Exposing Introduceyourself Spammer – 4th user flagged by me

in #spam7 years ago (edited)

While the increase of active users is great for Steem’s value it also comes with great disadvantages. The less users interested basically in anything (there are exceptions – mainly radical communities), the cleverer and more committed to the cause the base is. Therefore with growing numbers of users more stupid and reward-horny-only people will be joining. The wealthy people aren’t seemingly affected, because they have already build their supporters base. The only affected users are then the new ones that honestly try to contribute to the community. That is truth only if the “value of Steem” is in no way affected by the “value of content”. 

The issue

I’m strong believer in Steem, but I also think that its potential (until another projects or accommodations start accepting Steem or SBD) lies mainly in the quality of the content on Steemit. I think that most of the investors are mainly interested in self-income from curator’s rewards. That is totally understandable now, but any future HF will have to implement solution to this problem (if I had one I would have already written post about it).

The quality of the content and the way the curator’s rewards work now is not compatible though. Investors are more likely to vote for a post that they know will receive a lot of votes afterwards and they don’t really seek “good” content (whatever that means to them). Often times they do not even vote themselves but rather use bots. Of course there are exceptions like @acidyo. He actually inspired me so much that I’m already planning my own curator’s campaign. First I need to get known at least a little though. I’m getting mislead this is a different story anyway. 

The Spammer

So one of the new users that is intentionally spamming the same introduceyourself post over and over again has had some success. If I only knew earlier in the beginning that it takes EXACTLY 10 introduceyourself posts to have 100+ bucks post :D… Her name is @celinee.

As I want to have some kind of experience before I launch my curators campaign I try to seek the good, but also the bad content from my perspective. I’m not that type of guy who would spam “Hello sweetheart!” comments on every chick’s post that shows part of their tits. I actually always check the sources and previous actions of every user that I’m inclined to up vote, or down vote (Long live Blockchain for enabling me to do so!). Lately I decided to take actions against new users (those are the only ones I can battle alone) who spam non-contributing comments (like “Follow for follow”) 40 times a day or those that simply copy paste stuff and try to earn easy money. 

Solution

@celinne actually managed to get value of 140 bucks on her 10th introduction post and that was way over my influence. So I advocated against asking the biggest contributors to remove their vote. I was very pleasantly surprised that @blocktrades listened to reason and immediately removed his up vote decreasing the value of the post to 25 bucks. That is still hell of a lot though!

In my opinion though such users have to be shut down completely. Only negative reputation is the solution and that can only be achieved by flagging. Flagging is here to be used exactly in those situations to permanently remove the spam content from the site and make curators’ job easier.

Only way to do that is to SPREAD THE INFORMATION across Steemit. That’s what the site is best at anyway. Most of us are seeking here information to get better in basically anything. At the same time though we are all investors and we SHOULD CARE what receives good rewards and what doesn’t not, because those posts ultimately determine how will the site be perceived to anyone who doesn’t know it yet.

All I can do is to ask the community for giving the helping hand in a quest to remove spam from this site. She has managed to create another “unique introduction” while I was writing this post, so now you can choose from 11 more, or less, same posts to down vote.

Edit: Unfortunately @trafalgar and @xaero1 has added their valuable votes against our cause :(. We need the Flags and the Resteems if we want to save those rewards for more deserving content!


Or do you disagree? Let me know!  


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I agree many things you say! Things like "Follow for follow" will destroy the platform and people like myself will leave if this is the only thing on this platform. I like reading stories, recipes and learning. I think spammers actually destroy for them self since everyone can check their history. Thanks for a well written post. Sorry if i have bad english :P

What you are trying to say is perfectly understandable! We believe in the same thing then:)

It's really good to see that the valued members of the community are trying to make this a better place.

It's definitely not an easy task and is often a thankless task, but I'm glad that it is something that you are passionate about and it is one that will hopefully make the community better in the long run =)

There's a general Karma token already in existence, but if I ever manage to create something similar for Steemit, then I will award you some. Until then, I'll reward you with my upvotes =)

Interesting thanks for the info about karma token! Seems like another token i might be interested in and will definitely check it out:). I don’t know why do you think that I’m valued member of the community but I’m honoured that you think so :O! I also appreciate your support!

Welcome to Steemit, @fingersik!

Hope you enjoy being here!

This message was written by my introduceyourself bot.

Time to adjust your bot?:P

Nope. You used the introduceyourself tag so my bot actually replied accordingly 😉

I tried to tease you a bit:(. That maybe it could check at least some parts of the text whether it is really an introduction :).

You should not use introduceyourself in posts that are not introductions. It is meant to be used just for introductions.

You’re mistaken...Stuff connected to that tag should have its tag in it too...it’s not ONLY for the introduction posts.

Don't you think that's a bit spammy ?

edit:

import SteemData
s = SteemData()

q = s.Posts.find({'author':comment_author, 'tags':'introduceyourself'}
                 , projection = {'permlink': 1, '_id': 0})

tag_used = len(list(q))

if tag_used > 1:

    dont comment

Nope. As you may have seen, the purpose of the introduceyourself tag is just for introductions. It is not to be used for any other posts.

Well, check my @goodbot to see that it is being used a lot more.
Just check this post and see, how your bot posted an irrelevant comment.

It's a battle of spam accusations! One person is posting about the spamming of the tag and another is using a bot to post on every use of that tag!

Now if only all the bots were battle bots, we could get some sparks flying! :P

This. The other bot is to remind them that the use of IntroduceYouself tag is not to be used for other purposes than Introducing.

I have to admit, I don't think that's a great bot duty. I think @fingersik's post is an appropriate use of the tag. Ultimately, as fun as many of the bots are, I think there are far more of them than necessary. Randowhale is easy money, but not actually of additional value. The bots that welcome every user are not actually adding value to the system, and, while I enjoy steemitboard itself, getting a notification every time I "earn" an award isn't necessary (and I know I can command it to stop, but I'm also playing the game).

The game isn't very broken, but it is a little. I think we should be very conservative with our acceptance of bots. Ask yourself, how much value does this add? How much effort will it cost everyone who reads it? And ask, not for the value of your own account, but for the value added to the whole system. We rise together, we fall together. (Except for those who take advantage and rise on the backs of those who are trying to help the whole rise)

Your bot does not explicitly say that it is reminding people "the use of IntroduceYouself tag is not to be used for other purposes than Introducing." Or at least, it didn't in that particular usage.

"broken" isn't exactly the right word, but there are elements of the prisoner's dilemma at play.

GET EM! I'm tired of seeing outright abuse of the reward system! Everyone knows certain tags like introduceyourself posts earn a lot, and some try to take advantage of that by using those tags OVER and OVER without regard for content or use.

I will get them like you’re getting Orcs' heads in DnS!!!

RRRAAAWWWRRR!!!

i like this post

Beggars, Spammers and Thieves. there is a lot of crap in amongst the good here in Steemit.

Exactly that! That’s why I’m trying to seek it and shut it down if I have the power to do so. Spreading the info is the next step when I alone don’t have the power :).

yup i have done the same. it gets you some enemies. but until we have some other way of having them dealt with officially. this is the only way. Keep up the good work!.

Well spotted... 10 introduction posts is a bit ridiculous

Thanks! Yea it very much is...

I'm on the same mission with @goodbot :D

Hehe nice! I think it has hit her account once, but as you said in the post, only once, therefore people don’t know that it’s the first introduceyourself post when its 3rd+ :P Have my up vote for your work (cant cast 2 witness up votes:/:D)

I will change the script to comment on each violation :)

Glad to hear that! Definitely a good call.

Done.

BTW sorry about the chatbot ...
How many people are still in the game ?

All but one = 17. Take it easy...you had to work my cause is much less important than your survival :P

The rabbit hole goes deeper :D

https://steemit.com/@earlene/transfers

These accounts are all connected it seems - check the transfers.

Yeah! fonfon accidentally replied to me (the same text as i later recieved from cecilee or waht was her name)...it’s all trash... fortunately they just take all the money immediately away so it should be pretty easy to kill off those accounts if only people listened to reason...

I have to agree after seeing the girls post and account I was very disappointed how much it earned her. I want to see good content and interesting people on steem because that is what makes this page awesome.

Exactly that!

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