What's with all the new DownVote Bots?

in #life6 years ago


Recently this account and others have been getting downvotes from relatively new accounts with just the 15 delegated sp. Fortunately, the downvote is not that much. But it is really lame to downvote and not explain why. At least if an explanation is included then the person can evaluate changing their action so the downvoter can be happy.


Ultimately I am against downvotes. I think some sort of punishment for spam should exist that disincentivizes spam. But downvotes for disagreeing with content I think is just a recipe for anti social behavior that the masses will likely not like. I think steem should focus on building people up not breaking them down.

So far the downvotes are not that much but if they become more powerful may just quit posting entirely and just sell/delegate SP before leaving the platform entirely. Downvotes are so very lame and nothing is worse when large downvotes change what someone expects to receive for return trying to fit into the steem ecology while not doing spam or anything that clearly has no value.

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I don't expect large downvotes happening anytime soon, because that means their SP are not being used to profit. Furthermore, the $ negated simply gets back to the reward pool.

IMO this is either plain trolling or some kind of protest we just haven't figured out yet.


By the way:

But downvotes for disagreeing with content

That's not what the tooltip says.

Disagreement on rewards

There is a lot of difference.

Yea disagree, as media scholar Marshall McLuhan asserted: "The Medium is the Message" I think all value is subjective and disagreeing over rewards is due to the content of the message--unless you think there is some maximum vote value? Ultimately I suspect if we really get into it, unless there is a theoretical maximum payout and you have a binary analysis of posts that meet that or not and only downvote if the post objectively gets past that threshold, I suspect unless that if how people are allocating downvotes then disagreement over rewards can be collapsed into a sub category over down voting over content.

For me, I think it may be better if the only downvotes were for spam/posts non in conformity with clearly stated guidelines posted before the post to provide some aspect of due process notice. And I think in that case for this system to be uniformly enforced so these rules are most likely to adjust and regulate expression here if we think we need certain rules to control and manage discussions.

It will be interesting to find out why someone would do this. I understand many may disagree with my perspective of ideal downvote culture which would be minimal to non existent outside of spam/rule violations.

Hope the weekend goes well for you. If you ever have important stuff you want me to resteem/upvote to help you find your audience feel free to message me "TheFatKat" on discord.

But downvotes for disagreeing with content

This means steemit is suggesting you should downvote everything you disagree with, regardless of it being good, legit content or not. I.e. my comment above.

Disagreement on rewards

This means you don't think the person should get the reward. Even if you disagree with an author's post by a matter of opinion, that doesn't mean you disagree they should get that post's rewards.

There is a lot of difference. You should downvote spam because spam shouldn't get rewarded (1st sentence), but you shouldn't downvote a legit opinion merely because yours is different (2nd sentence).

I never disagreed with what you're trying to say, but how you've written it, as some people may end up misinterpreting you, which would be awful.


Every upvote is appreciated, no matter how small or big. If you see anything you like on my channel or maybe on @gamegiveaways, please do upvote it. Thank you.

I've received these downvotes too @learnguitar. I@ve just assumed they are part of some scam where the accounts are linked to each other and they are able to profit form it in some way.

It seems that as soon as one scam disappears a new one takes it place. 😢

C'est la vie. Seems like it has all stopped perhaps because their SP delegations have beern taken. Hope the summer has been going well for you. If you ever have important stuff you want me to resteem/upvote to help you find your audience feel free to message me "TheFatKat" on discord. Hope the weekend goes well for you!!

Seems like it has all stopped

I hadn't really noticed but if that is the case that is good news indeed! 😊

Thanks for your offer of help.

Yes, they are exceptionally annoying; they are part of a greater downvote "bot farm." There's a really good explanation on @pirateofthedtube's site:

https://steemit.com/abuse/@pirateofthedtube/exposing-the-steemit-defense-league-bought-accounts-on-microworkers-w-screenshot

and the latest news now is that Steemit, Inc. is onboard with the problem and are removing the 15SP "automatic delegation" that comes with new accounts... which means these downvote bots are now completely "toothless."

But still annoying!

=^..^=

nice thanks for the info kitty!!! I will try to examine the post. Hope you are finding your audience here!!! If you ever have important stuff you want me to resteem/upvote to help you find your audience feel free to message me "TheFatKat" on discord.

This all came about because one person was salty and getting blacklisted for spam and plagiarising. They decided that it was in their heads that steemcleaners and abuse-reports that are the spammers and started this juvenile campaign.
So the person setup 'steemit defence league' and paid people to create accounts for him and is using them to downvote many people randomly. If you have gotten downvoted by various acounts, report the names to @guiltyparties who is compiling a list. Those accounts are having their 15sp delegation removed as a consequence.

cool thanks for the information, glad they have been stopped. Doesn't really matter for me where i am at now, but could really be a disaster for people new to the platform. Hope teh weekend goes well!! If you ever have important stuff you want me to resteem/upvote to help you find your audience feel free to message me "TheFatKat" on discord.

Yeah same, it really has zero impact on me now which is nice, but it could certainly chase away new users.. and our retention rate is already horrible. Thanks for the resteem/upvote offer, I will keep that in mind :)

interesting concept, dont know if i have kept getting them?

I like you, bot. I vote on your automatic posts every now and then.

its just a bot bro,

That's extremely precisely what I said, exactly, yes.