Steem: A Guide to Community Norms

I love Steem. I can do anything I want! And get paid for it!

Why do I keep getting downvoted? I hate Steem! Nobody ever votes for my posts, even though I have shared links to them on every single post in "Trending" and now I have negative reputation? How is that even possible?

Are You Doing Steem Right?

It's true that Steem is an open blockchain. It's censorship-resistant and you can do whatever you want. That doesn't mean that you should, or that you will get rewarded for it if you do.

Every community has norms. There are expectations of behavior, and if you align to those norms, you will get along better than if you don't. So what are the norms for Steem?

1. Don't beg. One of the surest ways to kill your reputation is to beg. Even though upvoting is free, upvotes have value. Begging for upvotes will get you votes, but they will be downvotes.
2. Don't spam. Definitions of spam can vary widely. In general, if you comment on another article with a link to your own, this is considered spam. If you post the same post a bunch of times, this is considered spam. Sometimes this happens by mistake...
   This error means I should resubmit my article, right? This happens to me almost every time I post an article. Check on Steemd or open Steemit or MSPSteem in a new window to see whether your article actually posted. If it did, don't post it again!
3. Be polite. If you directly insult somebody, they will probably downvote you. If they don't, somebody else might. If you're really lucky, lots of people will and you actually learn your lesson.
4. Respect your community. There are different communities in Steem. You can see everything together on Steemit, but some tags indicate different communities. If you use those tags, expect to be judged by the standards of that community, even if you're not posting through their channels. Some things might be okay in one community and not okay in another. I will downvote content in #utopian-io that I would just ignore elsewhere, because the community has stricter standards. By participating in that community, people are embracing those standards, and they should be penalized for falling short.
5. Know your audience. I participate in different communities on Steemit. The type of material I post determines what hashtags I will use and how I post it. The level of promotion I use will differ depending on where and how I post. I don't use any bidding bots on posts for #utopian-io, for example- even though I use them everywhere else.

Am I a Hyprocrite?

I admit to not knowing all of the community norms for #mspsteem. I read a few basic guides, and I appreciate the ethos, but I haven't gotten very involved. I still post a LOT of material through mspsteem.com and use the #mspsteem tag. Why do I do that? I believe in what mspsteem is doing, so I use their channel so they can get benefit from my posts. Since I do promote my posts extensively, this results in a few SP each week supporting the community efforts. I don't know if that makes me a hypocrite or not, but if my content doesn't belong, I am happy to receive gentle correction.

img source pixabay