Can a Little Minnow Like Me Really Make a Difference?

Yes.

Now let me quickly explain why it matters, then I'll share how easy it is to do..

Why It Matters

One of the best parts about Steemit is that it is decentralized. This means that there is no "governing body" who controls everything that happens on Steemit. This is Amazing! No more censorship!

This wonderful fact about Steemit also comes with a risk. The risk is that "bad actors" can come onto Steemit and there is no single body that can stop them. But that doesn't mean that nobody can stop them!

How You Can Make it Happen

This is the part where you and I come in.

As we all know, Steemit is a place where people share content through Posts, Comments, Re-Steeming, and Voting. The more votes that any content receives, the more that content is rewarded (speaking at a very simplified level).

We all need to be diligent in the uses of our Votes.

Before you upvote a person's comment on your posts, or a new person's post, take a quick look at their account. (Click their account name, then click the account picture).

Open Their Blog Page. Do you see any Blog Posts? Do they look like a real person wrote them?
Open Their Comments Page. Scroll down the page through some of the comments. Do you see the same Comments repeating in a pattern? Do you see the person only posting "I'm Following You, Follow Me Back"?
Open Their Wallet Page. Do you see any activity that looks unusual?

All of these steps shouldn't take you more than 30 to 60 seconds, but it could be the difference between providing a Spam Bot or Spam Account with part of the rewards pool, and therefore justifying its existence, and promoting its harm on our community, OR making a difference and Fighting Back!

How We Fight Back

If you are 100% certain that the account you just looked at is a Spam Account, and is hurting or deceiving the community, I want you to now Flag The Post.

Do you remember the part where I mentioned that there is no governing body on Steemit? We have to each, individually, be the RESPONSIBLE governing body to protect the community.

Some Rules of Thumb:

If you are not 100% Sure that an account is Spam, DON'T Flag it. We Are NOT trying to censor the community here, only protect it from TRUE SPAM.
-- You can always leave a comment on the posts / comments which you're unsure about.
Do Not go around flagging EVERYTHING from a single account. If we all do this the right way, there won't be a need for that.
If you disagree with the content, but it's Not Spam. DON'T Flag it. That's not what the Flag is for.
Consider Adding a Comment for WHY you Flagged a Post. This will allow a reasonable person to respond.
-- If the person responds to you and has a legitimate reason for why they posted what they posted, and their response is HUMAN (not some automated reply), You Can Always UN-FLAG a Comment or Post!

While it may be tempting to flag all the new users who are Real People and using the "follow-for-follow" or "upvote-for-upvote" methods, I am NOT asking you to target those individuals. I'm hoping that time and apathy toward those people will discourage them soon enough. We know that is not a sustainable practice, but we shouldn't be Flagging Real People (unless they are Plagiarists).

Be Vigilant.

Be Skeptical.

Help the Community Fight Back.

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Thanks for reading, I hope you have a great day! _____________________________________________________

If you want to read more, please take a look at some of my other posts:

My Crypto Updates:

All of my Posts!

Steemit Will Survive - How Only You Can Make it Happen!