@iamstan contacted me earlier this morning about the account @kellygutierrez getting lots of votes from Steemit Inc delegated faucet accounts. After reviewing it, we were able to identify 105 accounts using Steemit Inc delegation to upvote spam comments.
Not only were they abusing Steemit Inc delegation, they were abusing a test account that has credentials on Github. The account is worthless in Steem Power and Voting Power but just shows how low these spammers will go.
While all 105 accounts don't account for removing much from the reward pool (about 85 cents a day) I am a firm believer in the broken window theory and is a reason I spend so much time stopping abuse such as this even though financially it is insignificant and costs me far more in my time.
Broken Window Theory
I won't go into the broken window theory but you can read about it if you are interested. I will explain my interpretation of it and how I see it applying to Steem(it).
I believe if bad actors get away spamming and abusing the platform, others will acknowledge it and do something similar. Those who get away with it will continue and more importantly find more ways to abuse the system. The amount of abuse on this platform is endless and growing each day, and there is no way to prevent all of it, but ignoring it will drastically increase how often it happens.
Taking Action
Before we can do something about this abuse, we need to identify all the accounts involved. Once this is done, and I am sure I have an accurate list, I create a pull request for the Redeemer - Irredeamables project. This is a Steemit Inc project that removes delegation from those who violate the Steemit terms of service (TOS).
The delegation is typically removed within a few hours of being approved. This delegation is returned to Steemit Inc so it can be used for other new account sign-ups.
Github Repo
https://github.com/steemit/redeemer-irredeemables
Approved Pull Request
https://github.com/steemit/redeemer-irredeemables/pull/31
Contributing
If you know of any abuse, reach out to me on Discord by posting in the #abuse channel. Please provide as much information as possible so I can look into it.
Witness
Vote for @themarkymark as witness if you want less spam and abuse in our community.
Why you should vote me as witness
Witness & Administrator of four full nodes
Active, Present, Passionate
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Building a Portable Game Console
And another one bites the dust.
Am I seeing a cat standing on a glorious Unicorn holding a sweet firearm with a bright rainbow in the background or did I stay out way too late last night...................
Nope, you good.
Taking down that spam!
!popcorn
good post sir..
I have no techy ability (but I can search!).
I would be happy to, if I know what I'm doing, to help find this kind of thing.
Maybe you could do a post to let people know what to do, if they have spare time, to go hunting for the abusers?
I'll do it if I have any spare time ...
( a non techy post please! lol)
Source
That was a glitch due to node problems.
Don't play me for a fool. This is a lame excuse, you have had enough time to delete this spam!
Apart from that, the only reason for your spam is to promote your bid-bot @buildawhale. Shame on you!
It's enough if you just refund the payment from users on your blacklist and give the reason. – This is already standard on other bid-bots.
@buildawhale needs no promotion. There is so much demand for votes there is no need to do anything to promote it.
I cannot delete them past 7 days, and I didn't see those until now or I would have.
You are just upset that you are on the blacklist for spamming YouTube videos and plagiarism. It's ok, I get it. It's discouraging offering zero contribution to the community and trying to game the system with zero rewards to show for it.
I hear Facebook is looking for new users.
FYI: An embedded YouTube video is just a link; no copy of the video is anywhere stored.
Question lucky-robin, honest question.
How much work does it take to embed a youtube video?
Grateful for your value of fairness, and all the energy you put towards helping make this space a good place to be. High 5! Hugs 💚💙💛💜💖
Thank-you @themarkymark!! Have a fantastic day 😊
good job, perhaps you can invite the illiterate to join your black list again.
Usefull information,Whatever you said is absolutely right, every person does not abuse any thing, it should not be so.
very nice dear....great adventure...
Hi @themarkymark I have here a list for you of german Nazis posting nazi propaganda and flagging everyone that flags them. Do you want to have a look at it ?
https://steemd.com/@donnerstein
https://steemd.com/@svenkegel
https://steemd.com/@nikolai-spiegel
https://steemd.com/@klangmann
https://steemd.com/@stahlnetzrd
The last one is posting Hitler's book on the blockchain.
Hi @themarkymark!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 7.957 which ranks you at #31 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 282 contributions, your post is ranked at #11.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server