I *Was* going to vote for you until I saw the TAG SPAM!

in #steem-help7 years ago

Remember that votes equate to "I want to see more of this."

I also withhold my vote for "bad" behavior.


I often thing of my votes as a method of positive reinforcement...to motivate people to post more of what I voted on. I simply can't allow myself to give my votes to those that continually of tag spam. This is an area that cuts right through cultural or language differences to be pretty straight forward to see.

So what exactly is Tag Spam?

Tag Spam is when users purposely choose higher traffic or higher paying tags for their posts...even though it doesn't actually apply to the category. For example..

  • Your last 30 photography posts shouldn't have the introduceyourself tag
  • Simply because you are a Steemit user...isn't reason enough to use the Steem or Steemit tag in every post

You see...people notice that there are certain tags that more of us watch and vote on here. It's not that hard to figure out. However, the down side of too much of this spamming is that those category feeds suddenly become useless. We use the introduceyourself feed specifically to find the new users to Steemit...if tag spam was left unchecked, we'd have to sift through countless random posts to just find one actual introduction.

I get the you're new and wanting to earn yourself some money, but if your tag spamming, it's really going to work against you because:

    1. You CAN get flagged for tag spam, reducing your post payout
    1. You will likely Lose Votes by those noticing you doing this

Do Something to Combat Tag Spam!

Now @Steemcleaners puts forth a lot of work combating people that tag spam. However, with as many users as we have (with more joining each day) there is only so much that can be monitored. I look at blogs of a lot of newer, smaller users so I wanted to do something as a way to educate them about tag spamming and ideally reduce this behavior.

My preferred steps to combat tag spam:

  • DON'T be mean about this. Remember people come from social media where this is rarely thought of (by them).
  • Explicitly tell the person that they're tag spamming (i.e. why are you using the Steemit tag for the photo you posted?)
  • Let them know I was going to vote for your post(s) but they all included tag spam, which made me move on to vote elsewhere. (Sometimes saying to contact me when they've fixed the problems.)

We are all out there on the 'front lines' of looking through posts, talking with people, and voting. I do ask that you keep on the lookout for people Tag Spamming and see if you can nicely get them to stop. In the end...if we don't keep this in check, we'll have a rather challenging time to find posts we're actually looking for.

Rather than having to use the 'stick'...just let them know you 'withdrew your carrot'!

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Thanks for the pointers: resteemed.

Myself, I've tried to be careful with the tags from the time I got here. Even if there were no active effort like @steemcleaners , I'd still be expecting some kind of clampdown. :)

Here's a rule of thumb I settled on: the first tag should be the most popular tag that's relevant to the post. Look through the Tag List on the left-hand-side of the Trending page and find the tag or tags that are most relevant. To emphasize, don't look at the posts on the Trending page: keep your eyes on the left side of the screen at the tag list and select from there.

If you don't find any tag that applies, go to the larger tag list page and select from there. Pick the one with largest amount of posts and is relevant to your post content.

Example: if I were to write about James Burnham's theory of the managerial revolution I'd look for my first tag on the left side of the Trending page. As the page is now, there isn't any tag that fits. Seeing so, I open up the tag list page and select #politics: a good-sized category that's also relevant to the post.

Another example: let's say I've become a prepper and I write a post about the food I've stored and why. I look in both the left page and the tag list page and find nothing for #diy or #prepping . But I do see the category #homesteading. After a look at its posts, I see that simply blogging about the food I stored isn't that good a fit - but a post on growing,or processing, my own food would be. So, I throw the stored-food post into #prepping and make a note that I should write another prepper post about (say) buying food in bulk and then canning it.

The last example shows an advantage in choosing the best relevant categories after checking to see whether or not your post fits into the high-payers. Looking at the ones which do fit gives you ideas about what your next post should be about!

Great additional points!
It's easy for new people (especially those that haven't done content creation before) to know how tags really help them grow by getting themselves in front of their desired audience.

Many people forget that it's better to talk to a specific audience. There is very little information that everybody will be interested in.

Upped to hopefully get this topping the comment list. :)

good stuff @sykochica . I didn't even realize there was a such a thing. I never thought of using tags that don't apply but I guess that is a tactic someone may use if they think they will get more votes. I like your solution and I will be on the lookout . Maybe it's time I search for new content by searching tags anyway lol.

Thanks for the info here. Is it better to use common tags or is there value in using some more obscure tags?

No problem! :)
I usually recommend to people to find 2 (maybe 3) 'higher traffic tags' that actually apply to the post, with the remainder being anything you think applies and might be something people would check the feed for.

You can see a big list of the bigger and more frequently used tags (with the post and $ earned count) here:
https://steemit.com/tags

However, as you get more a following, people start looking for you specifically more often, making the need for the tags reduce a bit (though still helpful.)

..and if you didn't make very much on your intro post (say less than 5 or 10 bucks)...you can always do another one...especially if it's been a little bit and you can include some of your first impressions of steemit, what you've learned and mention that the intro tag wasn't right the first time.

I really don't see people have a problem doing things like this..which is easily seen to be different than those just trying to 'exploit' the tag.

Thank you @sykochica I will do that. :)

Also I really blew it on the #introduceyourself tag... I didn't write it correctly on my first post, and no way to re-post... oh well.

I had a Polish guy have a go at me regards my money tree post, I did it for 2 friends, one Polish, that wants to learn better English, so I tagged it in Polish, as I was using Polish money for the photos, I live in Poland, and 1 of my target audience is Polish. This Polish guy came along saying he could flag me for tag spamming, as the whole post had to be in Polish language? since when? and if so why is this not stated somewhere as a rule, so us newer people do not use these tags? Peace.

That case sounds a little extreme to me personally...especially that #polish isn't exactly a tag someone would be using to get that high traffic (compared to the introduceyourself, steemit, etc ones).

It's hard for me to give any 'exact' rules since it's really up to each of us as how we interpret them. But you using the polish tag, especially given the explanation...does make sense to me. Especially with it having at least something to do with poland (even if not written in polish.)

The bigger issue is when the tag doesn't apply to the post in any way. @Steemcleaners (or maybe the @spaminator account now) has been a big part of combating this and they lay out what they look for in a pretty clear cut way.

That is a bit extreme. Common words shouldn't be appropriated by any person or group on steemit IMO.

A post about different types of polish would be relevant as well. If communities or groups want a tag to curate they need to create one.

Agreed, and thank you.

I do use the steemit tag quite a bit, as we are on steemit, is that not appropriate then?

If the post is specifically about steemit, then it would be appropriate. Like in the case of this post...isn't about my voting on steemit and trying to provide a better explanation of the actual 'rules' that can be enforced on here.

However, I would say that just because we are on steemit, wouldn't qualify it to be appropriate for using the steemit tag. A rather cheesy example would be...I took a picture of a flower, or my cat...really doesn't apply to steemit in anyway.

If we didn't follow this line of logic, then the steemit tag would essentially be worthless, in that it would basically include every post ever put on here. However, there's no problem using the 'blog' tag on every post in my opinion.

If you have a moment, read my last post, it is in the tag steemit, you need to get to the end to see why, I think it is appropriate? maybe you can offer some opinion.

Your post there would definitely fall into a bit of a grey area where I could see arguments going both ways. However personally, when I read it...it didn't really seem out of place in the Steemit tag. This isn't something I would have batted an eye at, not seeing it as a problem.

There are always going to be some more 'fringe' cases like this where it can be debatable either way. However, you will easily see the clear distinction between something like your post...and the person with 30 posts, just including a random picture of nature saying 'my pretty picture'.

Those who are purposely trying to 'exploit' the steemit tag stick out like a sore thumb. I'd be surprised if you had anyone even mention your post being an issue...especially if you don't post things like that terrible often. :)

{This is just my opinion in this case and not necessarily a community wide consensus.}

Ok, thank you for the advice, and for your time, much respect to you. peace.

Brilliant, we all have to be vigilant to protect this space. I’ll definitely do my share. I know sometimes I find some people literally copy and paste the same comment evvvvvverywhere. Now that I am aware I can take steps to discourage that.

The only unfortunate thing is I feel bad sometimes because their motivation could be genuine (like trying to work out of poverty), but like that doesn’t change that Steemit is here with a purpose and we can’t allow that to be diluted.

The only unfortunate thing is I feel bad sometimes because their motivation could be genuine (like trying to work out of poverty), but like that doesn’t change that Steemit is here with a purpose and we can’t allow that to be diluted.

This is absolutely true! Which is a major part of why I'm not angry at them...don't yell...and don't flag them. (Though I have done it for those that just continue spamming, but it's rare.) I can't really feel bad about it in the end in that, we simply have to have them change their approach...or at the very least not contribute to it continuing. The end goal is simply to educate and in the end, help the person doing it.

Like Jerry McGuire said:
"Help ME help YOU!"

I want to upvote them...I want to help...but they also have to help me (and in extension our whole community.)

:)

So after like 38 days I finally know the reason, why you asked me not to use introducemyself again in my post. I never used that tag again, but I never did understand you asked me to stop :)

Yea...when someone is really new it's tough to explain the actual why at that stage. It's not necessarily a problem for people to do a 're-intro' post say 6 months or a year later..without really having it seen as a problem. ( I did a 1 year re-intro since most my new followers never saw my original...let them know me a bit better, where I started, what I learned, etc.)

But yea...the #introduceyourself #steem and #steemit tags are some of the most misused that could have easily gotten out of control if they weren't 'monitored' in some fashion.

Great post! I am a newbie to Steem so I am still getting my feet under me. It's good to know the rules and proper etiquette. I have been quite impressed with the dedication of Steem veterans to patrol and keep everyone in line. That is a good way to foster development within a community. Thanks!

Thank you...and I'm happy to be able to help! :D
If by chance it's helpful..I have my dozens and dozens of 'guides' organized on a google doc now at: http://bit.ly/2mAyPxL

Feel free to ask questions should any come to mind. :)

Nice post....
Thank for sharing friend...
Please upvote my post...

Ohh, the irony, a tag spammer replying to this post :D!

Hahaha...not exactly tag spam...but definitely comment spam...which I also won't let myself vote for. :)

I have an idea for a browser extension which hides any self-upvoted comments. Seems like it would go a long way to deal with nuisances such as these, as I definitely see a pattern here...

😂 don't beg for upvote rule number one

@sykochika. That's so thoughtful of you. I do agree with you that not all users are knowledgeable about the concept of tagging especially if their primary Social media platform is Facebook. They would be frustrated using the tags and getting flagged by its abuse . the Carrot before the Stick approach I believe should cure some of this. That's if @steemcleaners adopts it.

We'll...steemcleaners themselves are generally more of the 'stick' approach, but that's also because they tend to focus on the people 'exploiting' it to much larger degree. But with that said...users do generally get informed about the issue before actually receiving flags or the eventual 'blacklist'.

upvote and resteeming, I've seen tag spamming quite a bit. hope this spreads awareness. have a good day @skyochica ^~^/")