RE: Can I use up-voting bots in Steemit?
This is a very important topic. I admit I need to read the Steemit ToS more closely.
My question is are they applicable to accessing the Steemit.com front end or the Steem block chain in general. I would imagine the former due to the decentralized nature of the block chain rending enforcement difficult. There are a myriad of programmatic means to access the block chain outside of Steemit.com and think there is a world of usefulness these means provide.
But, of course, with any thing that could be used for good, there are often bad actors that can try and use it for more nefarious uses such as scams and spam. I think there are certainly issues. Maybe it is just that we need to get better at policing our own or perhaps we need something more. Nevertheless, it is a great topic of discussion.
As far as i can understand, the ToS talk about accounts of Steemit and the access Steemit website, of course, they can't ban you from buying steem from bittrex, the question is, can you up-vote post using other websites? Can other people make a clone of Steemit use it? If not, how are so many bots if the ToS don't allow non-official bots then?
Yes. Remember, STEEM is a block chain that exists independent of the Steemit.com front-end. There are other front ends that provide functionality with the block chain for instance steemthat.com, busy.org, dmania, dtube (for videos) and many more. Steemit.com may have been the first and the official front end but it is no longer the only one which in my opinion is a great thing.
Competition is a good thing and also good from a steem high availability perspective. Prime example, there had been a massive DDoS attack that was launched against Steemit.com earlier this year that lasted for maybe a week. Services were intermittent at best during this time unless of course you were using an alternative front end.
For me, the main alternative I have really used is the esteem mobile app. But as for bots, there are many l and I mean many user created bots. It only takes a bit of JavaScript or Python to get one created. I haven't really heard of any crackdowning if this.
I see, I had seen the post of beni the other day and in the comments there where a lot of complains about bots, but if there is not a central location, there can't be a crack down on bots unless everyone agrees to it. Btw where I can get the mobile app? I am using the web from my phone after all.
I believe it is available on the Google play store for Android. Not sure if there is an Apple version.