Steemit: A Flag A Day Keeps The Garbage Posters Away
The old adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is a saying that conveys that good habits lead to good health. In fact, our habits are central to many of our successes and failures. Therefore, it isn’t difficult to surmise that our collective habits on Steemit could be central the success or failure of the platform.
It is no secret that there is a lot of garbage content on Steemit. There are users spamming the same low-quality articles and leaving canned comments like “Nice post! I followed you follow me back!” Obviously, these lazy users haven’t put any effort into their spammy blog posts, nor have they actually read your article. So, how do we clean up the platform, get rid of the trash, and let the best content shine through?
We Have To Start Flagging Regularly
Voting power is precious, and we all would like to reserve it for celebrating the Steemians that deserve it the most. Unfortunately, celebrating great content is only part of what early adopters of Steemit are responsible for. We must also clean up the garbage and dissuade greedy individuals that are trying to exploit the system.
"We must convince spammers and scammers that there is no money to be made for the likes of them on Steemit."
I propose that all readers of this article make a small adjustment in their daily Steemit habits. Instead of going on a flagging spree, flag one piece of trash every day. I’m talking about the posts and comments that make you go “Seriously!?”. Start with the most flagrant abuses of the system, and flag one of those steaming garbage piles everyday. Internalize this new habit by remembering that:
"A flag a day keeps the garbage posters away.”
One full-blast 100% flag only takes 2.4 hours to regenerate, so this is a pittance of one user’s voting power. Also, if many people adopt this habit, there would be a substantial increase in flagging on the platform, which could prove to be very prohibitive to people posting garbage. Hence, less stuff to flag one day, and more voting power for the good stuff!
Keep celebrating great content through your upvotes! And to make Steemit even better, let's also flag something everyday that doesn’t need to be cluttering up this amazing community.
Do you think you’ll start flagging a little more on Steemit? Do you think this is a good or bad idea? Can you comment below and let us know about any initiatives you know about that are trying to clean up the garbage on Steemit? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a meaningful comment.
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I agree wholeheartedly that people need to start throwing around more flags. Unfortunately, so many people (myself included) are afraid of attracting a flag war. If I manage to piss off a whale, or even a dolphin, they could easily spend a little bit of their voting power to make sure I get absolutely nothing. The system lets whales push around smaller users who often don't have any means of recourse. I'd love to experiment with different flag mechanisms - what if flagging reduced visibility for future posts by that author?
Hey, @Maxg. I believe there are many instances where you can flag people that have little to no influence on the platform and are trying to exploit the system. I feel that in many cases, this is where a lot of trash posting comes from.
As far as whales and dolphins go, I hear you. I think that we have to take risks on Steemit and do our best to stand up for what we feel is right. Am I not afraid of a flag war? Oh definitely! I'm fearful of that too. But I'm also willing to stake my claim in the platform and say "nah, this ain't right" when the time comes.
I suppose we'll just have to take inventory of our priorities and make decisions accordingly, right?
I understand flagging is a necessary part for steemit to work the way it is supposed to. I am taking your suggestion at heart and try to look for non-deserving articles and flag them. Will be hard for me, being just the way i am, but i really love this platform and want to try to make it the best it can be.
Thank you for sharing!
I know what you're saying @flashfiction. It feels like we are being "mean" when we flag a post, but we are actually asserting ourselves and saying "Hey! Not on my awesome platform!" The flag button is the other half of the equation that makes Steemit great, so we need to try and implement it in effective ways.
Thank you for reading, and I hope that you will join me in cleaning up Steemit a little bit!
You know...as a newbie who really likes steemit concept it's been disappointing to see these huge flag wars and drama with the whales. Mostly because they're basically fighting over status/power and of course money. Some of those also care because they want minnows to have a better shot. Some of them care about their minnows it seems ONLY cuz they make steem from them, thus the reason for funneling them here from outside. Hey, don't get me wrong, new users are a good thing...so long as the content is good quality. Sh@# posts and whale flagging wars have directly turned off users from staying here.
But if we are here because we want a vibrant platform with good content to supplement, or even replace, other social media, we do have to also take the effort to self regulated. I'm under the impression that's why I keep hearing the endorsement this is a decentralized platform. But if we don't self regulate, we let total chaos reign. That doesn't seem healthy.
Not upvoting is simply not enough. Steem cleaners and chetah and original works can't handle it all. If we down vote one lower sp user a day, that could help, maybe. After all, that's what flags are for. To self govern what users find to be quality content and their makers.
The big unknown is how many of these low sp users even understand what they're doing is harmful? If they were funneled here simply with the promise that if they get large follower base, get upvoted=earn easy money, and vite for their whales who recruited them, they're not going to realize how their actions are harmful. They think that what the platform is about. Also, some of the whales abusing the reward pool have been setting up multiple accounts to self upvote or self crosspost upvote so even just flagging a low reputation user, you could be flagging a whale, or upsetting them by reducing their following.
But we have to do something if we want to be known as platform that's fulfilling AND profitable. That will take probably many strategies. Flagging is one option that was designed into the system to be used as your post describes. Worth the effort I believe. I'd rather upvote more people. With low voting power, I'd hate to lose a vote towards a good post I like. But, maybe one of my votes are more beneficial to the whole platform if it's a flag rather than .01 upvote. Things to ponder!! Good post!
Hey @phedizzle. Love the comment.
Yes, we are dealing with a bit of nasty business in this post. Flagging isn't fun in my eyes. I'd rather spend time creating my own work and celebrating others.
Self-regulation is the key word here. Without a centralized authority, we must self-regulate. It is our only option.
What I have proposed in this article certainly isn't the perfect solution. But the good news is, we don't need perfect. We don't even need "good" yet. We just need to try some different things, see what works, what doesn't, then adjust.
For me, I'm just going to start using that flag button once a day, on the really trashy posts. If this is effective for me, great! If it doesn't work so well, I'll think of something else.
But we have to try something right?
There will be more drama before this platform stabilizes hahaha guaranteed!
go on with your bad self! i think you have a good idea. a good starting point and outlook. maybe more people will follow suit. strength in numbers, right!
sigh if life were Oprah, she would be saying "Drama for you, Drama for you, Drama for everyone!" haha
Hahaha yes. That is an apt analogy.
So i had a couple of ideas just now.
a signature comment post which states why their crappy posts are harmful and suggestions how to improve. im not sure how to do bots. the bots im aware of, chetah, originalworks, and steemcleaners, deal with specific types of post contents. im thinking more like an educational post. i dont know if that could be made by a bot or if it could just be a copy and paste comment that people who want to take the time to comment on those posts can use. if i could remember how to make images or bots i would do that
or just a banner or image with the above info which is easy to post. i do think a lot of people being funneled here are "sold" on the earning aspect only. if they knew that they could actually make friends and have a more fulfilling experience, i think many would make more effort.
I think that making these ideas memorable, and easy to fit into something like a banner, is an important idea. Hence, "A flag a day keeps the garbage posters" away.
I'm glad this has you thinking! That's all I could hope for! Thank you putting some real time and effort into these ideas.
I have been on steemit just over six months now. I was always hesitant to flag or down vote people; just my nature of not wanting to be the spoon and stir the so-called pot.
Well the last few weeks I have had my fill of copy/paste and plagiarism. I have NOT officially flagged a post or person, but I have been reporting the abuse to steemcleaners.
As much time as people spend writing, researching and formatting their posts to create quality content, then I see someone just swoop in and break the rules??? Yeah... gets me riled up and everyone has his or her breaking point. I found mine on steemit.
Hey @Goldendawne! Thank you for dropping by my blog.
Well, I think it says good things about people that they are generally reluctant to flag others! Not a bad thing at its core.
I suppose that I would like to lessen the stigma around flagging. It is part of the platform, and it is there to be used. If someone flags atrocious content, I don't think that they should A) feel bad about it or B) be viewed as a nasty person in any way.
And I sympathize with you getting riled up about it. We are in the same boat!
Obviously you have been in the system for long,
I joined not too long and you want me to fag someone?
Well I don't share my posts hence the small upvotes, sometimes I upvote myself.
That aside, what or how will it look like to flag someone down, won't it affect your own reputation,
Don't you need a high voting power to do so?
#SMH
@jasladin, you just push the flag button on the upper right hand corner of someone's comment or post. Higher reputation and Steem Power helps to have a more powerful upvote or downvote.
And you're welcome to upvote yourself. I am talking about people that plagiarize, repost articles multiple times, and spam the comments section.
Why shake your head?
Cheetah is there to catch them, so I heard.
If for instance someone is to flag me,
What do you think I will do?
Obviously return the favor.
Well, I suppose that is your choice to retaliate. Good luck with that.
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