(Apologies for the really basic infographics, I'd rather save time so I can focus on art later today)
Hi all! Today is a bit different. I've been observing this for months now... At a glance, without a bit of investigation, it can be difficult to determine the difference between someone with very basic English skills and an intentional spammer.
I'll be honest. My time is extremely important to me and I want to support my Steem circle as best as I can — because of this, I've used the mute button heavily when I'm faced with perceived spam or painfully bad communication. A few times, I've flagged some for using extremely basic phrases that indicate they don't care to read my content and are simply fishing for upvotes. When asked, I've removed flags from non-abusers. I don't regret having flagged these people for this one reason - I had a chance to explain why their comments either seem like spam or are border-line spam. They seemed to acknowledge me, and I moved on. Nothing personal.
I think that flagging can be taken very personally, when it's really a simple statement of disapproval and/or protects the reward pool from heavy abuse.
For those who are struggling to make their way on Steemit, I'd like to see a greater support system so that they can stand apart from spammers — and even more importantly, avoid giving up and actually becoming spammers... (something I've seen firsthand!) Primarily, I'm for a non-native speaker support system because I don't want spammers to easily blend in with these users. With less "camouflage", true spammers can be spotted and reprimanded more easily.
As a side-effect, if novice English speakers can benefit from a bit of caring attention from local community leaders and grow into more prosperous users, I'm all for it!
These were just some of my thoughts on the issue. At times I have been very impatient with perceived spammers, but in sincerity, I think that honest users with a language disadvantage might better be welcomed and assisted than simply forgotten.
I know for a fact, that many, many non-native speakers have worthy things to say, and building a bridge would help them and the platform in general, so we can get back to battling the true spammers.
Thank you so much for your time!