I have been looking everywhere for this image (for years) and today I found it in a relatively obvious place, why didn't I see it there earlier, after all, it was obvious. Now that I look at the picture however, in my memory it was better but considering it is 12 years old and taken on a Canon G5, I will give it a pass.
I am not the greatest at storing my images and I wish I had developed a better system but, missing the obvious is something well do at times yet, I wonder how obvious some things need to be for us to see them. There have been various phishing attacks on platform lately that have come in various forms but, most have something in common, greed. Yes, yes, yes of course the Phishers are greedy but, that is no what I mean. They play on the greed of the phish. You.
How can so many people think that witnesses or whale accounts are in chat DMs asking them to send SBD to a Bittrex account for votes or -1 reputation accounts saying 'click this link' ? There is only one minus reputation person I have time for at Steemit and he has rep of -17. That takes dedication.
When it comes to memo messages there are two kinds of people on average, scammers looking to get some action that will cost you or, scammers begging for votes. Now, perhaps there are other reasons too but, treat them all with VERY high suspicion. And if you are a high rep person receiving the vote beggars in DM and memos, flag them please, don't encourage them.
Now, no one with any good intentions will EVER ask you for your keys to help you and if you give them to someone, you better be really, really sure you can trust them. I would say, never trust anyone.
Now, when it comes to people saying things like you have "won" this, or "click this link" in a message or there is an invite to click and it is hidden behind a tag or an image, treat it with extreme caution. If for some reason you are asked to sign in to your account again, check and double check the address to make sure that you are signing into what you think and not Stemmit, Steemiit or similar.
Unfortunately in this world there are people willing to behave in disgusting ways for small amounts and unfortunately there are many who's own greed supports it. Greed makes us blind as we start to limit our critical thinking abilities (if we have some) and focus on the win only. That is why so many people get scammed, not because the scams are so cleverly masterminded.
In this world, no matter where you live, how often is it that strangers willingly offer you financial value for very little? Does it happen a lot to you? No? Well why the hell would you think that people would be any more willing to provide value to you here without either getting something in return or taking something from you?
I am not saying that there aren't good people who do provide something for nothing, I am saying that it is rare. Especially when the person doing the offering has a relatively fresh account with very little of value in it. People have to start waking up a little and taking some responsibility for themselves here and learning to pay attention as if something looks like a free lunch, the odds that it is going to be very costly indeed. When it comes to account security, there are many help guides, read some.
Anyway, I am glad I found this photo. It is from the Adelaide Hills in Australia and I stopped on the side of the road to take it as I liked the scenery. I was on holiday there but, I grew up in those hills. Back then, there were no concerns about this kind of security as everyone knew everyone.
There was a cost to being an asshole back then, often a physical one that ended in bloodied noses. I miss those times as there was an honesty in it.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]