I'm sure there is no social media platform that does not have its fair share of spam, and if there is one, please point it out so we can call some science people to check it out. The truth is that it comes with the territory, there is always going to be people who spam attempting to rig the game, and those who do so unknowingly.
I have not ran any numbers on the matter, but it seems to me that most of the spam that happens on a network comes from inexperienced users. People who for one reason or another, believe that the best way to interact is by leaving random generic comments with little to no substance at all. In truth this type of spam is so common, that for the most part we can call it benign, meaning that yes, it does consume bandwidth, yes it's not ideal but aside from that it's not really destroying the platform, nor does it threaten to do so.
On the other hand, we have bad actors who are spamming networks with phishing links, and other mischievous scams attempting to lure, trick and deceive other users. We think of these accounts, these little spammy spammers as bad people, but truth be told some of them where victims themselves, and have lost their accounts to the bad actors who we would be generous enough to label them hackers for the sake of argument.
Steem's huge battle against spam
In its current format, with the current code cannot be won. At least it can not be done effectively. In the name of controlling spam we have created bots (us as a community) that tell the spammers to stop, thus spamming themselves. This is somewhat comical and it reminds me of the hilarious idea of fornicating in the name of virginity and purity. Now, this is not to say we should not do something, that we should not attempt to clean our network, of course not, I'm simply making the observation that the weed, simply grew out of another crack in the cement.
Code could fix it
Or in the very least control it to the point to where the bad actors, that is the spam farmers, don't have the monetary incentive to flood the blockchain with their proverbial garbage. A little while ago @timcliffproposed a possible solution to this gargantuan problem. His idea needless to say, was not well received, but we have to admit it could be effective.
If you subscribe to the TLDR crowd, it can be summed up with making dialing the dust vote tolerances higher. Meaning that if a comment or post did not hit the 0.02 threshold the payout for said post would be effectively zero.
If your mind started to race, and you started to feel sorry for our tiny plankton accounts who struggle to make any headway on Steem, then you will probably be on the side of the isle that somewhat attacked him, just because he suggested it.
We need to be a little more pragmatic
And not allow our emotions to get the best of us. Without a doubt the growth of our blockchain is not helped in the slightest by the proliferation of the spam farms. You might think I'm exagerating a bit, and I would not blame you in the slightest. Before digging into this subject myself I remember thinking - "Pfff.. How much could they actually extract??" - Only to find out the number is in the ten of thousands on a weekly basis.
You read that right, its not pennies as you might think simply by seeing those ridiculous comments on your posts.
You could do your part
Which is to say, that as much as I'm not one to advocate for violence, the little flag on the top of a comment or post was designed for exactly this purposes. We are supposed to be a community that self polices, that understand the value of the blockchain and is also aware of its detrimental ailments.
My point is that if you see a spammer, if you see someone who is purposely "attacking" the wealth of the blockchain, don't just let it slide. Report it to SteemCleaners, if you don't have enough SP in your wallet, but allowing the spam to roam "free" if you will, goes against your own financial interests too.
If however, the user is someone new, someone who does not know what spam is all about. Do the right thing, let that person know what is the proper way of interacting on the blockchain, and we can do this while at the same time being kind.
I wonder, how many spam comments this post will get, it would be ironic, funny, but ironic...
@timcliff proposed a possible solution to this gargantuan problem. His idea needless to say, was not well received, but we have to admit it could be effective.
