Tethered to the bad

Last week I came across a post by a chap which stood out, but not in a good way. It was a post into the photography lovers community, run by @derangedvisions, and contained plagiarised images. I headed right over to the fellow's post feed and the first thing I noticed was a post image that said PLAGIARISM in big red letters; the post title was Plagiarism and Content Etiquettes. That piqued my curiosity as the post that I'd first seen was one that included plagiarised images.

I ended up addressing the fellow's plagiarised post with a downvote and left a comment as to why I did so; I also addressed the post on plagiarism as I felt he had no right to earn rewards on the topic considering he was a plagiarist himself. Here's the thing though, the reaction was extremely vitriolic.

Rather than discussing his mistakes with me and determining what he could do better moving forward, he reacted...well, I guess he reacted in an entitled and quite poor manner with comments suggesting that I should shut the fuck up and two posts that say the same thing, as below. Disappointingly he placed them into two different communities which isn't really acceptable in my opinion.

I am not at all phased by the things he said about me above, they are meaningless coming from this individual, and I've been called far worse by far better than him, but it made me think about the broader ramifications of behaviour such as that displayed by this fellow; the plagiarism and also the reaction to being caught out for being a plagiarist.

I've been around the blockchain for over five years and in that time have seen many come and go. In that time I've also seen the rise of hive-users from particular countries that, initially, were not present. That's great, as we need to build the blockchain and new users do just that. It's difficult though, to get noticed, gain a foothold, build the right relationships and to be sustainable. I know it's difficult because I did it myself when I first started. But I think, through the actions of people such as this chap I refer to above, it becomes even more difficult for those who hail from the same part of the world. They start from a position of disadvantage right away.

I'm not saying that everyone who comes from this fellow's region is doing the wrong thing or would act in a manner unbecoming such as this chap, far from it! I'm saying that behaviours like this can, and probably do, tarnish the reputation of the others by default. Sure, we all base people on their individual merit, but do we?

Unfortunately the actions of the few will invariably become tethered to the many and, in the case of Hive, that will bring uncertainty, caution or outright avoidance from users on accounts they deem as questionable. Perception is a person's reality.

The individual above has been dealt with by my downvotes and that of many others, however several people have said it's likely he'll start another account, if he hasn't already, and continue on his way.

I agree, but that makes me wonder why people from his own country don't take a stand against their compatriots that abuse and rort the system as this user has. Through doing so they would send a message to others who might be thinking (or doing) the same bad practices which would have a positive effect, and it would send a message to other users that the bad behaviour isn't tolerated and not commonplace - I think that may go some way towards demonstrating quality and show care-factor for the blockchain and the rest of the Hive community.

I know there's good and bad right throughout the world and that will be reflected here on the blockchain also. We all have choices to make and the user I refer to above made a few: To Plagiarise, which gives a big fuck you to the rest of the community, to be vitriolic and hateful towards me and to show no ownership of, or remorse for, his bad actions. I also know that not everyone that comes from his part of the world are like that...But I can't fathom why those that do the right thing don't address people like him when they are exposed and why they accept being tethered to the bad when most are doing it right.