RE: Epidemic of childhood diseases on Steemit: why and what to do?
I understand what you're saying. Not everyone knows how to behave well on a platform like this and their ehm... for lack of a better word... 'tactics' are different than that of well established authors.
Some, however, simply copy/paste a comment to every single post they can find, shamelessly self-promoting. I find it hard to agree that they don't know what they're doing. They don't even read the post, because they comment too often for that to be possible.
When I see someone like that, I flag him/her, wherever I see the comment. Why? Because they have probably been warned before and flagged before. If they took the time to read the posts they commented on, they would have definitely run into a post like this particular one of yours, explaining how not to behave. For others, I always post this at the bottom of my articles:
Fair warning: Copy/paste comment and obvious bot comments will get flagged.
It saves me the trouble of having to explain my flag on direct comments to my post (though I still sometimes do).
Either way, if I flag someone (not on my own post), I tend to leave atleast one explanation, just to be sure they understand. That way, they have a chance at bettering themselves. I can't say I always do this though, because sometimes I just get too annoyed by all of this spam.
I mostly agree with you. I just always want to think that people are mistaken, than what they do badly intentionally. Although I see that many people are deliberately and unconscionably spamming.
I really like your idea with a warning at the end of the post: "Fair warning: Copy / paste comment and obvious bot comments will get flagged". Can I borrow it?
Yes, you can borrow it, not a problem!
I'm not too great at seeing the good in people anymore. I know not everyone is decent. The internet brings out the worst in people sometimes. Forgetting basic human decency. Just look at the amount of spammers. I don't really see that many people when I walk the streets outside, shoving their cards in my face, telling me to check out their business.
Anonimity on the web brings out bad behaviour in people, though atleast the chance at rewards here on Steemit tones down a lot of rude behaviour aswell.
You are very much right in many respects. I see a lot of evil when it comes to animals. But I see a lot of bright, kind people ready to fight for the best. Sometimes it seems to me that the world is divided ... In any case, the anonymity of the Internet exacerbates bad qualities, because it is often impunity.