What's with this wacko @asshole "troll-bot" account created via @anonsteem around 6 hours ago? Shortly after, the account was funded with 970 STEEM from @bittrex. Then, starting about 4 hours ago "troll-bot" went live on a flagging/downvoting rampage over hundreds of steemit posts at a rate of around 1 or 2 every few minutes.
Here's just a small sampling, courtesy of steemd stats: https://steemd.com/@asshole
asshole downvote @alexpmorris/stop-eating-chicken-eggs-you-evil-car… (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @contentjunkie/alternative-facts-and-threatening-t… (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @ttitto/they-discover-a-new-species-of-frog-in-per… (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @batngat/nhanh-nhu-anh-sang (-1%) 1 hour ago
asshole downvote @anasz/flies-2017124t8736683z (-1%) 2 hours ago
asshole downvote @sbjamison/pch-scam-contact-the-ftc-at-1-877-382-4… (-1%) 2 hours ago
asshole downvote @yurra1/kitai-vypuskaet-sobstvennuyu-cifrovuyu-val… (-1%) 2 hours ago
asshole downvote @jg02/3-ways-to-trap-yourself-and-achieve-your-goa… (-1%) 2 hours ago
@ned and @dantheman: is there a good way yet to deal with such obvious malicious and abusive behavior?
Perhaps this is a good time to revisit this topic, which at least a few of us have commented on before.
It does not seem right or fair that anyone should be allowed to devalue a post by flagging it for no good reason. Therefore, I propose a change whereby flags must be accompanied by a publicly stated brief reason for flagging, to be shown as a special kind of comment. There should also be a means of challenging a flag whereby it can be removed if enough users agree with the challenger, perhaps by indicating their agreement through voting on this flag comment accordingly. This, together with some clearly stated guidelines for flagging from @steemservices would also go a long way towards preventing the abuse of the flagging system.
Here is a comment I posted on another thread last month:
I even wonder if people should potentially be penalized for malcious/inappropriate flagging, or at least a comment should be included as to what is objectionable. If others disagree with the reasoning, then the FLAG can be downvoted as well and possibly even penalize the flagger (ie. reduce their future "flag" power in some fashion to indicate "low quality" flagging, which could even identify high-quality flaggers in the community).
And one more...
Downvotes don't count unless they are accompanied by a comment explaining the downvote and that comment has been upvoted by someone that is not the downvoter.
So simple, so direct and so effective. Yes, I know trolls have friends. Yes, I know trolls are probably smart enough to have more than one account and could upvote their downvote. But! Trolls don't have many friends and trolls are lazy. Plus it's pretty easy for the community to pick up on this behavior and police it. I am convinced that this mechanism would greatly, massively reduce the amount of downvote trolling and other bullying that is currently underway.
Please share any thoughts or other ideas on possible solutions for this, as this is the type of behavior that serves only to damage credibility and ruin the ecosystem.
Flagging the troll is the theoretical solution to drive its rep to negative, but it doesn't post anything, revealing a major flaw in that remedy.
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Yup - I copped 2 flags today for content I know is original - I made it all. Simple way to fix this aspect - no voting power until you have posted something - then gives something to flag
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Same. Two trollish flags at 1% here too.
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Agreed, I posted here WRT this issue.
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I also get the feeling troll-bot is meant to be more of a nuisance to raise community awareness and really jump-start the conversation on how best to deal with malicious/abusive flagging.
I think it may even be based on a slight mod of this auto-voting bot script:
https://steemit.com/steem/@complexring/steem-autovote-bot
Further substantiating this possibility is the timing, given the recently proposed downvoting UI changes proposed by @timcliff. This except from @kurtbeil's comment was also telling:
https://steemit.com/flagging/@timcliff/steemit-com-ui-changes-to-flagging-pull-request-submitted#@kurtbeil/re-timcliff-re-kurtbeil-re-timcliff-steemit-com-ui-changes-to-flagging-pull-request-submitted-20170121t071642438z
Then there's still the issue of downvoting versus flagging, which I had also recently commented on vis-a-vis busy.org:
https://steemit.com/busy/@busy.org/busy-january-news-alpha-release-updates-2-weeks-before-public-beta-release-donation-report-what-s-next#@alexpmorris/re-ekitcho-re-the-ego-is-you-re-busyorg-busy-january-news-alpha-release-updates-2-weeks-before-public-beta-release-donation-report-what-s-next-20170117t001344922z
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Look on the bright side: We can follow @asshole's flagging on steemdb and upvote that stuff.
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I too was visited by the Asshole! I agree with all of these recommendations. If you're not willing to stand behind a flag with a good reason, you shouldn't post it to begin with, so this would be a good countermeasure to abusive flagging.
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https://steemit.com/steemit/@carlos-cabeza/meme-troll-flags-steemit-asshole
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looks like @asshole troll-bot just got around to flagging this post too lol
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I don't think much of it because the voting power is so small but imagine if a whale decided to do it.
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@asshole was having fun last night, I even got flagged & I couldn`t understand why. Thanks for the update.
Cheers ;) @alexpmorris
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I don't know who owns this bot and it's likely they won't come forward, but it may yet have a positive impact.
They aren't flags, they're downvotes. And they're being made at -1% vote power which means the impact on rewards is pretty much negligible. What it does do is increase that little unnecessary downvote ticker in the upper right of every post.
I think the concept of "flag" being applied to downvotes on Steemit is something that needs to end because its de facto definition from its use on every other website out there does not match the functionality on Steem and Steemit. The downvote ticker creates extra backlash to being downvoted on Steem and I think most people might not even notice a tiny and insignificant downvote if there weren't a counter.
@timcliff has made some proposed code changes to mitigate some of these issues, though I don't think that these changes are enough. I'd like to see the "flag" word and icons removed from Steemit entirely.
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Yes I got a visit from @asshole tonight, the flag was set at only 1%, which is just odd in itself.
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I got hit as well. We could blame what is obviously a flaming idiot, who is only trying to cause trouble, or identify those responsible for fixing crap like this, who, instead of fixing it, continue to justify it and even make new rules agreeing that it is ok.
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My recent post just got downflagged by it!
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What a jerk.
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I have had the same but it is no worse than an itch - a -1% vote is going to give you a frown and should do no more. It is the voters who vote at 1 to 5% and call it a vote who are in my crosshairs - in a way they are worse than this pest.
Watch for my post - they will squirm!
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For me, an upvote is still an upvote, and I'm appreciative of anyone who takes the time to offer me their vote at all! Even better, each engagement is an increased opportunity for a more valuable vote in the future. So in my book, it's win-win however you cut it! And remember, those voting at 1-5% are potentially hurting themselves too. While they may be preserving their voting power and "diversifying" votes over more posts, they won't participate nearly as much if your post becomes a big hit. Ironically, it sounds pretty similar to managing an investment portfolio. lol
I just found this post on voting that you may find helpful in better understanding the vote weighting scheme:
https://steemit.com/steemhelp/@steemship/voting-cheat-sheet-how-to-follow-steemits-all-star-posters
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That probably explains the improbable flagging of my "Three Glass Bottles" painting post. I was surprised that anyone thought it was offensive in some way.
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My post from today was also flagged...
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is it enough to just mute ?
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Agreed, I was flagged on 1 of my posts and the first one was created over 12 hrs ago by the timestamps or they would have flagged my Canada Bitcoin Charts I make every week too likely.
1/ The principle of automated and or malicious DV/Flagging is the issue, not the fact it is everyone here being hit at 1%.
2/ What message does this send to the public as we try and onboard them???
I also realise no posts = nothing to flag on them but all accounts related to them or people like them to fund and start them need to be dealt with always ASAP to send the msg it is not good.
I did tag Ned and Dan in a post earlier in the night about this and 2 other whaley / IT types also. No replies from any of the 4 yet.
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I got my first two posts flagged today. I didn't even realized until just now, how do y'all know who flags you?
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you can use steemd.com ... https://steemd.com/@danilamarilu?page=3
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lol I figured it was that account.
Thank you @alexpmorris!
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If the reputation is lower than the person it targets it will have no impact. However, if they power it enough it could be a monetary impact. At the moment it isn't doing anything truly damaging. Both of my posts yesterday were flagged by it so I went and took a peek.
There is a problem here though... you can flag abusive posts, and spam and it will ding the reputation of the flagged person and further reduce their effectiveness. In this case they only VOTE with the account and have no actual comments or posts to flag, so you can't really ding the reputation of this account (currently).
By the way @dantheman knows very well that the flag is an issue. We simply haven't come up with a way to remove it that wouldn't result in making the platform even easier to game. He is trying to come up with a way though.
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seems @asshole troll-bot's still going on strong lol
the troll-bot appears to take a nap during the day, then starts up again each evening
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shits crazy
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I just had two of my recent posts flagged by this son of a bitch. I really hope Steemit takes care of this cuz I've been seeing LOTS of posts from other users flagged and it's really annoying!!
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@asshole troll-bot still going strong! just had my latest post "tagged" again lol
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As of now, I am victim of flagging trolls, there are too many accounts flagging me to tag, but if you go on my posts, you can see them. Ive done nothing wrong and I am getting all this hate. its forced me to stop posting for while and make a new account hoping the trolls don't find it, sadly nothing can be done about the trolls, can't report them, can't block them.
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