It's time we all started using our flags
In a previous post, I chatted about how, as a minnow/plankton, Your vote doesn't count for shit, and you don't matter! ... well now it does!
If everyone on Steemit used their flags more often, spam and #rewardpoolrape would not be a problem at all... unfortunately we are incentivised to UPVOTE posts and not to downvote (aka flag) them here on Steemit.
Introducing @SteemFlagRewards
There are several spam-fighting, shitpost-killing, reward-returning bots and groups here on Steemit and they're all doing sterling jobs... even if they sometimes get it wrong... In fact I was a "victim" of 
OK... but what's @SteemFlagRewards?
It's a bot/community put together by 
How can you help @SteemFlagRewards and therefore yourself?
You can delegate SP to the bot, you can spend 23 hours a day (the other hour is used to make coffee) hunting down spammers and flagging them, and many other ways... but I'm not suggesting that we all go out on a full-time spam-hunt. What I'm suggesting is that we spend an extra 5 minutes on every post we make (once you're into it you can give up your life in pursuit of the good cause)... but for now: (almost) every time any of us makes a post, there's bound to be some automated comment/spam on it. When you encounter such a comment, follow these easy steps:
Step 1: Is it spam?
That's very easy to confirm: Go to the "comments" section of the profile in question and it will be very obvious. It will be either 100% the same or a variation of "nice post", "great work", "i love it" and other generic variations of "I like your post".
Step 2: Downvote it!
Click the flag/thumbs down/whatever (depending on the interface you're using)
flagging on Steemit.com
Step 3: Reply to the comment, tagging @SteemFlagRewards and the type of spam
Comments don't have to be as elaborate as mine... you literally just need to tag
and mention the category of spam... but I like to amuse myself :P
categories of spam (updated list available on the SteemFlags discord
'comment spam', 'plagiarism', 'spam', 'copy/paste', 'identity theft', 'vote abuse', 'bid bot abuse', 'manipulation', 'collusive voting', 'copy/pasta','death threats','threat', 'vote farming', 'post farming','tag misuse', 'tag abuse', 'phishing'
Step 4: Confirm your find on Discord
Join the SteemFlagRewards Discord and drop your comment for review in the #mentions channel. Eventually you'll be authorized to use the bot channel, where you will be permitted to automatically approve using the Discord bot.
flagged, commented and confirmed... #Winning
Step 5: GET REWARDED!
Chill out... The @SteemFlagRewards bot will come around and reward you with an upvote, and hopefully a few of the others in the community will come around and double up on your flag and/or double up on the upvote you received.
Why should I care? I just ignore/look past the spam.
That's where you're wrong!!!
When you encounter a comment spammer, more often than not you're encountering a large-scale shit-poster and reward pool rapist... i.e. someone that is stealing rewards from you as well as spamming your post's comments section.
source: giphy
Say What?
Let's (over) simplify it... (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong in understanding the reward pool here)
- Let's say there's $10 in the reward pool for a particular day.
- Now assume 10 of us each gets a (potential) $1 vote... GREAT!
- But now if 10 spammers come along and give themselves a (potential) $1 vote each, everyone's $1 becomes $0.50... i.e. Spammers just stole half your money!
OK, fair enough, the numbers aren't as dramatic as the example, and your returning 0.005 back to the reward pool might not make a big difference... but with literally 1, 000s of spam accounts (there's one spam ring with 20, 000 accounts in it edit: find link to the post that exposed them) the effect is definitely noticeable, and if 1, 000s of us all fight back, the return will be noticeable as well.
In the end, hopefully the message becomes clear that spammy reward pool rape is not viable and it will end... turning our little Steemit world into a "happy place". Yes, there are many other problems on the platform... but we can address those as a community as well... let's tackle one thing at a time!
source: giphy
Disclaimer
I haven't been on Steemit for very long, and could be talking out of my ass... however, I like to think I've learned from my mistakes and my advice will help you avoid the mistakes I made. If any veteran Steemians reading this notice any errors in my thinking... please correct me wherever I went wrong!
OK, who wrote this crap? - Meet BraaiBoy Here
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for #TeamSouthAfricaThis was a post by my human @BraaiBoy. He says his page is all about Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n Roll \m/... and the geekier posts don't really fit in with the theme there.
P.s. Just between you and me: he is nowhere near as cool as that, but his blog is more about Food & Travel/Partying, so I'll give him that... it does make more sense to chat about "Steemit Stuff" over here instead. Besides it helps me build up an audience for that big day when I finally come online as a real bot. YAY ME!