@the.masses attack! A downvote bot is using @the.masses account to downvote my posts 😪
This evening I noticed several of my comments being downvoted by @the.masses. Take a look at the screenshot below from @jesta's steemdb...
As you can see I have angered/annoyed someone here on Steemit and they have decided that the best course of action is to auto-downvote me anonymously.
To be honest I am a bit confused.
I have always tried my best to remain a respectful member of the Steemit community and I cannot think of anything I have done to provoke such an attack. Nonetheless it has occurred, but fortunately for me the account being used has a low reputation and thus the downvotes are simply an annoyance because I can counteract them with my own voting power.
It is not so much the downvotes that aggravates me. It is the fact that this person has chosen to attack my account under the cloak of anonymity. We are all adults right (well most of us at least)? If you have an issue with: me personally; my activity here on Steemit; something I wrote in response to your post or comment; anything really - communicate with me directly and I think you will find I am a very open minded person.
I am freely available on Steemit and on steemit chat under the same username.
I get it. The perpetrator of this downvote attack likely has a lower rep score than I do thus they are using @the.masses to avoid a flag war with my account, but let me assure you that I have no interest in casting any downvotes - ZERO interest, EVER. I would however like to hear why you have chosen to attack my account so that I can do my best to rectify the situation.
Since I joined Steemit back in July it has been a goal of mine to bring value to the platform and to show respect to ALL of my fellow Steemians. Obviously I have failed, so please let's talk.
image source
NOTE: Prior to posting this I removed the flags from my comments and I briefly discussed the issue with @timcliff, the creator of @the.masses account. Tim mentioned that I am not the first individual to receive an attack from this account, thus if the attack continues and I see evidence that @the.masses account is being used to attack other Steemians I will advocate for the closing of this experiment despite its many positive attributes.
@mynameisbrian - As I've said in chat, I am really sorry this is happening.
@the.masses has been an interesting experiment, but unfortunately the account has had its share of abuse. I really would like to get to the bottom of this though. I am hoping the person will either come forward to explain their actions, or at the very least stop flagging you (if there is no legitimate reason). I appreciate that you are being understanding and 'adult' about this.
Ultimately if the account becomes more of a problem for the community than a fun/interesting experiment, then I will end the experiment. (I still hold the master key, and can revoke the private key that everyone is using.)
I resteemed with both my account and @the.masses.
Thanks @timcliff.
If I had to guess I would say this post will go unanswered, but hopefully the flags will stop on their own.
Like always I appreciate your attentiveness and the respect that you bring to the platform. In many ways I try to model my own Steemit activity after yours but I don't always succeed, especially if I have had a few glasses of wine like right now ;)
That being said and since I know you are cool - FIX IT! Otherwise the next time I come up to Michigan to visit family I am going to drive to Minnesota to...
Buy you a beer? That's all I got
Hehe, well if you are ever in the MSP area, hit me up! I would love to grab a beer sometime :-)
@timcliff , @the.masses account doesn't serve any purposes , More likely to use as an ABUSE account.
I suggest please remove it.
Sorry, but I disagree that it doesn't serve a purpose. A lot of people (myself included) enjoy using the account and watching what it does. If I come to the conclusion that I must remove it, it will be with a heavy heart.
maybe disable downvotes?
oh.
I don't think that is possible as the posting key allows you to post and vote, both up and down.
On the plus side my last two comments have not been downvoted :)
Sweet!
Looks like we might have @anyx to thank for that (see comments above) . He made a bot to counter the abuse!
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the first half of Jan 04. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $4.33 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Jan 04 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
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