The growth of Steemit has been a good thing, but it has brought in a plague of quick-buck spam-locusts.
I see conscientious Steemers putting up posts explaining to the spammers why it is a bad idea to spam when they should Steem instead, but spammers being spammers, they do not listen.
Delicious teriyaki spam comes in a tangy sweet and salty flavor. Steemit spammers have no such yummy flavor
As much as I hate the use of the flag, the deluge of these stinging insects has not abided with calls to reason.
There is only one solution
Flag ruthlessly. Get over your courtesy and natural inclination to be nice. These spammers degenerate the value of our system.
I have spam comments on my posts a second after I publish...what is more annoying is that I don't even get an upvote from these leeches LOL.
How to flag honestly
- You should check out at least the first two comments that sound like spam on your posts
- Go to the commentor's page
- Check out his comments tab
- If all you see in his comments are the same phrase over and over...at least flag that comment on your post!
- How soon was the comment posted? Was there enough time for the commenter to actually read the post? (thanks to @unspeakableme for bringing this up)
This sucks, but it is necessary
Personally, I have a habit of upvoting my commenters; not all the time, and not those that snark or issue a blanket denial of my points w/o argumentation, but usually anyone who takes the time to make a comment.
It becomes hard to do that fairly when my comments are filled with "great post" lies, and begging posts (which are spam as well).
But if we don't start taking the personal time to slap these spammers in their naughty little typing fingers, they are going to continue to swamp our platform with useless, time-wasting drivel.
You don't have to go spam-hunting, or to go down and flag every spam post one of these leeches make, but please take the time to punish on or two of those that crap on your posts!
Thanks for reading!
How to comment on a post past "Great Post!"[Edit: @freedomengineer reminded me of a post I wrote last month that may help new Steemers that might get caught in a spamhunt crossfire:
Make sure that you check out @sc-steemit's comment on that post, as it is a great addition to my own post]
Interesting. So I have never used the flag but i probably should from time to time. I have always thought that making sure that one upvotes good posts and good comments, it would be enough to encourage good content.
However, if spammers are making a living spamming, and 'draining resources' than I see your side of the argument.
It's certainly a huge issue that our little market of liberty will have to sort out.
I am very interested in who has the moral high ground here...? Thoughts?
Who has the moral highground? If we all hold STEEM we all own this blockchain. If Bob posts an article on the blockchain, is it wrong that Alice posts a comment "Nice Post!" On the blockchain under Bob's post?
What would a free-market @arbitrator do in a case where a guy with 100,000 SP gets flagged for a "nice post" comment... Then proceeds to flag the flagger down into oblivion?
I don't have a good answer for that. @mattclarke offers a nice partial solution elsewhere in this thread
If the only posts that Alice makes is "Nice Post", and she is hitting every post on the new tab with that comment, I'd say she is spamming.
OTOH, it is possible that Alice liked the post, and just couldn't find anything to write past that simple sentence...
so in the interest of helping Alice with her next comment, and hoping jerks like me don't flag her back to the Flintstones, I offer:
How to comment on a post past "Great Post!"
In fact, I will add that to the main post in the hope it can help new Steemers who want to contribute
encouraging good content = carrot
flagging spam = stick
it takes resources for each post/comment made; blockchain records require space, and electricity to spin
there is a difference between folks who are used to other social media, and folks who spam.
my perfect example is the guy I flagged on this post downthread; he didnt even bother reading the post LOL
My solution here.
that is a great idea.
Matt's post is worth a read, folks
Thanks mate, appreciate you having a look :)
Well said!
We need to improve the quality of content at Steemit, so that in the future we can overcome the "Fakebook".
you are right in a way, but going on and flagging people commenting on your post is going to decrease the engagements on your post, i would rather ignore them, you know which comment is spam so choose not to reward them, now am afraid you going to flag my comment as spam,lol, anyway i always read a post fully before i drop a comment.
FLAGGED! ;>
if it's a spam comment, I mean one that I verified as spam, then I don't see it as actual engagement
I mute the people and that's it, I think it is better than flagging .
If I had the time and energy, I would flag, but leave the comment explaining the flag, and offering to remove it as the spam was changed
that would teach the spammer how things work here while giving them the opportunity to fix things
but I have a bad reply ratio when I do this, and I don't have the energy to do it on a constant basis
Hmmm yes, I understand you perfectly. I also did not get so much of this.
bot comments and copy/paste spam are not engagement.
Good point, the worst case is the F4F spams but I guess that it is mostly done by new people and they tend to stop after sometime..but it continues with another new gang..haha
maybe muting is the more polite strategy...on other social media platform the F4F is pretty standard etiquette
otoh, I have flagged several times while leaving a comment that I would remove the flag if the origianl comment was edited to remove whatever cuaght my eye as spammy, and about 3/4 the spammer never responds /smh
Good point...I prefer muting an annoying person than flagging which will cause me voing power and harm the person...
Sometimes the person dont mean harm and will stop if warned
I forgot whether the mutee knows whether he has been muted or not
in any case, the spammer that doesn't repond to a flag-comment will take no note of a muting
Haha, good point. I havent tried any yet and have no need for now. Lets hope that the spammer will check his replies and respond.
I agree with you here but this doesn't really effect one's "feed" per say due to the choosing of who they follow. Of course the "new" is just bogged down with it but that's where you go to look for something different anyways right? I'm not against flagging but I've yet to do so. If my personal feed were like this then yes I'd be a flag o' holic! Thanks and enjoyed.
flagging kills payout when done with a higher SP holder, and rep when done by someone with a greater rep
obviously, you cant get a lower payout than 0, but rep matter a lot here, too; there are a lot of conrtests and such that minnows can use to build SP...you can't do that with low reps
When someone leaves me a comment, I always show interest in his blog. But the comments like "I follow you follow me" simply lead me out of balance ( OK! The truth is they make me angry!
F4F, UP4UP? Just kiddin :P Yes a bad tactic to get yourself noticed lol
What is this Spam teriyaki....?
The ground up remains of spammers with some soy, sugar, and sesame?
LOL
it is gooood!
If you like spam, you'll love the teriyaki flavor
they also have bacon flavor
Spam FTW!
You've got a hell of a lot of nerve man! You read this post and yet your entire comment section is nothing but spam - pure shit - and then you complain to me because you left a spam comment on my post and I flagged you!?
If you ever leave a crappy spam comment on my post again I will follow you for a week and flag you until your profile has a negative reputation.
Don't argue with me, don't complain, just stop spamming!
You want war man? You're flagging my posts now? Because I flagged you for comment spam? You got it buddy! Here I come! :)
I don't need a war..
Well said!
I've been hesitant to use the flagging system, but you raise some good points.
I started out a few days ago, and I started doing this with a sick stomach...it doesn't feel right, but these spammers are going to hinder our advancement and suck up resources
flaggin is wrong in so many ways.
mute is all that is required.
if everybody used mute, yes that would work too
otoh, i dont mind smacking someone with a flag if they dont even bother to read the post...like the guy below that spammed the anti-spamming post LOL
can't fix stupid...just mute and move on.
Heh, I must be stupid. He muted me because I didn't agree with him on something. You know me. Think about that for a moment. I've used mute maybe 3 or 4 times in a year. I usually just remove support, but I leave the window open that people can change. Expecting people to instantly agree with you and change their mind is unrealistic. It rarely happens. They typically need to go off and think about it and when they do change their mind they may not even remember that a lot of their new ideas came from you.
I hope you don't mean me when you said "he" ;> Not sure of your context
Nope. Talking about the person here who recommended use of the flag. It inspired me to write a post which I just finished. I won't ever mute someone for disagreement, so definitely not you.
Oh... and mute doesn't actually change anything. It just makes you oblivious to any of it.
keeps it from aggravating YOU ;>
I accept spam comments as replies to this post. For a small fee. ;)
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
nevermind - I was able to work it out with him. :) Thanks!
It's good to work things out; that flag is going to work best if it can be removed after discussion!
the spammers that never responf to the flag as a challenge?
they obviously dont care
Hey, average post! Please check out everyone's blog and upvote the content that you like.
I follow you but don't mind if you don't follow back.
I upvoted this post and did not flag it...
why?
I checked out @elliotjgardner's comment tab, and saw that he engaged in actual conversation with his other comments, which suggests that he was teasing or testing with the comment ;>
Thanks for not flagging me @stevecoins, sometimes I struggle to get my humour across.
By the way, teriyaki spam sounds incredible.
tongue-in-cheek and sarcasm are both hard to pull off over the net, but that's what I meant when I said this has so be done honestly
check out the commentor...all your other comments were obviously REAL engagement!
How timely! I posted last night and a second into it, I got a spammer :| Even worse, a lying spammer and I called him out about the lying and spamming. And I'm not even a big fish! Can't imagine how much spam others are getting smh
that is a pretty big indicator right there...you have a post that might take a minute or two to read, but by the time you publish you get the "great post now follow me" comment
I'll add that to the section about honestly vetting comments, thanks!
And my original reply to this suddenly became symbols. Weird stuff.
Yeah, it was like a second or two and there was the yellow comment already when the entire page loaded. And what was worse was he gave me an entire advertisement of how his blog included personal development. Then told me he upvoted me, which he didn't. I don't mind that he didn't but to use my comment section as an ad space and then lie to me while he tells me he talks about personal development, that was pretty messed up.
I'm glad someone finally came out and said this. Some people need to be flagged. They refuse to be reasoned with and will continue to plagiarize or spam the platform into the ground. Flagging those people responsibly doesn't make you mean, it means you're taking an active part in maintaining the quality of Steemit.
good summary!
I need glasses... I thought it said "Flogging"... I only started flagging 2 days ago and it's for anyone who comments- "Follow me" or "Great post, how about an upvote" I've become Flag Crazy!!!
a harsh necessity..beat them about their ears until they learn how to Steem right LOL
It was a fine article my son... Definitely worth the RS!
wooo hoooo Thank You!
@richq11, has anyone retaliated by flagging you back?
IDK... They're mostly pissants so who would know???
For spammers like that, I am muting when I see repetitive comments. I think I would only flag violence or hatred maybe.
I understand that I am only able to upvote 10 times a day (still building up steem from that mistake!) I comment a lot without upvoting. It seemed like the right thing to do, but you are the second person to say you do not want people to comment if they do not upvote. Can you clarify this?
If I make 20 comments, I will kill my steem if I upvote all those posts. I also sometimes resteem without upvoting or commenting. Would that be wrong too?
I feel confused. Do I understand this correctly? Yes, I'm new here :)
sorry I if wasn't clear
I wasn't saying that people who comment need to upvote, I was being a wiseass about SPAMMERS who don't even upstate ;>
I think that commenting to earn rewards, but more importantly, to build your relationships on Steemit, is a great way to engage with the community
so feel free to comment w/o voting ;>
Thank you! I will continue on my path. I try for 20 comments a day - lots of effort in that direction and it seems to be working. At least I learn something along the way :)
I started out with posting and commenting; I think that in the long run, it was my commenting that earned follows from other people. When you put in the effort to read and give feedback, it shows!
I definitely get a lot of action from commenting. I try for 20 a day and that leads to all kinds of good results :) One of my comments from yesterday earned $41! I need to research how that miracle happened so I can repeat it.
@stevescoins, this is a problem that needs to be addressed. My concern is flag retaliation!
A semi-organized effort from spammers could result in a solid account being hit hard from a revenge flagging attack.
it's a concern, but with the rep system, the organized spammers would still have to have folks with higher reps than you do;
maybe this isn't a good idea for newer Steemers to do.
good catch!
Thanks. Those with great power on Steemit have great responsibility as well.
well said. In these last month there are full of spam comments here and on the steemit chat. Honestly, they are boring and sometimes invasive (on the steemit chat people write direct messages to ask follow to follow, more and more times in a day). Spam others contents it's a very bad approach and I think that more our reputation is high more spam we have. So bad.
I used to "spam" the promotion channel over on Steemit.chat with my blog links; but that's what that was there for.
The begging and the irrelevant crap are going to drown us unless we stop these jokers good
I also use to "spam" the promotion channels with my blog links, but in these last months, every time I post a link there are some people who direct message me for follow4follow or upvote4upvote, about 5-7 direct messages at day (that I ignore) :(
Interesting.. Please don't mess up the blockchain with validating other users.
When I was a minnow any comment meant my post actually went somewhere.
Successful Internet companies tend to encourage engagement.
expand on this, please
IMO We say want new users, then we will need to engage new users.
Some people get angry about new users attempting to figure out how to use the site. The new users don't know how the whole thing works. So, they try to engage and are met with a flag or a lecture that their comment wasn't good enough. I don't think that fits the growth model some are talking about.
The site (community) might want to consider being fun and entertaining instead of greeting users with a bunch of rules, flags and lecturing as a first introduction. Social media is supposed to be fun. Our new users are international and might not see the world in the same way you do.
If you don't like the comments it could be another strategy to just give the comment what it is worth. (nothing, a non-vote)
When investors look at the value of this platform they will likely consider transactions and traffic.
I think it is a bad strategy to tell users not to engage.
It is just another point of view. :)
I appreciate the input.
But I'll ask this...is a new user that copies and pastes the same comment on every new blog, without responding to any feedback on those comments, really seeking to join the community?
I hope I was clear in that I am not saying to flag EVERY newbie that posts F4F or "good posts", but to take the effort to see if the commenter is actually spamming before the flag is used.
I have also flagged by adding a reply to the spam, in which I state something along the lines of
this is spam, please edit your comment and I will remove the flag
The problem with doing that is how few times I get responses; it takes additional effort on my part to give that new Steemer a chance, which means less effort that I have to put into the community.
I like this second thought...maybe my own evil little brain can whip up something that's more like a hazing than a paddle...
or maybe somebody can put together an introductory and interactive game that must be played before commenting which makes it clear that spamming is very very bad
That is brilliant. Hazing with a paddle.
Seriously, I love your ideas. I brought a family member on recently. She said "I don't really want to go back to a combination of English 101, I thought you said it was social media", it felt to her like English 101 at a community college, and where you have 25 different bosses who are all on different pages.
While I agree spam can be annoying, there is also this growing attitude of "policing". Shrugs.
:) There are xxx number of users and we all have different visions. It will all work out, thanks for engaging people.
Another option is to NOT follow them. Comment on their spam on your post explaining what they are doing to your followers and encourage them also not to follow them.
Remove any support. Flag if you must, but the blow back from flags is not usually worth it as far as I am concerned.
Don't fully understand everything you have been saying. But spam and egg on toast is lovely that's when my son doesn't take it for fishing bait. Only joking mate great article. Cheers mike
OMG 😂😂😂
Your writing cracks me up. In all seriousness, though, comment spammers drive me up the fucking wall! I'm more than willing to flag any little Steemturd who begs for upvotes/follows/etc. and then SELF-UPVOTES. Ugh, NO!
I will always explain that I have flagged at 1% (and the specific reason) so that their worthless comment goes down to the bottom where it belongs. Obviously, I'm not trying to annihilate a newbie's reputation.
Hopefully, if enough people take your advice, the spammy groveling will diminish.
glad to provide the giggles; I have tried to copy P.J. O'Rourke's style
I couldn't agree more! They DO NOT listen! I have flagged some and will flag more. And yes, you can tell by the comment section. I seriously can't stand these people. This not the only site they have invaded, I've seen plenty of this same type of activity on Upwork.com as well.
Resteeming!
Resteeming this to get the message out there. I am not sure if I agree with flagging because I wouldn't want to be thoughtlessly and unnecessarily flagged by a spammer who got upset they got flagged.
you would want to be ahead of the curve in both rep and SP before you started flagging folks, for sure
nice post ..good luck.
spamming an anti-spamming post?
GENIUS LOL