Just Two Posts - A Few Dozen Times
I recently stumbled upon the @jordan1219444 account and had some questions.
The obvious thing about this account is that it makes the exact same two posts over and over.
One post asks you to follow and a reply with a link to one of your posts that this account would resteem, and as far as I can tell these really are being resteemed.
And then I'll just quote the second post.
I'm helping my friend jesse who got me into tree planting about 6 years ago he cant afford the gear and bus ticket he needs to get there this year.
Now, I understand the value of using Steem as a platform for fundraising like this and I think it could be very effective. Yet, posting the exact same message again and again certainly dilutes your appeal. And frankly, makes this look more like a scam than a legitimate way to earn money for a friend.
Here's Some Cash
This account was soon funded with some STEEM and SBD.
date | from | to | amount | type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2/22/2018 | blocktrades | jordan1219444 | 1.768 | SBD |
2/24/2018 | blocktrades | jordan1219444 | 3.646 | SBD |
3/2/2018 | blocktrades | jordan1219444 | 0.895 | SBD |
3/2/2018 | blocktrades | jordan1219444 | 14.108 | SBD |
3/7/2018 | blocktrades | jordan1219444 | 1.006 | STEEM |
3/14/2018 | blocktrades | jordan1219444 | 1.027 | STEEM |
A little more than 20 SBD and just a couple STEEM. For what purpose?
Upvote Bots Get on Board
This account quickly began using a variety of upvote bots on these posts. It appears this account was carefully testing the ROI of the many upvote bots and found some results. Today, @jordan1219444 exclusively uses @minnowbooster and @smartmarket / @smartsteem for promoting these posts.
This looks like a purely profit driven scheme leveraging the upvote bots not only for ROI, but to get more exposure to this fundraising message, which has certainly earned many additional upvotes to support the obvious message of need.
How Much Money?
Quite a bit. Here's the current outstanding posts that have not yet paid out, oldest first.
post | rewards | |
---|---|---|
crowdfund | $1.65 | |
resteem | $22.32 | |
crowdfund | $6.16 | |
crowdfund | $10.79 | |
resteem | $17.19 | |
crowdfund | $8.40 | |
resteem | $10.27 | |
crowdfund | $18.86 | |
$95.64 | Total |
Is it Real?
The strange part is I think the story being told may all be true. This account only posts these duplicates, but there is a fair amount of 'human' comments. Even if this account is real, this is abuse of the blockchain simply by virtue of posting the exact same stuff.
@jordan1219444 if you see this post, please reply with your thoughts. More than anything, if you really are running a tree planting service at the scale you're talking about, there has to be at least one news article or something talking about your work, so please point us in that direction to validate your claims. Or beyond that, offer more pictures, including recent updates and basically evidence that supports the things you are saying. Short of that, I must admit this appears far closer to the realm of spam or scam than a legitimate fund raising effort.
Community Feedback
Real or not, is this sort of behavior okay? I'm all for fundraising and supporting causes just like these duplicate posts describe, but be real about it. Make a post, get some votes, then write a new post with updates and pictures of your friend. It's all pretty simple and this is either laziness or perhaps even deceit.
I'm curious to know your thoughts on this account. Giving the benefit of the doubt, if this is all true, do you still support this approach? And if not, what's an appropriate response from the community?
Some spam is blatant and obvious and this is unfortunately neither. I'm curious to hear your thoughts and understand how the community feels about this behavior.