It's been roughly three weeks since the user @camillesteemer started their false flagging campaign using puppet accounts, masquerading as one poor bullied user that's part of a collective of similarly abused users. I don't think anyone bought into this charade at any point, but they are still maintaining their innocence. At this point, the number of puppet accounts they've set up has almost doubled, and they are lashing out and attacking more and more genuine users.
What dragged me into this mess was a simple comment (not even a flagging) left on a post of theirs, where they were claiming to be "under attack" by the abuser.... @abusereports. This was over a month and a half ago now, and to be honest I had completely forgotten about them. That was until I started receiving flags on my posts and comments from a seemingly mysterious anonymous-esque group known as the Steemit Defense League (triumphant trumpet plays). I soon linked it back to them and their other account @mybestnews, and since then they have just tripled down on this stupidity. Their numerous accounts are too low on VP to make any difference, many users have started deploying countermeasures and no-one seems to understand what their endgame is. Why waste all this time? Why draw more and more attention to your shitty behaviour?
I'm currently ranked #3 on their list! What an honour!
Anyway, the fact of the matter is this is happening, and they're becoming so irrational at this point that they could start flagging anyone. There's a few simple things you can do to protect yourself from this harassment though, and we'll go through a few of them.
Steemit Doofus League
The user @anthonyadavisii has created two bots to help tackle this problem; @neutralizer and @ SteemitDoofusLeague - @neutralizer and @randohealer. The first will neutralize the attack, and the second will help boost affected posts and comments (I believe). This is a great solution to this horrible situation, many thanks to @anthonyadavisii for implementing this. You don't need to do anything, as the bots check the puppet accounts and counter any false flagging.
Dustsweeper banner by @charisma777
Dust Sweeper
@dustsweeper is a great new service designed to help newbies and minnows when it comes to the dust vote rule. Basically, posts and comments with payouts below $0.0249 will be boosted above the dust vote threshold so that you get the payouts. Simply send 1SBD/STEEM to @dustsweeper and that's all you need to do. You'll then have a balance which upvotes are deducted from, and they'll notify when you need to top up again. Especially if you're being flagged by @camillesteemer, sign up to this service as soon as you can.
Steemd/Ginabot
To keep track of the flagging, you can check Steemd or there is also @GINAbot, a new notification service that uses Discord to keep you updated on everything you could want, far more than you can get from just Steemd. You can read more about it over on their introduction post, it's free and I have to say since activating this service, it's been a lot easier for me to keep track of everything thats going on with Steemit.
The wonderful Steemian @antimetica has already written a great post about @dustsweeper and @ginabot, which you can read here, and it goes into a lot more detail.
If you're under attack from this thick-as-pig-shit abuser, let me know and I'll happily boost any posts or comments that are being wrongly flagged. I hope you find this helpful, and if you have any thoughts or have seen another service to tackle this kind of abuse, let me know down in the comments section. I really enjoy reading what you think about these things, even if I don't always comment back straight away. As always, make sure to follow me for the latest Technology, Internet and Pop Culture updates, and if you're a fan of bizarre or interesting YouTube videos, you might want to follow me on Twitter too. Until next time, take it easy!
P.S. If you're new here, you might want to check out my Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Steemit, which covers everything you need to know to get started making money and meeting new people on Steemit.
Sources:
Image of Akahigi Hyakki no Sōen from Narutopedia (