Let's Crowd-Source - the Unwritten Rules of Steemit
Like any community, Steemit has written rules and unwritten rules. The latter will get you flagged (or worse), and you might never know what exactly you did wrong.
To prevent more people making mistakes, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a list of things that might not be obvious to people just joining, but are seemingly common-knowledge to people who have been around a long time.
Please help me add to the list with your comments!
Ok, here goes, in no particular order ...
Introduce yourself ... once
The last time I got flagged was because I re-introduced myself using the tag. Don't do that, you should make an introduction once then not post again in that tag.
This highlights an issue many people have - your experience of other communities does not necessarily give you insight into the rules of how this one works!
80-20% rule
Most people here have self-voted. The UI has a checkbox to provide that option.
Where people get upset is when members are selfish.
If over half your votes go to yourself then you are self-serving and not being a good Steemit citizen.
If in doubt, err on the side of generosity in all things.
Syndication
There are several services built on Steem or that can syndicate from or to Steemit. I use a WordPress plugin, and also push my Steemit posts to Medium.
This is all fine and good provided you only send one piece of content to each channel once. Don't duplicate your own content on the same channel so people there see the content that they have already seen. For example, if you have already posted your Twitch recording, don't post it here again.
Plagiarism
People seem confused what plagiarism is. I am not a lawyer so It's not always entirely clear where the lines are drawn for me either.
Copying and pasting someone else's content in its entirety is plagiarism even if you give credit unless you
- Have explicit permission
- Have implicit permission (eg. Creative Commons license)
- Fair use
Examples of fair use:
Embeds
FInding a video or a meme elsewhere and that being the entirety of your post is especially frowned upon.
This is low-effort content, on a platform where the rewards are for proof of brain/proof of work.
By all means use embeds, but as colour or illustration, not as the entirety of your post.
Quoting
Quoting is fine, so long as it is a paragraph or two.
Parody or Editorial
Taking a work and making fun of it can be contested but is normally considered fair use if done ethically. As is taking screenshots for editorial use, or because it is newsworthy.
A lot of communication is unseen
People wonder why things seem to be known but not visibly discussed. This is because a lot of the communication is outside Steemit.
Facebook groups, and especially Discord channels, are where a lot of the networking, friendships, and conversations take place.
Don't assume because you didn't see an article or comment that the issue has not been already decided.
Sucks to be on the outside of that but it is a fact of life.
Censorship and Free Speech
You have no right to free speech and nobody is censoring you.
Over to you - what other unwritten rules might new members be missing?
What should people know so they don't fall into traps or cause annoyance unwittingly?
Please share in the comments
No faster way to get flagged than to beg for upvotes or post spammy messages. If you want to start a conversation, try to say something in your comment that adds to the original post, rather than just "I agree".
That being said. I agree. Great post. Thanks. Plz visit my blog.
Oh yeah the vote begging.
What it highlights is the "I need dis" aspect - rather than thinking "what do people want/need to read" they think "all I need to do is ask more people to check it out" ;)
Good information for me
steemit is a peace-loving platform. Thank makerhacks