Recently, there has been a considerable amount of spam being posted here on Steemit. It is time for concerned members to take action.
It seems like there is a new spam post every few seconds. Because of this, a lot of really good posts are being lost in the sea of spam posts.
It is sad, when you know that some people put a considerable amount of effort into creating their posts, but get very little recognition for their efforts. It's not fair. Period.
The spam posts I am referring to are the ones that a member posts a picture / video / story, but does not make reference as to whether the content is original, or if it was taken from someone else.
The rule for plagiarism is clearly stated on the Steemit Welcome Page:
Text Source: https://steemit.com/welcome
If the pictures or content within the post were taken from someone else, the source of the content should be included in the post. THAT IS THE RULE. But that doesn't seem to be happening here lately.
The other type of spam posts that are very annoying are what I call the "Three Second Post'.
Why do I call it the "Three Second Post" you ask?
Because it looks like it took about all of three seconds to create!
I am referring to the post that has just a title, with a picture or a video, but with little or no story line, or description of of what the photo or video is all about.
Either they don't understand how to create an interesting post or they are just too damned lazy.
But they have no problem asking for an Upvote - Follow - Resteem!
Lets face it. There are a lot of new members posting here. Learning how to create a good post takes time. We all had to start somewhere.
As for the lazy posters, maybe they should go back to Facebook and quit clogging up the Steemit airwaves.
So, what is the solution?
My first reaction was to flag these spam posts. I have never flagged a post for as long as I have been on Steemit (almost a year), unless I did it by mistake. Personally, I think flagging should be restricted to a committee of members that have common sense, but that is a whole different discussion.
I do not think flagging is the solution.
I believe the solution lies in EDUCATION.
Image Source: http://theork.com/?p=582
I believe that if enough people volunteer to help educate the new, or lazy members, it will improve the overall quality of the Steemit user experience.
It may akso help the spammers realize that Steemit may not be right platform for them.
I have created the following pictures that are free for volunteers to use. These pictures can be inserted in the reply form box of the spam post. I did this to save volunteers the time of having to type these educational messages manually.
These picture messages can be found at the webpage I created:
https://sites.google.com/site/steemitspamposse/steemitspampossepictures2
The following message is for the post that does not mention if it original content, or if they have used someone else's material.
The next 2 messages are for the post with a title, a picture, with little or no explanation of the picture.
The next 2 messages are for the post with a title, a video, with little or no explanation of the video.
Note: The photo's in this post, unless indicated otherwise, are original photo's created by Michael Stobierski.
If you decide to volunteer, please use good judgement in using these messages. I am not trying to start a war, I am only interested in improving the quality of Steemit by educating its members.
If you have suggestions for other educational messages along this line, please post them in the comments below. Please limit them to a medium sized paragraph. I will use your suggestion if it is useful in educating Steemit members. And please, keep it clean!
I have never asked for a re-steem of any of my posts. It's not my style. But I am asking you, if you feel as strongly about this matter as I do, please re-steem this post, and ask your circle of Steemit friends to re-steem also. I ask this to help spread the message to other concerned members in the Steemit community. I also ask this in the hope that the spammers will see this post.
If enough people take the initiative to help to educate the new or lazy members, I believe it will make Steemit more enjoyable for all users.
Thank you for visiting. Have a great day!
Michael Stobierski
https://sites.google.com/site/artbymichaelstobierski/home/gallery