The Steemit Etiquette Guide - (Illustrated by @klye)

I thought that it would be useful to do a post on Steemit Etiquette to cover some of the things that one should and shouldn't do when posting here. 

I think at some point I have probably been guilty of doing many of these things myself (we all make mistakes).  

Having read a lot of posts and talked to a lot of other people on Steemit these seem to be some of the primary things.  

This is by no means exhaustive and I’m sure different people will have different opinions on what constitutes good and bad behaviour.

Feel free to add to the list in the comments:

We are all pressed for time but it but it just looks plain bad if all you ever do is post and never curate or comment on other work.  In a way this could be seen as simply taking from the system without giving.

As I said most people don't have much time.  Take some pity on your followers and don't post 10 times per day.  Not only will less people actually take the time to read your work but you may end up annoying and losing followers.  It will also reduce you payouts if you post more than 4 times a day.

This is considered link spamming.  We all understand that you took great pride in your post but if your link is not related to the direct conversation and seems to be there purely to promote your own work then it looks bad.  You are at risk of getting flagged and it is unlikely people will appreciate what you are doing.  There is a great chat channel for promoting your links as well as a forum section - put it there.

This is similar to posting unrelated links.  Asking for votes is fine if it is in the post promotion channel but it should be done indirectly by posting a link i.e. it is bad form to ask someone directly for a vote.  I don't think there is anything wrong with asking if people have seen your post but directly asking them to vote for it is rather unfair and goes against the spirit of proper curation.  It may also make some people feel uncomfortable for this very reason.

If you are voting purely for the purposes of getting more votes then you are doing it wrong.  You should only vote for content you like and should not expect people to vote for you just because you voted for them - it's removes the whole point of curation.

The Steem wallet allows people to send messages.  Unfortunately people have recently been using it to send out tiny amounts of Steem as a means of advertising themselves or their posts.  Don't do it you will waste your money and annoy a lot of people.

This is a big issue and I'm sure some people will disagree with it but I think the majority of the community agrees that the flag issue is for posts which are harmful or abusive and should not be used as a dislike or downvote button.  Don't like something?  Post a comment explaining why or if you can't be bothered to do that or don't have the time move on.

Not strictly a Steemit thing as it applies to the chat but I just thought I would mention it as people still do it and the chat is very much a part of the Steemit community.  This pings everyone and is very annoying.  There does seem to be a solution in the works that will remove the ability to do this so hopefully this will not be a problem for long.

This is important.  It may be acceptable in your nation to be showing bare breasts on your work computer but it might not be the case where your reader is located.  Also your reader could be a child.  Please keep this in mind.  Graphic images without this tag are likely to be Flagged.

If your post does not directly relate to a particular tag you shouldn't be using it.  A post about trumpets that just happens to have a photo of a trumpet in it should not be tagged with "photography", similarly a post discussing DASH is fine in "cryptocurrency" but should not be tagged with "ethereum".  Tag spamming annoys people and rather than getting you extra upvotes is likely to get you a flag.

If people have taken the time to make a comment on your post you should at least take the time to read them and in appropriate cases reply to them.  It is understood that if you have a lot of comments you can't and probably shouldn't respond to each one, however, ignoring your comments could be considered being ungrateful.

A lot of us know cryptocurrencies and are familiar with the concepts.  That does not apply to everyone on Steemit.  Everyone has to start somewhere if you find someone who needs help or has a question don't wait for someone else to act - help them out yourself if you can.  That is a fundamental of a good community.

There are links at the bottom of every post that allowing sharing on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Be a good citizen and help to spread good content by sharing it on other social networks and also posting links in the "postpromotion-other-onl" chat channel.  This not only helps out the poster but helps to spread the word about Steemit by showing people what great content is available.  Steemit should not just be "every man for himself".

There are many new people joining Steemit every day.  Unfortunately it is hard to get noticed.  Please try to spend at least some of your time looking at new posts rather than just being on your own feed or the trending page.  Not only do you have the prospect of discovering a new hidden gem and making a new user feel appreciated, but you could also be rewarded much more handsomely for the curation.

I think simple courtesy dictates that if you flag a post you should tell the poster why.  Obviously if the reason has already been posted by other people this becomes less necessary.  You should also go back and check to see if the content has been verified or the poster has complied with the reasons for the flag and if so remove your flag.  Simply flagging and vanishing is not really fair.

Thanks to @klye for providing all the artwork for this post.  You can find information here on how to use his services.