New account @asshole troll-bot flagging HUNDREDS of Steemit PostssteemCreated with Sketch.

in #steemit • 8 years ago (edited)

What's with this wacko @asshole "troll-bot" account created via @anonsteem around 6 hours ago? Shortly after, the account was funded with 970 STEEM from @bittrex. Then, starting about 4 hours ago "troll-bot" went live on a flagging/downvoting rampage over hundreds of steemit posts at a rate of around 1 or 2 every few minutes.

Here's just a small sampling, courtesy of steemd stats: https://steemd.com/@asshole

asshole downvote @alexpmorris/stop-eating-chicken-eggs-you-evil-car… (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @contentjunkie/alternative-facts-and-threatening-t… (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @ttitto/they-discover-a-new-species-of-frog-in-per… (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @batngat/nhanh-nhu-anh-sang (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @anasz/flies-2017124t8736683z (-1%) 2 hours ago
asshole downvote @sbjamison/pch-scam-contact-the-ftc-at-1-877-382-4… (-1%) 2 hours ago
asshole downvote @yurra1/kitai-vypuskaet-sobstvennuyu-cifrovuyu-val… (-1%) 2 hours ago
asshole downvote @jg02/3-ways-to-trap-yourself-and-achieve-your-goa… (-1%) 2 hours ago

@ned and @dantheman: is there a good way yet to deal with such obvious malicious and abusive behavior?

Perhaps this is a good time to revisit this topic, which at least a few of us have commented on before.

It does not seem right or fair that anyone should be allowed to devalue a post by flagging it for no good reason. Therefore, I propose a change whereby flags must be accompanied by a publicly stated brief reason for flagging, to be shown as a special kind of comment. There should also be a means of challenging a flag whereby it can be removed if enough users agree with the challenger, perhaps by indicating their agreement through voting on this flag comment accordingly. This, together with some clearly stated guidelines for flagging from @steemservices would also go a long way towards preventing the abuse of the flagging system.

Article: https://steemit.com/steemitabuse/@generalspecific/a-recourse-for-preventing-the-abuse-of-flagging-downvotes

Here is a comment I posted on another thread last month:

I even wonder if people should potentially be penalized for malcious/inappropriate flagging, or at least a comment should be included as to what is objectionable. If others disagree with the reasoning, then the FLAG can be downvoted as well and possibly even penalize the flagger (ie. reduce their future "flag" power in some fashion to indicate "low quality" flagging, which could even identify high-quality flaggers in the community).

Article: https://steemit.com/steemit/@ats-david/content-crusaders-the-fight-to-save-steemit-will-fail#@alexpmorris/re-ats-david-re-alexpmorris-re-ats-david-content-crusaders-the-fight-to-save-steemit-will-fail-20161213t004316889z

And one more...

Downvotes don't count unless they are accompanied by a comment explaining the downvote and that comment has been upvoted by someone that is not the downvoter.

So simple, so direct and so effective. Yes, I know trolls have friends. Yes, I know trolls are probably smart enough to have more than one account and could upvote their downvote. But! Trolls don't have many friends and trolls are lazy. Plus it's pretty easy for the community to pick up on this behavior and police it. I am convinced that this mechanism would greatly, massively reduce the amount of downvote trolling and other bullying that is currently underway.

Article: https://steemit.com/steemit/@johnsmith/how-to-solve-the-downvote-conundrum-with-one-simple-trick-upvoting-downvotes

Please share any thoughts or other ideas on possible solutions for this, as this is the type of behavior that serves only to damage credibility and ruin the ecosystem.

#steem #curation #abuse #crypto-news
8 years ago in #steemit by
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    • [-]
     8 years ago 

    Flagging the troll is the theoretical solution to drive its rep to negative, but it doesn't post anything, revealing a major flaw in that remedy.

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    [-]
     8 years ago 

    Yup - I copped 2 flags today for content I know is original - I made it all. Simple way to fix this aspect - no voting power until you have posted something - then gives something to flag

    [-]
     8 years ago 

    Same. Two trollish flags at 1% here too.

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      [-]
       8 years ago 

      Agreed, I posted here WRT this issue.

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        [-]
         8 years ago 

        I also get the feeling troll-bot is meant to be more of a nuisance to raise community awareness and really jump-start the conversation on how best to deal with malicious/abusive flagging.

        I think it may even be based on a slight mod of this auto-voting bot script:
        https://steemit.com/steem/@complexring/steem-autovote-bot

        Further substantiating this possibility is the timing, given the recently proposed downvoting UI changes proposed by @timcliff. This except from @kurtbeil's comment was also telling:

        We need to have a way for bots to be made unable to engage in flooding posts with downvotes but at the same time, take away the ability of a Whale to annihilate users. One suggestion I made in a recent post was to make downvotes COST its wielder, STEEMPower - to disincentivize abusively frequent use - the more powerful the downvote, the greater the cost. Whether the revenue from this is burned or re-distributed is another thing ..

        https://steemit.com/flagging/@timcliff/steemit-com-ui-changes-to-flagging-pull-request-submitted#@kurtbeil/re-timcliff-re-kurtbeil-re-timcliff-steemit-com-ui-changes-to-flagging-pull-request-submitted-20170121t071642438z

        Then there's still the issue of downvoting versus flagging, which I had also recently commented on vis-a-vis busy.org:

        Just a thought, but I don't know about this one, because "Dislike" doesn't always equate to what some consider "Flag" worthy, and it was always something that bugged me with facebook until at least they more recently added a few more possible actions (ie. angry, sad, wow, haha, love). I'd like to see a headshake in there too.
        But, for an example:
        "50 dead in forest fire" ... Do you really want to "Like" this?
        27 Likes - 599 Dislikes - 0 flags

        https://steemit.com/busy/@busy.org/busy-january-news-alpha-release-updates-2-weeks-before-public-beta-release-donation-report-what-s-next#@alexpmorris/re-ekitcho-re-the-ego-is-you-re-busyorg-busy-january-news-alpha-release-updates-2-weeks-before-public-beta-release-donation-report-what-s-next-20170117t001344922z

        [-]
         8 years ago 

        Look on the bright side: We can follow @asshole's flagging on steemdb and upvote that stuff.

        [-]
         8 years ago 

        I too was visited by the Asshole! I agree with all of these recommendations. If you're not willing to stand behind a flag with a good reason, you shouldn't post it to begin with, so this would be a good countermeasure to abusive flagging.

        [-]
         8 years ago 

        looks like @asshole troll-bot just got around to flagging this post too lol

        asshole downvote @alexpmorris/new-account-asshole-troll-bot-flaggin… (-1%) 19 minutes ago

        [-]
         8 years ago (edited)

        @asshole was having fun last night, I even got flagged & I couldn`t understand why. Thanks for the update.
        Cheers ;) @alexpmorris

        [-]
         8 years ago 

        I don't think much of it because the voting power is so small but imagine if a whale decided to do it.

        [-]
         8 years ago 

        Yes I got a visit from @asshole tonight, the flag was set at only 1%, which is just odd in itself.

        [-]
         8 years ago 

        I have had the same but it is no worse than an itch - a -1% vote is going to give you a frown and should do no more. It is the voters who vote at 1 to 5% and call it a vote who are in my crosshairs - in a way they are worse than this pest.
        Watch for my post - they will squirm!

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          [-]
           8 years ago 

          For me, an upvote is still an upvote, and I'm appreciative of anyone who takes the time to offer me their vote at all! Even better, each engagement is an increased opportunity for a more valuable vote in the future. So in my book, it's win-win however you cut it! And remember, those voting at 1-5% are potentially hurting themselves too. While they may be preserving their voting power and "diversifying" votes over more posts, they won't participate nearly as much if your post becomes a big hit. Ironically, it sounds pretty similar to managing an investment portfolio. lol

          I just found this post on voting that you may find helpful in better understanding the vote weighting scheme:

          First, let’s look at what the co-founder and CTO, Dan Larimer, has written about voting in an old, buried post that deserves more attention (link at end of this posting):
          “Every time a post gets paid, 50% of the payout is directed toward those who contributed the most to increasing the posts payout."

          https://steemit.com/steemhelp/@steemship/voting-cheat-sheet-how-to-follow-steemits-all-star-posters

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