Corruption On STEEM : What Do You Do?
So you’ve seen something shady on STEEM. It irks you or doesn’t seem fair or ethical. What are you going to do about it? Here we all are in this weird and wonderful Anarchic system called STEEM and we are ALL trying to find our way. Most of us want to see it work because if it does then it proves that self-governance is a possibility and maybe we can do away with a need for our corrupt Governments. We can also make some money in the process.
We have the best and worst elements of society amongst us and with everything now recorded on the blockchain what we do now will echo through the ages. This could be the start of something….or the end of it.
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Yet when we see some of the same sort of real-world corruption happening here on our beloved STEEM it can be disheartening. Is it just human nature to be self-serving and deceitful? Are we just going to replicate our corrupt politics and governments here on STEEM and just update the technology medium, or can we get beyond it and evolve? To me STEEM is just a Petri Dish. A social experiment in progress and I want to see where this rabbit hole goes.
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I honestly don’t know the answers. But I wasn’t born yesterday and I can see what some people here are doing. There are no secrets on the blockchain and I learnt some time ago to watch what people DO rather than what they SAY, but I am an old grizzled cynic and I don’t have the naivety and enthusiasm of the younger generations. I can see many people getting taken in, not just by outright Charlatans and Scammers, but the Confidence Men and the Smooth Talkers who might be pretending to be benevolent and community minded – but really they are lining their own pockets and telling you what you want to hear.
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I don’t pretend to be a saint. I will openly admit that part of the reason I am here is to make a few Cryptos, but I’m also trying to add value to the platform, work within the spirit of the systems design and make sure I am giving more than I’m getting. I’m being open about what I am doing here and having some integrity is important to me. My need to preserve integrity has been a very expensive personality trait over the years in my working life. But I haven’t put up with corruption in my career to date and I don't want to start now.
I’ve thought about this a lot and want to put some ideas out there about courses of action we could take when we see corruption here on STEEM :-
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This was once my default option and maybe by posting this inflammatory post, it still is. But in this Anarchic environment I know that very quickly this can become a "Flame War" and/or a "Flag War" which can be polarising and in the end can come down to a case of "Your Mob against Mine". Ultimately this can be a divisive and destructive path. You don’t make friends by calling people out, and I’ve learnt this the hard way over the years.
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Some people just pretend it isn’t happening and will bury their head in the sand. Nothing to see here, move on. While this can lead to a happy life, it doesn’t do anything to stop the corruption and it really just empowers and emboldens it. I could put a LOT of today’s societies woes on Westerners voting for politicians they know are corrupt but they’re content to turn a blind eye. As they will often say “Ignorance is Bliss”
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This always seems a bit Machiavellian and I personally find it a little bit deceitful, but I saw a lot of this in my Public Service career where I worked in a highly politicised office. Influencing behind the scenes and talking to people who might be getting taken in, warning them off, wising them up. Undermining the source of the corruption to weaken its effect and influence. It can have a positive outcome but it FEELS dirty and can very easily backfire if/when you get caught.
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Cutting ties and insulating yourself against corruption can be difficult but sometimes possible. You can sometimes make sure that none of your time and money is being diverted to a corrupt individuals personal gain. You can remove the risks of getting taken down with them, remove any guilt by association and make sure there is no “blow back” on you should things go bad. It seems a bit selfish and cowardly but it’s easy and safe.
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It’s always the last option to consider. Just pull yourself out. If you can’t fight the corruption and you can’t (or won’t) protect yourself or put up with it then this is the last resort. I’ve come to this point a couple of times in my life and its part of the reason why I am a bit of a lone wolf these days. I’ve learnt that sometimes the fight is not worth the effort and you can be happier and healthier if you just walk away and put your energy into something completely new.
Maybe there are other options that I haven’t considered and if people have ideas on the best way to combat corruption on STEEM then I am all ears. I was one who identified Zeartul as a scammer months before he finally exit scammed, but the warning signs were there even if they were subtle. The promise of guaranteed APR and then the embezzlement of votes during an open bid window were enough proof for me to see those true colours, but that wouldn’t have been enough for many and I doubt anyone would have cared even if I’d spoken up. I could have embroiled myself in a nasty situation there and been hounded off the platform by those more powerful than me. But then again, maybe I could have saved someone from being scammed.
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As soon as the platform keeps improving, then is fine. ¿Do you think we are better? Or worse than 3 months ago as a platform? In my opinion better, but maybe it's just my perspective
@arturomdg—I haven't been here very long, but I have a friend who's been here for a year and a half and he's told me a few things about how Steemit was before and how it has progressed. From what he's told me, there have been some pretty necessary improvements made to the way things are run here.
To @buggedout point, though, I think the question is, what are we—as individuals, groups of likeminded people, and as a whole community—going to do about the corruption? Do we even see it as such, or to what degree do we let it go before we then do something?
This a live and let live social experiment, where I think we're finding out rather quickly where our limits are. And some people have gone the next step to take things into their own hands because they think it's for the good of the community (even though it might not be and their motives may not be so altruistic).
It's sad in an experiment such as this that anyone of us might feel hesitant to express an opinion about what's going on, or even ask a question about it, but @buggedout, I'm glad you did. :) I don't believe in McCarthyism, but if it looks like a rat, squeaks like a rat, and smells like a rat, it's probably a rat. :)
Great comment.
"I think the question is, what are we—as individuals, groups of likeminded people, and as a whole community—going to do about the corruption? Do we even see it as such, or to what degree do we let it go before we then do something?"
It is just an experiment, but if you can help me figure out the answer I'd be very grateful! :)
Since it's a thought experiment, I'd be happy to go along. :)
I wouldn't try to attack it from the standpoint of getting consensus on what is corruption, what to do about it and at what point. As you stated, this is an anarcho capitalist setup, with virtually no rules and therefore an open invitation for all kinds of diverse thought, including what actually constitutes corruption.
Instead, I'd rather work on a way to disincentivize it. I'm not sure what that way is, but I think it has its roots in what I believe to be the overuse of the upvote.
We're supposed to be using the upvote to determine quality content, so we mostly reward the creator, while incentivizing curation.
However, upvoting is now the only way to get a post noticed outside of your following and onto the trending or hot pages up or near the top, which also includes all of the tags, since they are sorted that way. So people upvote themselves, beg for delegated steem from a whale or orca in the process, while using vote bots and all of the followers they can muster.
So, I think the way things are prioritized throughout all of the trending and hot pages needs to change from the upvote to something else.
To what is the issue. My first suggestion would be resteeming, since that's the most natural to me. As it is, it's underutilized and a potential detriment to you because it can become a noise maker for followers. I'd rather the number of resteems and the velocity of them would push things up the trending and hot pages and leave my posts and potentially my comments for the followers to push out as they see fit.
And I wouldn't incentivize it with any curation reward. Or if people would rather incentivize the resteem, take it away from the curation via upvote, but not both. The idea is to deemphasize the upvote. So, I guess in the case of a curation reward for resteeming, all of the reward for the upvote would go to the creator, and resteem curation would be separate and divided among all those who share the post in the same way curation works now with the upvote.
Some interesting thoughts there. But I think basing on Resteems or anything else can still be gamed, it just changes the game.
I'm currently thinking rather than disincentivise corrupt behavior, we should be incentivising ethical behaviour. Easier said than done, but I have an idea....
Okay, now that's a major cliffhanger!
Save it for another post. Can't wait.
I agree, incentivizing ethical behavior, if you can do it, would change things a lot. But as you say, or better said, how I interpret what you said, someone will find a way around it.
Pretty unfortunate that in a social experiment where you get to choose how you will operate that there's always going to be those who have to overstep, and then doubledown when they're called on it.
I doff the hat for your honesty . You hit the nail on the head ! We don’t want to replicate the F* real world 👍🏼
Totally agree with you. Some people here be like.
I wrote about some of this in my last post regarding BitConnect, and yes, the 40%+ APR BellyRub Bank was another "too good to be true" deal that I told anyone who'd listen to stay far away from. Many who did try warning others about BitConnect were also often flagged down, you know, cuz of "FUD" and all... And because a real "investment" couldn't ever stand up and directly face any real scrutiny! lol
I suppose one of the "good sides" of all this is that now, those who'd downvote anyone for "calling" out potential scams, likely have quite a bit less "votepower" to do any damage to those just trying to spread truth and awareness.
I'd also like to believe they perhaps learned something from all this, but on that point, I think I'm probably only fooling myself! lol
Anyway, I just heard about another amazing "deal" with a much more "reasonable" 25% "guaranteed return", so gotta run! :D
It's not really about BitConnect but it is all related. People didn't want to hear about their beloved investment being a scam, just like people wouldn't have wanted to hear about Bellyrub Bank.
this topic is not about Bitconnect
really?! so what do you think he meant when @buggedout was talking about this right here (aka "the BellyRub Bank")...
... already forgotten, I suppose... any wonder history keeps repeating itself?! lol
A VERY GOOD POST!!
Obviously, I'm still new here, but having gotten just a sample of everything wrong on Steemit, my opinion of it has changed, somewhat drastically. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, and it's much 'better' than succumbing to Google, and Facebook's BS. However, what I was initially valuing as one of Steemit's greatest strengths, TRUE FREEDOM of SPEECH, may actually be one it's worst features. Sure, you're free to post what you want, but as you touched on in your post, it could very well be the end of your Steemit career if you happen to tick-off the wrong individual, or gang. Especially if you're a minnow.
"...we see some of the same sort of real-world corruption happening here on our beloved STEEM it can be disheartening. Is it just human nature to be self-serving and deceitful?" <-- Never before has so much been said, in so few words. I'm not a young man, and I've watched the world that existed only in my mind's eye, go from a FREEDOM and JUSTICE for ALL type of fairy tale, to a massively corrupt, extremely violent, and intensely chaotic place...and getting worse by the day. Is that the way I see the world? Nope, there's still far more positive things going on, than there are negative. When it's crunch time, and people need help, we often see the good side of man, but there's always ample opportunity to see the bad, also.
So, I guess it should be expected that Steemit would function somewhat like our world does, but only on a much smaller scale. It seems very logical to me, at this point. I just don't like the fact that anger/rage, greed, and the abuse of others seems like par for the course, for some on Steemit.
One thing I have learned from well over a half of century on the planet is, when you have more than one person, you're gonna have problems, and those problems grow exponentially with an increase of the population. All living creatures have a survival instinct, and the manifestations of that instinct in humans goes from working hard, and doing the best that you can to take care of yourself, and your family, within the confines of laws and what is considered ethical and moral behavior, all the way up to, 'I'll cut that guy's throat for one Steem!'
So, what do we do? We do what (most) humans have always done; we continue to grow, to (hopefully) learn from our mistakes, to implement better laws and practices, and for those of us that actually give a shit, continue to try and maintain some sense of normality that is at least more towards The Golden Rule, than it is complete chaos, and a get ahead BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY* mentality.
Lastly, I do believe that the overwhelming majority of people, both on Earth, and this tiny sub-section of mankind called Steemit, are fundamentally 'good.' To believe anything else would leave me existing in a state that I wouldn't want to live in.
Again, A VERY GOOD POST!!
Thank You
Thanks. I also agree that most people are fundamentally good. What is disheartening is when I see good people get taken advantage of and I guess this is the core of our issue. In our old-world systems it seems the less ethics and integrity you have, the higher you can climb. So we end up with a world where the power and leadership comes from people devoid of ethics or integrity. I am hoping that STEEM can be different. I don't know if it'll be because of the transparency of the blockchain, the ability for like minds to connect with this kind of technology or the culture of a new generation which now has upward mobility (via Crypto wealth) but I try to be optimistic. I don't always succeed :)
"In our old-world systems it seems the less ethics and integrity you have, the higher you can climb. So we end up with a world where the power and leadership comes from people devoid of ethics or integrity." You hit it on the head there!
I, also, try to be optimistic, but man, they make it difficult. I remember when congress had it's lowest approvl rating, and the media presented it as though it was shocking that it could be that low. The only thing I found shocking was that they supposedly found even 1% of Americans that approved of what was, and still is, going on. I'm sure they polled about 30% of those "devoid or ethics or integrity," however.
By the way, you have a new follower.
Thanks for following.
It really does my head in that the disapproval rating can be that low. The people are voting for these guys! Or is the democratic process in America so broken that it isn't really democratic any more?
You're welcome, and yes, there is obviously a HUGE division between many (most?) Americans and the federal government. I can understand things being horrible when a country has a single tyrant, whether it be an abusive king or other dictator in charge, but the US has been on a dangerous and scary path for many years now.
The corruption is insane! We have the Pentagon, which seems to basically be a Roach Motel for money - It goes in, but it never comes out! Also, don't even get me started on the Federal Reserve. lol This country is actually going to borrow it's own money, at interest?!
To see this ridiculous national debt, when there should be none, is an understandable place to start a division between the people and it's corrupt, warmongering government. I'm all about having a strong military in place for self-defense, but we act in ways that are much more than just self-defense. We have perpetual wars on both drugs and terrorism, and that's straight out of '1984.' We should just have a single, "War on Bad Stuff," throw about about a trillion dollars a year at it, and be done with it.
There seems to be much more of a division in the people themselves, too. I'm neither Republican, nor Democrat, and there's really only been one somewhat strong candidate in my lifetime for POTUS that I thought would have been a good leader (besides JFK), but since Trump was elected I figure he should at least be given a chance to do the job without the vile hatred, and non-stop attacks. Many in today's society seem to only want to create problems, even in places where there aren't necessarily any. I get the feeling that some that aren't really able to think for themselves, jump onboard the Hate-Trump-Train because it's the popular thing to do. Although I do understand some of the valid complaints.
The corruption, childishness, and ineffective crap in D.C. just needs to come to an end. Hopefully, that's something on which we can all agree!
I don't like peddling fear, but I believe things are going to get a whole lot worse before they (hopefully) get better. A festering boil needs to burst before it can heal.
I know that if our forefathers could see what the US has become, they'd be disgusted!
I tend to agree. When I worked in the Public Service I learnt that often "If it ain't broke then it don't get fixed" so basically it HAS to get worse before the public will get the determination to do something about it.
I just hope that Crypto is advanced enough to provide a genuine alternative to both our financial AND political systems when they do break.
Yes, I think some of the crypto technology, like the decentralized nature, and smart contract capability, is something that could change finances, the political system, and governments themselves. Not to mention, enable poverty-stricken people around the world to be able to send and receive money, and help in many other ways. Suddenly, the poorest could join the modern world.
Personally, I believe blockchain technology has the potential to be one of the most important technologies ever developed by mankind. Therefore, I can't see the governments just (somewhat) sitting by and watching it threaten their control, corruption, and their money machine.
I'd like to replace the federal government with smart contracts. lol It sounds crazy, but I'm sure it would have to be a major improvement. It sure as heck couldn't do any worse.
"I'd like to replace the federal government with smart contracts"
It doesn't sound crazy to me. It would be awesome to have society runs by rules that we could trust and were fair to all. That's what an egalitarian society looks like to me.
Honestly, there's a lot of corruption and abuse going around on Steemit. You have to be careful when speaking up much though due to the economic architecture. Of course we all know that there is a lot of 'fake positivity' going around on Steemit. It pays better to be positive than to be negative. Worse yet, you might make enemies and if you're not wealthy enough this could ruin your existence on Steemit. Calling others out could be a dangerous thing unless you have friends who can undo any damage a corrupt user does to you.
As a small minnow you're very much in the hands of the whales out there. If they like you, you make it, if you make enemies that could ruin you.
Also, I feel like calling out others for corruption doesn't do anything. There's no enforcement obviously, so at best you can start a shouting match, but essentially it becomes more of a clickbait-post which nets a lot of money perhaps, but what actually comes of it?
Just telling others to stop doesn't quite work..
I feel like the devs have sort of abandoned fixing the big issues that plague Steem/it..
"It pays better to be positive than to be negative." Absolutely. This is probably just another example of my integrity getting in the way of my earnings.
I actually don't blame the devs, I think this is in the hands of the broader community. I actually expected to see more groups forming to counter abuse and promote good behaviour, but this is where I see the platform lagging. It's on US.
I don't really blame them, but I do think the only way to fix it is through hardcoding stricter rules, or adding some kind of new mechanic. Self-policing through downvoting leads to nothing but financial warfare and I think that it's only going to get worse as time progresses. And it's not efficient in stopping anyone from doing anything.. As long as certain loopholes exist, there's always going to be people trying to abuse it. The bigger Steemit gets, the worse it becomes. It's easy to have order in a relatively small community, but keeping order in a global community is next to impossible unless you rule with an iron fist.
I do think that solutions can be coded in though, depending on the issue. These could be anything from removing the ability to downvote/selfvote, to instating a whole new class of Witnesses with moderator rights (Steemit police?) which are voted in. But without dev intervention, the only thing that 'we' can do is to have a handful of helpful whales spend all their time downvoting abusers. And with the amount of abusers increasing and the amount of helpful whales not increasing I don't see how this can be improved without implementing better tools for moderation.
I don't think I agree. With a decentralised large community we just need decentralised structure for self-regulation. Communities are able to regulate themselves and can be any size. Then you can have communities of communities regulating themselves and so on.
I think where we are now, we have some communities and some are good and some may be struggling. What we don't have is communities of communities that help guide the communities struggling.
As soon as you start re-centralising power you are opening the door for corrupt individuals to profit.
Seriously Your post is great and deserved to be read for the second time because I read it quickly the first time.
The title is what pushed me to read it because you really picked up a great tile and the content is amazing as well.
I believe that this is only the beginning for Steem, today we can still criticize and judge and try to give solutions to all problems,
The main Objective that Steem will reach is to be from the top 10 social media platforms in the world, O believe this is hard to reach, But Because of the blockchain intelligence and Steem Democracy among members we may see 100 millions users of steemit in 2 years and we may see Steem token priced at $150+.
Thanks for the good content
Thanks @cryptosteve but to me it isn't just about getting big and being successful. I have no interest in helping people become the next Zuckerberg(s) if they are going to be just as bad as him once they've made it. I'd rather put my energy into a competing platform.
A very interesting post @buggedout I've been around long enough to know that not everyone plays fair and I have been known to champion the underdog in work situations because I just can't stand injustice. More so than staying in a work situation where ethics are overlooked, especially by brown-nosers and ladder climbers. Being very new in Steemit, I have not come across scammers personally but I believe that they will be out there unfortunately. I truly appreciate your strength of character and your willingness to warn others of scammers. I sincerely hope these elements get nipped in the bud and hope everyone who is here for the right reasons will enjoy their experience.
Thank you @trudeehunter it sounds like we have some common experience.
I'm not going to lie, being a small fish, I just bury my head. It irk's me greatly but when some whale can just come and downvote you into oblivion then it's just not worth getting involved.
It's a risk. As much as Anarchists might defend the platform as having no leaders or regulators, there is still use of force, fear of reprisal and coercion in this system.
Your analysis is very insightful, basically what I noticed in my short time here. Steem seems pretty much anything goes, including whale infighting. It's so much like real life it's fascinating, with the difference being that while there are sporadic injustices, there is no centralized entity draining your wealth and the majority are generous and helpful. If this is anarchy I will take that in a heartbeat over the social system we live in!
Yes, I think I would prefer this flavour of anarchy to the current system. But I still think we could do better.
probably. we need to be careful though to make sure we don't fall into the same 'do good' trap that brought us the current system.
Don't worry, I am no socialist. But it's already happening on here. Powerful whales using coercion (threats of virtual violence) against the less powerful to ensure they adhere to their agenda. History will repeat again here on STEEM first with emerging robber barons leading us to statism and then socialism and oppression if we don't evolve beyond this well worn cycle.
I know what you mean, got flagged by a while because i upvoted a post. Being a miserable plankton I've decided to stay away from upvoting such posts which was an action of self preservation. Money is power and we see that here. I'm still very green on how this voting and flagging works and lack the wealth to experiment. Those with lots of steem dictate what goes which is sort of censorship, last place I'd expect to see it. If we go with freedom of speech, the steem bill of rights should dictate that you can flag someone you disagree with but can't take his wealth.
@buggedout. the reason most people don't fight like you said is to avoid the blowback like fighting an uphill battle. What possible difference can one person make against a Titan with substantial steem power,but like a wise man once said the strengths of ants lies in the thousands and in the millions. Since we all have a stake in the growth of these platform.we can collectively like a mob take down the rogue accounts.
there are already some like @randowhale who receive SP from red fish for downvoting abusers
Aw no! Is @randowhale good or bad?! I can't decide. SO confused, I thought we were supposed to be posting content here ...
he is whatever he feels like being XD
It's great in theory but how do you stop the mob, and it's eventual leaders, from becoming corrupt.