What Is This Abuse? Part 1

There are many forms of abuse on the blockchain. Some Steemians disregard and skip this abusive behavior while enjoying the social networking aspect of the platform. I understand, I was once one of them.

Appropriate flagging is needed on the platform. Encouraging everyone to join in clean up and education efforts is my ultimate goal.

This contribution is the first part of this series.

For starters, I will cover spam and its many aspects. I will also give you a background of when I finally decided to give my first flag.

Repository

https://github.com/steemit/redeemer-irredeemables

What is Considered Spam on the Blockchain?

If you are devoid of answer, how about checking below screenshot?

_{Not apologizing for the blurry image. The account is flagged to zero rep. Notice the zero rewards. That is the goal in dealing with these accounts - no rewards for this garbage.}

Webopedia defines spam as unsolicited email. But it goes on to mention a closer definition appropriate for the Steemit platform.

endless repetition of worthless text

The image above is a classic example of worthless repetition.

Blockchain technology is a beautiful thing. But with abuse, it makes you wish that transactions can be deleted.

Other Spam Flavors

Short comments for farming votes

This account has a higher reputation than most spammers. It has been spamming for how long before they were discovered by the guys at Steem Flag Rewards.

The sad thing is, it has a partner account that upvotes the comments. In this case, we're dealing with two accounts that are abusing the platform's reward system.

Once they were discovered, the main voting account started retaliating. All the abuse fighters who tried to reduce the potential rewards of their money-making scheme were flagged.

Disclaimer: When you do decide to flag an abuser, be prepared for retaliatory flags.

Constantly asking for a follow or upvote

This is an example of a middle reputation account spamming begging for upvote or follow.

I have seen older Steemians who are concerned enough to help out new Steemians. Explaining the follow-for-follow and upvote-for-upvote mentality is tough for users coming from Facebook.

But we as a community, need to catch this on the onset. Earning an upvote or follow through engagement is the way to go.

Even spaminator has a quick link for the Art of Commenting.

If you're a newbie reading this post, I highly encourage you to read it. It's easy to comment on posts if you did read the post. If you didn't read the post, you have nothing to say, move on.

No text, just a copied picture

It would be different if it was the account's own photography.

But for this instance, you can also consider it as copy/paste. Personally, I get mad when I see this prevalent to the newer accounts. Capitalizing on lazy behavior.

That's a list of the account's posts. Just a picture and an attribution to Google. Really? Google? Oh and one TripAdvisor. Those aren't valid sources in my opinion.

You might also notice the red circle on how many upvotes that account received. Those accounts upvoting the post are what we call faucet accounts with 15 SP Steemit Inc delegations.

This type of spam is also called vote farming with faucet delegations. Abuse from faucet delegated accounts is why the irredeemable GitHub was created.

TheMarkyMark has really been on point on this front. He's been over the top helpful in submitting these accounts to Steemit's irredeemable on GitHub.

_Edit:
The GitHub repository for irredeemables is the mechanism Steemit provided to remove delegations from accounts created through Steemit.com

My First Flag

When I joined Steemit, I only thought about submitting my original content. And if I want to quote an article, to source it and mark it down as a quote.

Pretty simple.

I joined the black and white challenge for 7 days. Using pictures I took and haven't shared. And that's the extent of me posting without any text. I don't meme so the only type of content left for me is writing or posting a video.

I'm in the IT industry but my chosen niche on Steemit is homesteading. I read a lot. And back when HF19 is in effect, I wrote a lot of comments and interacted with different accounts.

As Steemit gained popularity, new accounts are signing up to the point of creating 100s through microworker sites. It became more difficult to find quality content creators.

There were pieces of trash popping everywhere I visited. Until one fine day, the trash is on my yard.

I submitted a post and here comes a stream of follows. Then the first comment on my post is a spam.

Am I supposed to laugh? Am I supposed to cry? Am I supposed to tolerate it? Should I continue ignoring it even if it's not on my post?

I didn't even know how to contact SteemCleaners then.

What I usually do when I see trash is pick it up and throw it in a trash can. If it's compostable it goes to the compost bin.

With that in mind _{and my husband yelling over my shoulder}, I flagged the spam comment.

Let's not forget the goal

Remember that appropriate flagging is my intention. It's putting a stop to abuse and saying Not in my yard, not on my watch.

On a side note, Quochuy's post actually made me realize that HF20 isn't totally a bad thing. If the RC can minimize one account from blasting spammy posts/comments, it's a good start.

Hopefully it can also make a way for non-spammers to transact more effectively.

If we can turn the spammers around to creating an original value-adding content, we can make this platform a very enticing community for all walks of life.

Resources and Great Read

• GuiltyParties wrote a primer on flagging a year ago
• PirateOfTheDTube showed a microworker task for creating Steemit accounts
• Spam by Webopedia
• Art of Commenting by SteemCleaners
• Take out the trash by NeONBRAND - Unsplash.com

Next on "What is This Abuse" Series

These are the three topics I will discuss for future posts.

• Copy/Paste: Friends With Controls (C + V)
• Plagiarism: Your Hard Work, My Gain
• Scam: Your Identity and Funds Aren't Safe

As a Steemian, we have different views on what an abuse is. We also have different severity metrics of which abuse we ought to tackle.

Spam and the three categories listed above are the top abusive behaviors I want to focus on.

Got anything to say?

Comments are welcome but watch out!

If you comment this way, I will definitely screw your bolts next to a flag.