Newly arrived on ECENCY and HIVE there is a lot to learn. But besides all the technical questions, we also see uncertainties about personal behavior in this wonderland of social media 3.0.
Yes, you are free to behave, write, report, whatever you feel like - theoretically. But in practice, especially regarding your rewards and reputation, it looks different, because as with any society you join, there are some (unwritten) "rules". I hate to call them rules, but I can't find a better word for them. Code of conduct, perhaps? Code of honor?
The fact is, to protect HIVE, to make the system work so wonderfully, the majority of the community has decided on a few things that you are also expected to follow, if you want to be a longterm respected member of the community:
SELF VOTES
Selfvotes are frowned upon on HIVE and will (sooner or later) result in getting downvotes.
"But I'm allowed to do what I want, right? It's a free platform?"
"Yes, you may, but in some cases you will face consequences for your rewards."
Also, my opinion on selfvotes is in addition: they make no sense!
Yes at the selfvote you get a little more out of the bottom line, because you also get the author reward share.
But: Imagine, if you vote another person because you like his post and you also leave him a nice comment there, then he is happy. You still get a curation reward and more importantly, by time you can build good networks around the world that are always worth more than the little bit more reward you get from a self vote.
PHOTOS
Photo - Sources:
Photos should always be your own or from a source that explicitly makes this photo freely available, I recommend: pixabay.com or unsplash.com for example.
!!! Nevertheless, you should always indicate where the photo comes from. A source statement under the photo in the case of free source photos or a sentence at the end of the post that all photos used are yours, is what is generally common and most users handle it that way.
Photo - Unique Content:
Normally you should use each of your own photos only once, then you are on the safe side.
There are a few exceptions, but it is too unsafe for me to give advice on this now. So just avoid it.
ORIGINAL CONTENT
Original Content - POSTINGS:
PLAGARISM - That stealing other people's content and any form of plagarism is unpopular is hopefully clear to everyone?!
Nevertheless it happens again and again and I ask myself why people do this? It's so easy to learn and grow on HIVE by having a unique account of your own, so why put so much energy and time into plagiarism?
REPUBLISH - But recycling your own posts is also something that is better avoided!
Here again, this neither makes sense, because why would anyone care about and read the same content again?
Original Content - TRANSLATIONS:
For example, if a post was posted in English, that post should not appear again in another language - UNLESS that second post rejects rewards.
I demonstrate this with this post here. It will be posted in English only normally, then I will post the German version of the post, but rejecting rewards in the process.
By the way, posting in only ONE language also has another reason, which is called "google". Because google usually doesn't like bilingual content, probably because then they can't assign it by region.
!!! You should also not translate "just like that" any foreign content without asking, because that is also plagarism!
TAGS
Most tags, such as #leofinance #ocd #proofobrain are also associated with a community and therefore it is important to pay attention to what content that community stands for.
For example those who post garden posts with the #leofinance tag could get into trouble, as the Leofinance community is only for financial topics.
Apart from the fact that it is a "rule", it also makes no sense! With your content you want to reach other users who are interested in it! And vice versa, hardly any financial guru will be particularly happy to read about your flowers and poems.
Choosing the right tags and communities is a bit complicated, but it's definitely one of the keys that contribute to a happy, successful hive life!
GENERAL BEHAVIOR
This is a point that might not directly affect downvotes in most cases. But it is a point that is very close to my heart:
"I followed you - you follow me now?" or showing up as a complete stranger and writing "Please support and help me, I need money!". Are phrases that just nobody likes to see. It may be a question of mentality, in some cultures it seems to be normal, but there are also many cultures where this is not appreciated.
It would be much better to just be yourself, write about your problems, be genuinely interested in others and thus meet people interested in you around the world? And then those people will love to help you, without beeing asked for.
When you move to a new country in real life, you also adapt to the conditions there, look around how the society works and want to become a part of it by behaving accordingly, right?
Two notes last:
I tried to convey this knowledge here, as far as I understood and interpreted it myself. I hope that everything is correctly reproduced, as it was told to me in the course of time.
Unfortunately, these "rules" are nowhere firmly written down, chiseled in stone or into the chain. I hope, however, that it gives a good direction for some newcomers, what is important to consider.I know that there are controversial opinions about some of these points within the HIVE community, but they have been set by the strong majority of the community and mostly make sense on the whole.
Probably you will discover some other "unspoken rules" on Hive in the course of time, but especially the topics selfvotes, photo sources and tags are very important to know in my opinion.
If you are still not sure on some points what would be an appropriate behavior, there is always someone you can ask. Such points of contact are for example: @hivewatchers discord: https://discord.gg/4YhNSefu
@theterminal discord: https://discord.gg/N5NEAv8T
@ecency discord: https://discord.gg/ZAuwWnKS
I hope this was helpful, because only if you know the rules you can enjoy a game and I wish this joy and success to each of you :-) Yours B.
This content will be published in German language too, rejecting rewards.
Photo made by me in canva.com (free version)