll conduct this in a good spirit, you will grow fast.. i'm here from 3 month now and you see where i'm! but it took a great effort..
A great effort, thanks so much for putting this together, I'll be sharing in my other groups to help newbies understand steemit better.
Thanks Lyndsay, your help is very appreciated!
I always put some thought into comments because I want to show that I've actually read the content rather than just say how much I liked it or that I'm going to resteem it. When I see spam comments getting upvotes, it kills me.
In this way you will grow fast in steemit community ;-)
This is a really good and important post. Thank you for writing it. I'm updating my spam-warning-message, replacing the link to your old article with this one.
Well done.. thanks ;-)
Great work, as always. I understand that after the next fork, upvotes in the first 15 minutes won't give author rewards. So commenting and upvoting your own comment will give you nothing anyway.
Since I use bots to promote my own work, I always upvote legitimate comments on my pages (even if it's just enough to push them above the bots' comments). If it is already high on the page because of self-voting, I am less likely to. New members that upvote themselves are therefore deprived of my more valuable upvotes.
Hi Joseph,
i never upvote my post until someone do it before me.
As you can see, i waite that 3 users upvoted the post before doing it.
That makes sense. I like to wait until the 30 minute mark to upvote my own posts, so that I can get better curation rewards from the later voters. I do the same for the other projects I run. Across the three accounts, that's roughly 15% of my upvote.
I try to do my own curation for the rest, but I do have a bot in place to release pressure off the top (e.g. if my voting power gets above 98% it follows a prescribed algo to keep it from reaching 100%).
Really interesting!
That was very well written, and I suspect that English isn't your first language... Good job! I'll throw it out there, if you want me to edit this, let me know... I'd be happy to...
Yes, i'm Italian and... Why not? Are you on discord or in steemit.chat?
Not yet... I am sort of a hermit, but I am slowly adapting!
Can you email a word doc?
After I edit, do you know how to do a compare doc? If not, I can give that too, so you see what changes I made, and where...
Email sent to you, thanks!
Yes i do ;-)
I think it's better that you cancel your email address from your comment...spammers lurk..
okay, thanks! (sorry)
Which would you personally recommend, for this newbie? (discord or steemit.chat)
I think that steemit.chat is easier for a newbie. To use discord you need of an invite to a channel.
Okay, thank you!
I have a separate question, more on topic with this post... I want to become the best I can, so I am curious if you think this is spammy...
I make them myself, and people seem to really respond well to them... But after reading your post, I wonder if it is too, "LOOK AT ME!"? Thanks!
If you leave a reply, I (personally) would NOT want a large image like that telling me you up-voted my article. I can see who up-voted it using any number of tools if I really wanted to know. However, writing in WORDS that you up-voted my article will usually get me to look and see what kind of up-vote you actually made. The same applies to a re-steem.
It is a cool gif, but it clutters up my page and most likely really has no relevance to what I wrote about.
I don’t like a GIF in the comments unless it relevant and adds something to the discussion.
That's what great about Steemit. None of that follow for follow, like for like. It's based on quality and authentic engagement. And yes, I thought about not replying on posts I like not just the ones I didn't quite understand. Sometimes it's ok to like a post but not comment on for the sake of it.
Yes @greatestjourney, with these mindsets you'll grow along with steemit!
Thanks for this post. This is very useful to me as someone who is still relatively new to steemit. Ive also noticed that the majority of my curation rewards seem to come from writing comments that elicit some sort of response. So it seems a win-win situation to me. If you write good quality comments then you get a better reputation on the site and also earn better rewards for generating discussion about a post.
One thing I have noticed is that people seem to rarely upvote coments on their own posts. I understand the logic of not upvoting your own comments, but Im not sure why you wouldn't upvote a positive comment from another user. Is there something I'm missing here. I know that people are conservative in using their SP. I have asked this question before and never been able to get an answer.
I am new here too and wondering the same thing. Thanks for voicing it out. Hope to understand this whole steemit world soon to my advantage.
You're welcome @aghunter. I said i don't upvote MY OWN comments but i usually upvote comments on my posts. A good comment deserve upvote.
I couldn’t agree more.
Ottima guida :-)
Il finale lo trovo super-importante... "Have fun!".
Salutoni dalla Svizzera
Steemitri The Mannequin
Che senso ha partecipare se non ci si può divertire?
Un saluto a te ;-)
Thank you for this information. I am still trying to figure everything out. I don't want to develop bad habits. I didn't realize certain things could impact your reputation.
You're welcome! It makes me happy to know this guide be helpful to you!
Same here, I am trying to read every comments here, trying to figure out how it works.
I searched a lot of information on this website. If you think it, most of the time there is at least one post someone made about it. I am still learning, but it is a process.
You gave very good information about spam
Great post keep it up
Thanks.
Welcome
@miti
Thank you so much for putting this together. I'll do what I can to follow the tips that you have shared.
You're welcome.
Thanks so much for this guide, I'll link it up in my next post!
You're welcome ;-)
Thank you for this. I'm new and your post has made me realize that I had started upvoting my own comments instead of upvoting content I liked. Is there a post showing exactly which arrow stands for what? Ignorance isn't an excuse and there could be several other newbies making the same mistake.
You're welcome!
I don't know.. but it's quite intuitive.
Thanku i got it ... but i have few question if you like to answer me .. i read somewhere that "If a post is upvoted the moment of posting, 100% of the curation award goes to the author."
"If a post is upvoted 30 min after posting, 100% of the curation award goes to the curator." i didnt understand what its mean.. and again thanks for advising me .. i have vote you up and i will do good comments in future ..
You're welcome. Take a look into this:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@calamus056/curation-rewards-explained-in-great-detail
thanku sir
What's the protocol on telling someone they RESTEEMED a post? As a newbie, I don't know how to see who has RESTEEMED my posts, so I like it when folks let me know... It sort of invites me to check their stuff out in more depth... (I resteemed THIS post, by the way... LOL!)
To see who resteemed your posts you can use this tool:
You can use the full address and substitute your username, or you can use the base address and search your username in the search field on the far top right (not included in this image) and get all sorts of other information as well. In case the image is too small to see, the address is
https://steemdb.com/@yourname/rebloggedI hope that helps.
Super helpful, thanks!!!
Thank you so much i appreciated your advice to the newly here.......@wildera
thank you
this is a wonderful piece, i find it very useful as i am a newbie here...nice to know there are people like you looking out for the newbies and the quality of the content on this site because "spamming and plagiarism" as we know kills the spirit of creativity
Thank you so much for this post.
Follow me @asnawi93. I Will upvote you back.thank's
Yeah sure :)
I think I just read it right up there that follow for follow is not a good idea. But anyway, your call...
@miti
Im sorry. I apologize for the comments I poster your earlier. I was new Indonesian steemit, I was affected TO find a lot of voted. Hopefully you cantik guide the beginners. Both of us opponent of spam, peace greeting.
By the way, I have to use google translate TO write this comments😂
Would you mind if translate thid into my language for steemit? I will credit you or whatsoever you need.
This is an excellent how to. Appreciate the effort.
I cant believe i just have answers to my long awaited questions. It really hard been a newbie . now i have a clear understanding on how steemit works. Am not too good with comment tho because most times what i do is just upvote reading someones post. Now i know how to work my way around steemit. Thanks. For this wonderful post @miti
Hi @miti I want to resteem this post, but there is no any option for it. So please guide me, how can i do this. I really like this post,this is very helpful for newcomers and minnows to survive on steemit. Am waiting for your response.
Buenos dias,fue interesante leer el post me hizo ver alguno de lo errores que estaba comentiendo, pero ya viendo esto podre corregirlos, muchas gracias por la informacion.
Hi , I read your post . I don't ask any person to Upvote my comment because if he/she like my comment then he/she obviously Upvote me .It's their own choose to upvote my comment .
I follow you because i like your post . Your all advice is really good . I obviously follow it .
Finally , Thank you for your advice . I wish your reply sir
Seriously I love the advice are giving to the newcomers like me. I highly appreciate it. Please write some articles on how steem works. it is not confusing but it will be easy if you guide us.
I am just a newcomer myself as far as steem goes, but not a newbie as far as social etiquette, as I have interacted with other human beings for the last 40 odd years. I was looking at one of your photo posts from Italy and after reading the post, started reading the comments and I noticed this annoying repeating reply saying "Your comment is considered SPAM... Take a look in this guide:" and so on, even after someone just had a quick comment like "Great photo", or something in that style. And then I realized that it was the author of the main post itself, you, that was making this SPAM. So, I actually clicked on the link to see what's all the hoopla was about. Well, here I am, after reading all your "advice" and all the "insightful" patronizing comments from others and I still consider your "Your comment is considered SPAM... Take a look in this guide:" more annoying then just a simple " Great photo" or "nice picture". My point is, that, yes, I understand, spam is bad, real spam, but saying that any comment that is not a full essay with praises and kudos, is a spam, is, let's say, little bit overboard. But I guess, there is a crowd for everyone, I just know that I don't want to be part of yours, and I hope there is more relaxed people out there, that can take a simple complement and not make a big deal out of it. After all, not all of us have time or vocabulary, or even the language itself to make "meaningful" comments, but most of us want to have a little voice, and remember, everyone expresses themselves in different ways, not always according to your standards.
Well, I can say, that I spent WAY too much time on this post, but what the hell, may as well begin with a bang :)
BTW, nice pictures.
P.S. Apologies for any grammatical or orthographic errors.
Thank you bro, today u taught me something,, in before days I have made many of mimaby of mistakes which I don't need do anymore, which are risky for my reputation and position on steemit.. ihv upvoted my comments, I have said peoples to vote to comment on my post , but today I know that they r the mistakes, thanks bro to give me new point of view . Thank for ur concern , keep up the good work.. all the very best for the next upcoming days.
i have been down-voted yesterday by you reason spamming. after that i read your post. and I've learned so much from your post.
Thanks very much...
and where is resteem link of this post?
Thank you for this advice it is very much what I needed as I only joined steemit a week ago. I am going to try and post relevant and useful comments from now on. Thank you very much for taking your time to make this post I appreciate it very much.
@miti thank you for giving valuable guidance , its really important to have someone to guide when we are new.will follow all your advice.
Hi my friend.
I am student. I want to be earning on steemit because i feel need to earning on steemit with study.
Please do help me from up voting on this plate form
Thanks a lot friends but i need your help
Your comment is considered SPAM... Take a look in this guide:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@miti/a-complete-guide-for-newcomers-and-minnows-to-avoid-a-possible-spam-and-to-write-good-comments
It will help you.
nice artikel regards @miti
i'm newbie in steemit Please guide me and follow me heheheheh....
My sweet sweet friends.
Friend i am student and earning is very important for my study.
Please up voting on my post and
Please you can send me in little amount SP because i am start to earning on this plate form please brother thanks a lot.
https://steemit.com/@aliraza007
Your comment is considered SPAM... Take a look in this guide:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@miti/a-complete-guide-for-newcomers-and-minnows-to-avoid-a-possible-spam-and-to-write-good-comments
It will help you.
@aliraza007 we should read the article carefully!!
I just read it up there, hard work is key my friend...
For sure.. ;-)