Abuse Series: What Is Spam?

Stupid. Pointless. Annoying. Messages.

         When I first became acquainted with the internet, I was introduced to spam as "stupid, pointless, annoying, messages." That was over 15 years ago. It should give you an idea of my age. Or not.

         Spam is probably one of the most subjective content we deal with on the internet. In the context of Steemit, sometimes spam is in the eyes of the beholder. However, more often than not, they are fairly obvious. It is big enough of a problem to have @mack-bot and @spaminator patrolling the blockchain. Given how the system works, it is understandable that most Witnesses do not like spam to get out of control as they run the blockchain.

Examples of obvious spam

         As I noted before, spam can sometimes be blatant, even in a humorous fashion

         Fortunately, @pitchoune was a good sport about it. He knew what he had posted were undesirable and welcomed flags with open arms and linked us to his main account, @planetenamek. I personally appreciate honest developers on the chain because there is an apparently short supply of technical experts on the platform.

         Other times, there are Steemians who like to use "testing" as an excuse to spam the blockchain and take rewards while they are at it.

         Needless to say, after this particular user's scuffle with the @steemflagrewards crew, they have been tailed by @mack-bot ever since. I am unsure if @jeaimetu chose to appeal the @mack-bot stalking, but that is none of my business.

How bad is it?

         Based on my limited experience on the blockchain, I will go with the word "absurd". A great deal of them can be found under the #introduceyourself tag in the form of perpetual greeters using the SAME EXACT MESSAGES over and over.

         I understand everyone is free to use their stake how they see fit, but it just seems too cheesy for me when we have automations such as @introduce.bot, @introbot, etc. that already fulfill that function. If you want to greet all your life, try joining the @greetersguild or something.

         Seems repetitive doesn't it? Not only does this account not read what the new Steemians posted, it receives upvotes via the account @nhutle. The newbie receives nothing. It turns out, it's not the first time this particular user has sent out accounts to do mindless greetings to guise the attempts for maximum return through self-vote. The abuse fighting community caught at least one other handle associated with the mass greeting spam.

         The perpetrator in question has since decided to delegate their SP to @tipu. It is unknown if @nhutle will stay there indefinitely or just biding time until creating more accounts to spam the blockchain. I actually like the @tipu service provided by @cardboard, but it is unfortunate that many bad actors tend to retreat into business owners' sanctuaries to cause trouble later. That is topic for another day.

Further reading

         I'm running a little long here. Here's some further reading for my readers. Kudos to @fulltimegeek for stomping out the spam. The spammer has since reformed and has been curating other Steemians' contents for over 2 weeks at the time of this posting.

         Read more at A Wild Circlejerk Appeared.

         Abuse Series is a record of things that were flagged. Reader discretion advised.

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