Habit can be defined as a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.
In the few months I have been on Steemit, I have noticed a couple of bad habits expressed by some Steemians. And, regrettably, these habits are not good for the progress of the Steemit community. Since I do not intend to write a book, I will now very briskly run through these bad habits.
1. Plagiarism
Plagiarism refers to the illegal act of duplicating another person's work or ideas and representing them as one's original work. Apart from the legal implications, plagiarism is a very bad habit that is a threat to the progress of the Steemit community. This is because plagiarized works rarely get the attention of search engines, therefore, adding no values to Steemit. Although bot such as @originalworks and @chetah exist to identify this habit, it is growing by the day like a wildfire.
2. Spamming
This is the habit of flooding the posts of others with unnecessary, unsolicited comments. Spammers often decorate their gibberish comments with suspicious links. This behaviour can be very annoying and I can only hope that the culprits will turn a new leaf.
3. Making Lazy Comments
There are numberless folks on Steemit these days who have developed the bad habit of making quick, lazy comments on the creative posts of others. Some of these comments include clichés such as nice post, good post, well done, keep it up, wow good one, I like this, thanks for posting this, etc. It is noteworthy that most of the lazy commentators on Steemit do not even read a post before commenting. A good comment should be a genuine feedback on a post and nothing more.
4. Steemit Evangelism
I coined the term Steemit evangelism to mean the bad habit of blackmailing and harassing other users into following one. This bad habit is often displayed by Steemians whose sole mission on Steemit is to fish for followers. Characteristically, Steemit evangelists are known for comments such as please follow back, I have followed you; follow me for upvotes; follow me I am Donald Trump, etc on the posts of others. Hello. You don't have to beg for followers; you attract followers by putting up quality posts.
5. Insults
I've seen a number of folks on Steemit who insult other users directly or indirectly because of ideological differences. In fact, I have been insulted severally on this platform but I am like a cat with nine lives. I once read somewhere that, opinions are like assholes, everyone is entitled to one. This is quite true. You don't have to insult a person because his or her opinions conflict with yours. You can express a counter opinion politely without insulting other esteemed users.
6. Abuse of the Introduceyourself Tag
There is a growing trend of Steemians abusing the introduceyourself tag. A number of cases of people using the tag more than once is becoming worrisome. The abuse, in most cases, results from the fact that posts with the tag are usually highly rewarded as a way of encouraging newbies on the Steemit platform. Nevertheless, there is no genuine excuse for abuse. The #introduceyourself tag is like a man's birth; it is once and final. No manipulation. Therefore, it is annoying that some unscrupulous Steemians are trying hard to game the system.
7. Terrible Grammar
Most writers on Steemit, including this writer, do not speak English as a first language. However, there are basic grammar rules that need to be observed when writing in English. It is a pity that some Steemians have developed the chronic habit of posting poorly edited articles and comments which are full of grammatical blunders. While it is true that nobody is above mistake, it is a bad habit to consistently bombard the Steemit community with grammatical missiles.
I will conclude this essay by admonishing all the Steemians who are guilty of these bad habits with the words of Jesus, which is: GO AND SIN NO MORE.
Thanks for your time. Kindly upvote and resteem this post. Also feel free to add other Steemit bad habits you have observed.
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Well I've certainly offended some people on here, ideological differences do that. On that note, I urge anyone that has taken offense at something I've said to please give it back. That's my offense you're stealing, maybe I'm saving it for somebody in particular!
As for my grammar, I write the same way I speak. Poorly. No excuses here, I'm just lazy.
Hahaha you've got a sense of humour - trying to retrieve offences? Indeed, you can have them back. Lol
I'm guilty of the lazy comments quite often. Sometimes I just want to let someone know I've read and enjoyed the post. I always accompany these comments with an upvote, so that's something.
So I do also. I'm guilty. 🤚🏽
I was guilty of these crimes too in my early days on Steemit but I am a new man now.
This is absolute true. At some point in my early days on steemit, I'd say that I was guilty of majority of what is listed above, if not all. But as time went on, I began to learn and then discover what the platform was all about. And now I can say that I have developed a bit - still developing.
The earlier most steemians drop and dump this bad habits in the trash can, the better for the blockchain.
I'd also add that newbies should work on developing themselves;they should learn to be creative cause I believe each and every one of us have creativity embedded in us. All we need do is discover the real us.
Thanks for your great contributions to this discussion. I like the part where you admonish newbies to be more creative in all their posts oj Steemit. We need to drop these bad habits if we must take Steemit to the next level.
@gandhibaba I agree with what you said. So many people just want to take the easy road. The only part where I am not so critical is the non-English speakers trying to write in English. I do cut them some slack, at least they're trying. Maybe StackEdit would be a good way to help them with the basics.
As for the abusing the #introduceyourself tag. I cannot believe how many people with a reputation 50+ posting on there when they have a good following. I completely messed up my introduction post and haven't re-done it due to that reason.
I guess I have been lucky not to get insults, but I have seen them. The biggest downside is that if you do disagree with someone for whatever reason, they seem to over-react and start downvoting everything you do. Kind of like throwing a temper tantrum because someone didn't like what they said so they're going to get back at them.
The whole you follow me I'll upvote you and you do the same it driving me nuts. It condones the bad behaviors. Like having every new person to Steemit following you just to they can have x amount of followers and build their reputation quickly.
Thanks for sharing it's nice to see so many people getting fed up with the negative behaviors, yet addressing them in a meaningful way.
Wow thanks for your lengthy and, yet, insightful contribution to this discourse. I could feel the passion with which you poured out your mind. And I can say you are not alone. People like us need to keep speaking up at every opportunity available. It is my belief that, one day, these negative behaviours will be dropped. Regards.
Sorry about that, when I do get passionate I do get a little verbose :D When I reply, I like to make sure that whoever posted knows that I actually read what they wrote.
It is a fantastic trait, friend. I admire it.
I'm a very new newb, as fresh as they come, and this is very useful advice!
The last thing I'd want to do is to rile up the community with something that I'm unaware of...
On that note, regarding plagiarism - is posting links to articles and youtube videos (with my own comments and reasons for posting of course) frowned upon? In addition to my own stuff, I like to share and point out things I find interesting, I'm used to it from other social networks.. So what's your, and the communitys, view on that?
Hello, I am not really sure of what you mean 100% but I can say that you are free to post your own links in any article written by you. This is no violation of any rules. As for posting unsolicited links on other people's posts, that is spamming. However, there are exceptions to every rule. I trust this response is helpful. Regards.
As long as you cite your source on the video and explain that you're using to support what you are saying that is not plagiarism. It's more the blatant plagiarism that get people in an uproar. Anyone can go to any webpage copy and paste everything on the page and put in a post and try to pass it off as their own. There is a bot #cheetah that tries catch things such as that. However that is where we as a community need to do our due diligence and not simply upvote blindly. If you haven't yet read the Whitepaper in the right menu it will give you some help in that area.
I am not a good English writer but I do welcome corrections.
Out of the 7 bad habits, the writing in English is my weak link.
Hope I will learn from my mistakes..
Good article and good observation
God bless.
Thanks for your comments. There is always a room for self improvements. Just keep writing, keep reading and keep steeming.
Lol, I'm tempted to just write 'nice post', but it will be termed a 'bad habit'. Well, nice post anyway, lol.
Hahaha God saved you. I would have come hard on you. Lol
Ya gotta behave, huh. :-o
I agree with you, boss.
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These are some great things to avoid, but the greatest crime against the platform is the proliferation of impersonal bot voting, whether buying, or selling, which I see you engaged in liberally, and did not even really break even by the time curation is taken out. And the idiom is, "Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one and they all stink."
Well, I understand very well, I should say, the sarcasm intended in your comment. I do not like vote selling or buying myself but it appears the system is rigged already. How do I get an article across to the people here if I do not buy vote in a clannish culture where people like you with Steem power only upvotes people you have relationship with? As for breaking even, the recent sharp decline in SBD prize depleted the votes I earned from $128 to $99 at the time of pay out. Nice having your feedback on this post.
Hey, my vote is worth about 16 cents. And if you want a relationship with me, come comment on my page. I cannot possibly hope to meet everyone on this site, but I'm not selling any votes. I think it's the death of steemit. Everyone thinks I'm a whale, because of my rep score, I'm a mid-sized minnow, at best. I had a lot more SP, but after the price bottomed at less than 10 cents a share, I waited until it was up over a dollar and powered down almost all of my stake, for fear I would never get anything out of it if the platform crashed entirely. But, I'm back now and fighting for guys like you and me. Come join us. Here's my discord server https://discord.gg/RSh2nx let's talk solutions, instead of just contributing to the problem and pretending there's nothing we can do.
Nice post but you are wrong because u r an idiot, I never do any ov these things pleese follow me i am donald chump and if you upvote my comment i will floowol you.
You forgot:
I admire your ideology regarding the voting pattern on Steemit. Wow. And thanks for bringing these fresh perspectives into the conversation. You are being followed.