How To Handle The "Upvote" Beggars? - One Of My BIGGEST Problems On Steemit. [Feature Request: Make Articles INVISIBLE.]

in steemit •  7 years ago 

upvotebeggars.png


They are everywhere...

I'm talking about the people who ask you to follow and upvote them. - I've written about this in the past too, but today is the day, when a big change will be done.

At first, I thought about flagging them. All of them. One by one. - Every single time I got a message on Discord, Steem.chat or a comment...

In all honesty, my vote is only worth a few cents but a downvote from me, on a minnow-post would still have effect. - I would be able to reduce their potential rewards by "rewarding" them with downvotes due to their stupid behaviour.

  • However, I can't do such things because I'm not a bad person.

Until now, I've been talking with them. I've been trying to discuss things and make them understand why it's a bad approach... - However, I can't do that anymore. - It's a huge waste of my time.

For each day that passes by, Steemit grows... And that's a good thing. We all want that. - But with that, more and more people are starting to send private messages... And that's a bad thing. - A very, very bad thing.

And I'm just a "nobody" on Steemit. I have no idea how I'd react to this behaviour if I were a whale or a dolphin. - I don't envy them at all.

From yesterday until today, I've got 6 messages on Discord and Steem.Chat. - All with the same, lame, boring message.

Upvote me please.

I wouldn't mind messages if people was looking for help or feedback or whatever... - But plain begging messages...


I'm allergic to this nonsense.

Take a look at this...

plix.png

The very first message I get from this person. - It's a link to their post. Nothing besides that.

I didn't respond to it, and I definitely did not vote on the content...

After approximately 90 minutes, I got another message. From the same person again..

1 upvote please only 1

You can see for yourself. Is that appropriate?
Is that the type of behaviour we want to see, and/or support?


I would love a feature on Steemit that made it possible for users to report this type of behaviour, and ultimately make the posts invisible. Without downvoting/flagging them, as that will hurt their reputation.

Let's say someone are doing this on a regular basis, which I know many people do. - Let's say 10 people report them for a specific url within a time frame of 12 hours or something like that.. - And "poff", their article vanished.

  • I would truly love a feature like that.

These people are here to stay, and they've come for the rewards. They are looking for money and they won't stop until they earn. - And to tell you the truth, I don't think they'll stop even if 10 whales upvoted their content. - They would be out there for more. And more... And more...

They would be out there, slowly killing us all with their shitty upvote-requests.

  • It's a shame and I feel bad for them.. And for all of you who receives these messages.

I've tried to communicate...

I have tried to tell them why it's a bad thing. I've tried to educate them and explain exactly why it will most likely hurt them if they continue...

This is my reply:

reply.png

You know this behaviour will most likely get your articles flagged. Especially if you send private messages to several people. If that happens, you'll lose rewards. - I won't flag it because I'm not that type of person, but I don't appreciate people begging for upvotes, so I won't upvote it either. - Consider this as a friendly reminder.

The truth is, I am tired of wasting my time.

Even if the first person I talk with truly understand what I'm telling them..

  • Another one pops up a few minutes later again.


That is why...

  • I truly want a "make articles invisible" feature on Steemit.
    That way, these people will stop... And the behaviour will end.

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ITS ANNOYING AND UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR I WILL SUPPORT YOUR POST AND I WILL FLAG THEM ONE BY ONE THANKS

You are experiencing what it's like to be a girl on social media. "Hey bb. You cute. Talk to me TALK TO ME TALK TO ME"

Haha yeah, I can imagine.. Girls are not the only ones with those problems obviously. :D

This is the proper way to deal with them-

Yeah well.. It's so annoying so you actually would love to slap some of them, at some point... But a better approach would be to educate them.. Without a slap. :D

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

I been getting a few a day... if they stop begging and focus on great content and building good relationships, maybe they will succeed smh smh

Very true, but the sad truth is that they won't stop. As there's nothing that stops them.

it's like a little kid saying 'mommy! mommy! mommy!' and when mommy pays attention the kids has nothing to say - it just wanted attention. we can't reward bad behavior. there's so much quality here that competes for our time and attention.

exactly! hahaha!

Have experienced this so many times!

It is annoying and a bit irritating. I always think that if your content is of any value , you don't really have to ask for any upvotes. For me, its just the appropriate thing. An upvote is a reward for a job well done. It's an honor and a badge , all rolled in one. Your report card, if anything.

Well said, and I agree with you. However, these people tend to believe they're taking a shortcut to riches by spamming people in private. - And that's something I would love to prevent. It might not be super-big deal right now, but just imagine 6 months from now... Or a year.

Appreciate you. Thnx

I told one it was a bad idea, they replied

"u gotta hustle in life man!"

Wow... That's awful. - This is another clear sign that we totally have to do something to prevent this.

But for us Minnows, the steemchat post promotion is designed specifically for that. My rule is always read everyone's post and determine if it is worth my minnow upvote. If the content is lame, then no upvote. If I like, then so be it. And i've actually connected with a few decent posters that are minnows from the chat. Anyway, peace out!

And that my friend, is exactly how you should do it! - But I'm talking about the people who ignores the basics and spam everyone with private messages, asking for follows and upvotes. - That's the behaviour I can't tolerate.

word up! thanks again.

I have asked for one set of articles to be upvoted by select friends that follow me, as I am doing a fund raiser on my posts about a friends daughter who disappeared just over 8 months ago and was found murdered on the 20th of last month. They are struggling to pay for the funeral. Though a bunch of us have made a big dent with the little bit we have been able to do. That is the only time I have asked for upvotes and to be resteemed and only on fund raisers for others would I even ask, then only my friends I have already, not strangers. How rude can people get. people follow you because they like your content. Or at least I hope that is why they are following me, that is why I am following those I am following

There's nothing wrong with asking for upvotes in the proper channels and definitely not a problem to ask your friends for upvotes. - That's how social media is supposed to work.

We have #minnowsupport on Discord, for minnows who wants upvotes. A bot upvotes whatever article you want, to get you some rewards for your work. We also have #steemspeak on Discord where you'll be able to post your articles in #postpromotion. Then we have Steem.chat. Another way to ask for upvotes by posting them in the proper channels. - All these things are great and acceptable in every single way.

  • What I don't like, is the private messages you get in the different chats.

Steemit and the community gives you basically every single tool you need, to help you in the best possible way... - But Steemit or the Community can't do everything for you. - You'll need to contribute and provide quality to be rewarded. - And that is the biggest problem for these people. They want the rewards without putting in work.

I totally agree, I have gotten a few like that myself on Steem chat, I haven't had it happen yet on discord. But I am not on that one much, I been too busy taking photos and blogging about them and reading other peoples posts. Upliking the ones I like and resteeming those I think deserve a share.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

how about a weekly or daily "This weeks vote beggars to avoid on Steemit?" series?

Haha yeah, that would be something interesting actually.. But I don't like to point fingers. - I get that some of them are doing this because they believe it's the right approach. And I don't want to hurt their reputation.

That's why I'd love a feature like the one I mentioned. - That way, everyone could still be anonymous and the spammers/beggars would easily be able to understand why their articles have vanished.

People are still out posting their new BTC address asking a little bit.

It's the same thing here asking for an up vote is asking for money now. Before it was just asking for attention on FB Twitter or Instagram.

It's all part of the learning curve. We will see much more of it, and it will fall to the bottom (I hope).

Interesting idea. Not sure I like the idea of an invisible post, what about something much less than a flag? Maybe a downvote that slightly affects reputation? We do need something.

I don't know.. This idea is the best thing I've come up with, so far at least. It might not be the best solution but it is a solution. - That being said, there's always room for improvement and changes. - I just want something that prevents this behaviour.

Some peoples kids...For a second I thought you spammed my feed, but then I realized that I was looking at your account. (steemit stalking)
Screen Shot 2017-07-05 at 3.11.27 PM.png

Haha, sorry for disappointing you...? :D

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Im sure someone could make a tamper / grease monkey script to hide posts under a certain rep; but you'd be relying on others to flag the rubbish content.

I saw a script which hides resteems from the feed, so shouldn't be an issue. I'm a weee minnow myself but get agitated when I'm hunting for excellent content to give a deserving upvotr and get greeted by dozens of posts inviting users to comment for upvotes.

This is one of those quality posts among that rubbish. Thank you.

but you'd be relying on others to flag the rubbish content.

Yeah, and that's exactly what I'm looking for!

I mean, I know I'm not alone being tired of this behaviour. - I can't even chill and have a nice discussion in steem.chat or discord because I'll get bombarded with private messages. All asking for upvotes & follows.

I'm also nothing special at all. I'm far from being a dolphin or a whale, so just imagine how tired they would be of this nonsense.

I bet tons of people would use a feature like this, or a similar feature. - And that would bring this community even closer to each other. As you wouldn't be getting these nonsense messages and that would allow you to focus on the real messages you get instead.

add feature to make articles invisible, or upvote poor beggars ;)

The thing is, that the specific beggars I'm talking about.. They'll beg for more, no matter how much money they made. And as it's literally impossible to please them, I'd rather make their posts invisible, until they learn how to approach things properly.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

I didn't know that such type of steemians exist.
Simply begging is just so down market.

Be a proud Steemians i.e. create good contents and curate others content as well.
Anyway just on basis of Followers, one can't generate revenue.
There are multiple parameters based on which one earns.
So, it is requested not to repeat these acts of begging someone for Upvotes...

well said.

This post received a 4.1% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @hitmeasap! For more information, click here!

They are everywhere every day, asking for votes without putting up great content. Write great posts and your followership and votes would grow.
Keep asking or begging for votes and you go "puff".
it is annoying to have them pestering. Great idea on making the post vanish

yes buddy. they are everywhere on steemit.
they just want to make fast money. nothing else.

Exactly. - And it's the wrong approach.

That is why the most important thing on Steemit is content. Blog content and even comment content. How you going to up vote content that less than what you want to read?

Well said. Content is key. You need content to build a following, to get exposure and to reap rewards. - It's literally the first step of Steemit. Content. Blog. Vote. Earn. 3 steps. Simple as that. Even though it takes time, effort and hard work.

I have no problem with anybody uttering whatever request on my blog.
I check their blog if their content is interesting for me. It does not take much to do that until one has dozens of comments.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Looool this made me laugh a little. I guess we got people from all walks of life joining Steemit. I think without this I wouldn't be reading this blog and neither would I be writing this comment. So at least that's a plus :)

Kindly upvote me lol I'm kidding. Great work keep it up....

Only hard work will allow us to succeed, investing time and effort will go a long way if we just WAIT .

Adios.

@hitmeasap

There is a sub- population of beggars who ask for and then demand resteem and upvotes even from a minnow like me, i cant imagine how hard it is for you and other with higher influence numbers. I want to work my way up in Steemit through posting my art and music and other good content about travel too. Keep well and i learnt a lot from reading your post, i hope they make a disappear post feature for those that plead for recognition soon too. PHOOF and gone.

If I beg people to stop begging am I now a beggar?
How about the posts where the begging graphics and text are 1/2 the size of the entire post.
Great post, I so get where your coming from, now let's all do just one fireball shot together.

I think you are kind of wrong here man... This upvote begging is typical of newbies who really does not know how the site works, and they really think begging will help them... They simply DONT know what they doing, they see all this other posts getting hundreds of upvotes and thousands of dollars in payout, and they simple cant figure how to get there, they feel like starting to beg is the way to go up, they simply are frustrated... Yes this behavior is annoying, and it wont help them, but we must understand one thing: We may see tons of this behavior every day and we are pretty aware that is not the best way to go here, but a newbie that just arrived never have seen this behavior, nor even knows that is wrong or right to do here... Best way to go should be to have a polite answer to them telling that begging is wrong, and thats it... This begging wont stop, like NEVER, there is always going to be newbies arriving, and if we want them to stay and the community to grow, we must teach them, not scare them...

I appreciate your input and everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. - I don't mean to do this to scare people. - I want this to be a feature because that will teach people.

I get an average of 5 or 6 messages per day. And even though that doesn't seem to be much.. Just imagine how many messages dolphins get, or the whales?

And in all honesty, I can see the difference between a rookie who doesn't understand things and money-seekers. - And 4 out of 5 people I get messages from, are nothing but money-seekers. - I don't support them or their behaviour. - And I would never upvote or resteem any of their content, because that will lead to only one thing. Even more requests.

I can handle the messages today... But how about 1 month from now.. Or 6 months.. Or a year. - Am I supposed to spend 11 hours per day, teling 421 people that they're doing things wrong? - Nope. Ain't gonna happen.

And sure, I could just ignore them all.. And I often do, but that doesn't feel good. I am a person who cares about others. I work hard to encourage, motivate and inspire my readers... - But I can't continue to support or to tell these beggars that they're doing things wrong.. - And that's why I came up with this idea, because I truly believe that most people ignore them... - But that's the wrong approach. You need to teach them, but none of us will sit down and copy/paste or write hundreds of messages per day... And I bet that's the future we're heading towards right now.

It will come to the point where the best thing to do is ignore them, and thats all... You know, this begging thing is something we cant fight against, it will keep happening and it will happen even more, we have to get our mindset prepared to it...

I totally see your point but I can't agree with you on this. - This behaviour will not stop and it will be even worse with more people if you don't do something to prevent it.. And that's the reason for my post. Perhaps I haven't proposed the best solution, but at least it is a solution.

The thing is i dont see this as a problem, it is just annoying, but not a real problem at all... The blockchain have several other problem to solve, i think... Also, invisible articles is already possible if you flag it...

Like I said from the beginning. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions. You and I see this entirely differently. - I see it as a major problem, as I would like to help, inspire and motivate people. - And that doesn't work as long as people are doing things like this, as you won't have enough energy to teach and discuss things with them all, one by one.

There are no solutions to this problem, yet. - You can't flag someone's post simply due to him sending you private messages about it.. -That's wrong, especially as that would hurt the authors reputation. - I would only downvote content due to plagiarism or being offensive, like racism or things like that. - I can't flag someone for his behavior if the content is of high quality. - That doesn't feel good.

That being said, if we talk about people spamming in the comments and things like that. Then that's a different story. However, I don't like the thought of downvoting these people either, as some of them could actually be newcomers who truly believes that things works like that.

I want a solution that avoid hurting people's reputation score, although I still want it to prevent peoples behaviour. - And that's what I've proposed.

I won't say that it's the only solution or the best for that matter.. But it is a solution that would prevent this behaviour, without hurting people's reputation.

I could potentially block people from sending me private messages or just stop using the chats myself.. But that doesn't feel right. - I want people to contact me in case they feel like it... - And if they have a good reason for it.

There might be a ton of problems with the blockchain or with steemit in general, more imortant issues than what I've mentioned. I won't argue about that. I simply state the obvious. People don't appreciate this type of behaviour and something should be done to prevent it.

You can I, we can simply agree to not agree on this. :)

Yeah, i see you point, there is nothing wrong in disagree sometimes!, i think it is important to have different opinions and points of views!... Cheers! :)

Yeah, definitely! - Just imagine how boring life would be if everyone had the same opinions on everything. Different opinions is what makes great debates. Thank you for all your detailed replies. :)

Lol the first thing I was thinking when reading the title was: why not just ignore them? I feel your pain when trying to battle this kind of behavior...one down means 4 more will pop up any second...sadly

Yeah well.. I hear you.
This isn't the end of the world or anything like that.. And it's not even that much of a problem right now. But imagine how things will be a year from now... - If I get 6 messages per day on average now... Imagine how many I'd get in 6 months or a year from now... And imagine how many messages a whale will get.

I don't want to waste my time and breath on these people, and I would like to spend my time answering the real messages I get, without going through all the messages I get to find the real ones. - And that's why I propose a solution like this. As I don't want to hurt people's reputation score, just make them aware of things so they can learn that they're doing things wrong.

I get that, really. What bothers me more are introduceyourself beggars where people just come up with a sad story about a dentist, rent due or a broken car or whatever and people just throw dollars at them. I mean come on, even when true...that should not be what this platform is for. Those votes couldve gone to serious people who want to make this platform better instead of to beggars who are purely in it for the money whether their story is true or false.

Wow, you just said that.. - You read my mind. Thank you :) - I agree with everything you said.

Thats awesome to hear!

Hey hitmeasap,

This post echos some thoughts I've been expressing in comments around the site. To me, this spammy stuff is the biggest threat to Steemit's growth. Endless comments for the sake of commenting, endless shitty little 'upvote 4 upvote' comments.

If you are investing in Steem and the Steemit platform then you have a vested interest to make sure that the site is not overrun with this garbage. If the bigger players start to see that the value of the product they are invested in is going down because of this, then they are going to do something about it.

That is the beauty of an incentive based product like this and is why I'm not too worried about it at this stage. You're right it's garbage, but it will be forced to an end in due time.

This post has received a 4.41 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hitmeasap.

I still speak with most of them. If I see one that is just spamming every 20 seconds a comment and does not stop at the first warning, boom, steemcleaners ;)

It's good that we are growing, I will still waste my time as beeing an idialist, but also will punish as when I give you a finger and you take my whole hand and spit on it, then there is no mercy.

I instantly report guys that spam by saying I follow you, or here is a tip and don't do it. This are the worse!

It might be better to make the posts visible to your followers, it's probably much the save as what you are asking for, but might be an easier feature to implement.

In the meantime, I think that your only option like a lot of us, is just to ignore, these people can't be stopped and are unfortunately the scourge of Steemit :-(

Yeah, that might be a good thing to actually. To make their content only visible for their own followers if they get reported for this spamming-behaviour. - I like it. As long as something is done instead of ignoring this whole issue I'm totally fine with it.

I mean, today, it's fine. We can handle it. - How about 6 months from now or a year? - It will be crazy if you don't work to prevent it.

Some men just want to see the world burn.

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Man I get this a lot on Facebook and used to get it on Bitcointalk as wel. People would literlaly pm me and ebeg me for money. I reply to them politely saying they are young and able bodied people and they can work their little socks off like a 51 year old woman like me does. I get up at 5.30 am and I hustle, why should they sit on their asses and just beg? I detest parasitical behavior, it makes my blood boil.

Begging can only get one so far. Build relationships, provide value, and engage the right way.

It's as simple as that.

It is simple, in theory. People tend to do things wrong because they're looking for a shortcut. - Because they don't want to put in effort and hard work.