It has been a while since I've posted an entry under Abuse Series. Let's read about a common misconception that it is okay to post items under Creative Commons option as the SOLE content of post on the Steem blockchain.
Oh yes, Pxhere states whatever you want, but that doesn't preclude you from consequences still
No citation required
I'm sure many people are familiar with sites like Pixabay, Pxhere, etc. They are great resource libraries for anyone to find visual aids to enhance their creation. Far too often, I've come across Steemians using the said aids to pass off as original work.
I know it's CC0, but really?
Depending on who you talk to, they may or may not be recipients of flags. @steemcleaners have a fairly straight forward policy in regards to images being used in this way. Many of us are familiar with comments such as the following:
The catch is, this only applies for the "artistic" tags such as #art, #photography, etc. I imagine other tags used by art curators would fall under the same category as well. Abusers are not stupid. They find workarounds to dodge @steemcleaners. Something like this:
You won't see @steemcleaners flag this unless you can somehow nail them for spam. However, abusers are also well aware of their post frequency to not draw attention from the blue octopus.
Fortunately, there are other groups, with slightly different scopes when it comes to abuse, who deal with people dodging the tentacles. @steemflagrewards is one such group. The organization seeks to complement @steemcleaners' operations by encouraging the community to flag away bad content in exchange for small compensations.
Let's face it, flags are expensive. Negative curation doesn't pay. The incentive is there to not only facilitate flagging, but to also normalize it. It is an open platform after all. I am sure most Steemians would think it's too cheesy to simply import CC0 libraries and get paid for each image.
Here is another easy way to dodge our blue brothers:
I actually worked with Studio C folks back in my university days.
This has been discussed by @themarkymark before in a post about making an absurd amount of money by reposting YouTube videos. In the screenshot above, the said Steemian has had their posting and bidding accounts blacklisted by bot owners.
Sometimes, they receive a bonus in the form of @badcontent:
Once again, @steemflagrewards and good Steemians around the blockchain will come flocking down on low effort copy/paste these guys call "posts".
Moral of the story
If it isn't yours, don't use it as your sole content. You will get flagged.
Abuse Series chronicles the misdeeds of bad actors on the blockchain. Other times, it is filled with pointless memes and inside jokes.
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