Has anyone else noticed the large swarm of bots currently upvoting posts (seemingly at random) within minutes of posting?
It seems there's a new evil genius at large on Steemit - and he's got himself an army of bots.
If you take a look at the new page right now, you'll notice about one in every 20 posts receiving a torrent of upvotes within one or two minutes of posting.
When this happened to two of my posts yesterday, I was initially excited. After all, it looked as though my post had gone viral almost immediately. However, I quickly realised that these votes counted for nothing except numbers, having failed to increase my payout by a single cent. Bots were clearly afoot.
Given that both of my posts that this happened to were about completely different things, it doesn't seem as though the bots were being targeted at specific keywords, which is still the case with the activity that's happening now. It also doesn't seem like there's any particular preference for new or experienced authors. Unless there's some deeper method he's using to select worthy recipients, it seems this benevolent madman is choosing posts at random.
Now, you might ask why I'm complaining. Surely having more votes on a post is a good thing? Personally, I feel that feedback on Steemit should come from human beings, and that bots are definitely not the way to achieve our end goal of a healthy, mutually supportive network. Of course, if the bots were actually bestowing money with their votes, they might be a useful tool for whales to promote authors up the ranks - but perhaps still not an honest one. And at the end of the day, chances are their only purpose is to generate curation rewards without actually contributing anything, which is becoming a growing trend that people don't seem to like. Also the more people become aware of this happening, the more 'contaminated' botvoted posts become - people are less willing to upvote them any further, even if they are valuable.
Here's an image of what I think is the full list of bots (apologies if there are any humans in there) if anyone (@cheetah?) wants to take this further:
I posted yesterday a blog also. And in 30 seconds, I got like 50 votes. And just like you it was just a few cents. I don't understand the purpose of these bots. They don't earn anything at all by voting fast. Almost all goes to the content creator. :)
Yeah that's also true. Pretty bizarre.
What do you think about my idea ? Pls reply.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@fogspam/things-that-steemit-should-implement-to-eliminate-multiple-accounts-bots-upvoting-groups-garbage-posts-etc
It's not random, they're doing it because you're using steemit as a tag.
I thought so too initially, but it's not happening to every post with that tag.
Maybe it only happens to posts where steemit if the first/primary tag. I added steemit as a tag later to one of my posts and didn't get those bot votes.
I think you may be onto something there.
Your first tag becomes your category. Maybe that's what it is, but I'm getting random bots on any tag... more if you use steemit. Circlejerk bots. :)
What do you think about my idea to finish the bots ?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@fogspam/things-that-steemit-should-implement-to-eliminate-multiple-accounts-bots-upvoting-groups-garbage-posts-etc
Aaaaand it just happened to this post!
I will upvote you and give a real comment (yes a real person typing here) as I too foresee bots a major problem. They will only get smarter (tuned) and more will join the party. It dilutes the real interaction which must drive Steemit if it is to be successful. Stay positive.
My thoughts exactly!
I've noticed this one (random comments) this morning and tried to spread awarness around it but I couldn't have a lot of views ... :'(
https://steemit.com/robot/@glitterfart/it-looks-like-there-is-a-new-bot-in-town-corax
I've had two posts, both with the primary tag steemit, that received 43 votes each within two minutes after posting, and the occasional spam comment (although bot comments are more common in #introduceyourself ). I don't value these votes because it bloats the content and is more frustrating when you don't get much exposure outside of the bots.
Yes. If you use the tag #steemit is even worse. I got 45 votes, no money ,in 10 secs on one of my posts. We need some kind of spam filter here. The good side of it is that the upvote will bump your post up.
Check my post pls, this should solve the bots problem ! What do you think ? Pls leave me a coment !
https://steemit.com/steemit/@fogspam/things-that-steemit-should-implement-to-eliminate-multiple-accounts-bots-upvoting-groups-garbage-posts-etc
Yeah, i really appreciate an upvote from someone who read and likes what i wrote. OR a bot who was set by someone who read and liked what I wrote. But an army of useless upvotes?
What's the point?!
I wrote a bit about that here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@razvanelulmarin/i-am-now-a-hero-taking-on-the-challenge-to-steemit-as-one
Yes, it's happened to me a few times as well. I think less real people are voting because of it.
This is what I'm concerned about.