Steem Flag Rewards Campaign: Addressing a Comment Spammer Abusing Delegated SP
Here is the abuse link
It is our hope that he either rescinds his self votes on the spam comments or the comments are otherwise flagged to zero. Either way, the end state is the spam comments receive no rewards as is appropriate.
Would you like to join our ranks?
Now, is your opportunity. I still plan on instating a support rank structure as well for all that have upvoted previous post or other wise contributed. If you would like to contribute scripting ability, writing or anything else, we would be glad to have you join the cause.
Rank Structure
 F1 1 Mil |  F2 10 Mil |  F3 100 Mil |  F4 1 Bil |
|---|---|---|---|
 F5 10 Bil |  F6 100 Bil |  F7 1 Tril |  F8 10 Tril |
 F9 100 Tril |  F10 1 Quad |  F11 10 Quad |  F12 100 Quad |
Previous Roster
@troglodactyl - Rank F8
@littleboy - Rank F7 
@anthonyadavisii -Rank F6 
@sundarrajan - Rank F4
@sohamrajput7 - Rank F3
@jackraptor - Rank F2 
@steemseph - Rank F1
Meritorious for Discord Reporting / Contributions
If they do not fear the consequences, blockchain abuse will continue.
If we fail to enact austere punitive measures, scammers will merely calculate this into their risk management strategy and continue their exploitation. Perhaps, they will make adjustment so their craft is more subtle and mostly imperceptible to less vigilant users. I understand that some instances of abuse may be attributed to ignorance and in those cases, I encourage we do our best to communicate and support the user in the reform of the behavior. In this case, after observing roughly 13 comments in reply to his self using two character 'ty', it seems apparent that defense is off the table. My job and my commitment to you is to create an automated solution to increase the risks associated with scammers. The old saying comes to mind.Play Stupid Games. Win Stupid Prizes.
Together, we can give them their stupid prizes in the form of a 🚩. If we render scams to to be less profitable, we will see less of them. It is my sincere hope that they will start adding value to the blockchain. Here's your opportunity today. Any downvotes on @laspers 'ty' posts are now the focus of the next campaign. I will be posting a series and tabulating downvote reward shares. Starting with this post until the campaign is closed, downvotes will be tracked for rewards. No comments are necessary. Additionally, I make an appeal to those delegating SP below. This has been brought to the attention of the @minnowbooster team. I am glad to report that @reggaemuffin will be addressing by revoking his delegation and talking to the fellow delegators. If you are among these delegating, my recommendation is for these to be revoked as the user has taken advantage of the community. It would be wise for them to work to regain the trust through demonstrated reform.| Account | M Vesting Shares |
|---|---|
| @smooth-c | 3.075 |
| @coinfund | 1.824 |
| @cryptoeera | 1.138 |
| @ccoindigger | 1.025 |
| @amreshchandra | 1.023 |
| @reggaemuffin | 0.612 |
| @investegg | 0.512 |
| @alketcecaj | 0.512 |
| @thecryptodrive | 0.471 |
| @sstefan | 0.409 |
| @itsnicoletv | 0.409 |
| @zonguin | 0.409 |
| @zephyraijunzo | 0.315 |
| @pro-analyst | 0.307 |
| @roomservice | 0.307 |
| @glowingbehemoth | 0.307 |
| @neworleans | 0.307 |
| @twoeightjune | 0.307 |
| @baghera17 | 0.306 |
| @rhanna10km | 0.204 |
| @iamfrog | 0.204 |
| @raimo | 0.204 |
| @m33lucky | 0.204 |
| @theia7 | 0.163 |
| @w-inv | 0.163 |
| @blocktrades | 0.114 |
How can the problem of abused delegations be addressed?
Two ideas come to mind.
- Pre-Delegation User Posting History Review
- Post-Delegation Follow-up
I encourage those delegating SP to be very mindful of whom they are delegating. It would not hurt to review their posting history at a minimum. Think of it kind of like a background check. The person is in a position of trust, that is you are trusting that they will be good stewards of your SP.
If you are delegating a sizable amount of SP to a user, also it is recommended to take the time to follow up after completing the delegation and review how they have used it.
What are your thoughts? Feel free to join us on Discord to discuss.
Steem Moderation Channel
Steem Flag Rewards Discord
Additional Updates
Much work is yet to be done for the more expansive automated Steemflagrewards solution. I will be working hand-in-hand with some top notch Steem community members. A few challenges that will be faced are implementing a relational database for better accounting on flags and additionally leveraging MongoDB / SteemData for more effective queries for downvote data as well as @steemflagrewards comment mentions.
Ideally, this operation will be mostly self-sustaining through Discord commands interfacing with the flag rewards bot. We have a way to go in order to turn that vision into a reality. Much of the work thus far has been manually performed by yours truly (with some programmatic assistance of course). One big goal that I would like for us to meet is to get @steemflagrewards to at least 250 SP without delegations so that we are able to reward flag comment mentions more substantially. Once the bot is complete, I think we will get there.
Your support goes a LONG WAY to fuel the work ahead and fight abuse today. Please, consider resteeming for awareness.
Gamifying the act of policing the platform against scammers and spammers is an interesting idea.
I hope you'll maintain a good moral compass for this project; as, in addition to steemcleaners and other such projects, it is a very interesting way of crowd-sourcing/funding down-votes against spammers !
Funny you should mention that. I was considering implementing a text based game in the comments that will uses the rank system. Had a few ideas so far. If you would like to contribute, let us know in Discord. Thanks for the comment.
Their should be sanctions put in place to ensure that these offenders are banned and paid the relevant penalty. These scammers are not only tarnishing the name of steem but are also puting fear into upcoming users of the platform. We all must support these plees and sanctions
It does kind of seem like a sport :P
The sad thing is that there is nothing you can do about all of those that did this over the last 2 years.
The system was designed to allow an upvote on your own post. It even has a check box for it. It was designed and built in. The best way to stop this is to not allow it from the developers side.
Here Are The Steps To Resolve It.
Then it would be super manageable to tackle those spam posts with single pixabay photos and the plagiarizers. If people leave the platform fantastic. We will add more people that really want to create great content and over time reclaim the platform and the value of the currency will rise and stay steady.
It really is 3 lines of code.
People can form groups or clubs and work out arrangements for supporting each other. If people think there is excessive activity between just 2 accounts it could be monitored more easily for patterns.
Recently I seen a post where some people were pitching Steem to some investors. There are alot of great things going on with the platform but all of the crap really holds it back. Investors laugh when you leave the room. 40% of their currency is in the hands of scammers? 50% is in the hands of 25 accounts? They said they wanted how much? HAHAHAHAHA
Is it ok to flag someone who put their article as a comment on my post? No one was asking for a link.
That may depend. Was the article relevant to the post? I've seen that before and it makes sense if the author is trying to respond to your post but already had the ideas in their article. Personally, I would express that you do not wish for them to be promoting their links on your blog. If they insist, that's when a flag may be the next step. Hope this helps!
Ok so i should unflag their first comment? It's like an eye sore when i see such comments on my post that i want to delete the comment. It's not related to my post at all.
Would you have the link in question? If their comment was irrelevant to your post, a flag is certainly justified. I would make reasonable attempt to let them know why in a reply to the comment. If it is a justified flag, feel free to mention me and it will be upvoted. Thanks!
Well they have since edited the comment after I let them know it can get them flagged. There's one that never edited their comment though but I'll let it pass.
Flag that bitch. You can't just post a link. That's spam. BEST case scenario, a link with some explanation of how it is highly relevant to the post or to the comment it is replying to, would suffice. But even then....I flag those. Not every time. But I do flag them.
I see. Ok then. Thanks.
This is a genuinely good initiative. I fully support the project and its mission. I do flag and report abusive people but there is a lot that needs to be done.
I am in close coordination with MinnowBooster team so I have an opportunity to convey my suggestions that will improve their service. They do try hard to limit abuse but the size of their customer base is so big that handling abuse cases is a huge task.
I will still work with them, and any other service, to improve Steemit ane restrict abuse or reward system.
How actually this flag things work guys after giving flag do community staff check why he she got flagged?
As the project progresses, I would like Discord to be used as the hub for reviewing flags submitted either via memo or our flag feed.
I am currently working on leveraging MongoDb as a means of pulling all downvotes within a certain time interval as well as when @steemflagrewards is mentioned on a flag comments.
Generally, for flags to be slated for rewards, there should be a reasonable attempt made via comment to explain the one being flagged as to why and perhaps a stipulation for when they should do for flag to be removed. Sometimes, people may be new to Steen and just need guidance. We want to help these type of users if at all possible.
Wow bro u r doing nice work if u need any help u can tell me.. I will like to contribute myself
Usually what I do is make a friendly suggestion, and a link to one of my posts instructing noobs on how to do better.
Either this, or I'll straight up flag when someone is obviously a habitual abuser. And other times, if I find something hilarious enough, I'll compile it into my favoritestupidcomments post.
Which of these do you prefer to see? How do I get involved?
Keep up the good work of finding and flagging scams. I really have a feeling there are a lot. But this guy drove it really over the edge 😳
Unreal!! What a loser. I clicked his name but user not found.... Good Job.
There is a bot of name of @steembusters is spamming alot nwadays and wasted bot i dnt knw who made it but this bot is doing lots of spamming and irritating new users someone kindly check his hitory and give him a treatment..