An Outsider Look at Hive Watchers

 

I got my first downvotes! It is possible that I am now on the @spaminator list for writing unpopular content. So, for today's Outsider Review I thought i would take a gander at HiveWatchers which is dedicated to protecting HIVE from spam, identity theft and plagiarism.

Before jumping into the review, I should note that I bought rights to use the picture above by Lenokka from BigStockPhoto. I get one free picture a month!

Now For the Review

In my years I've seen numerous bulletin boards, email lists, online forums and other communication channels destroyed by spam.

Whenever people create a successful communication channel, scammers are bound to move in to exploit that success. I support any effort to reduce spam.

Spam is the simple act of dropping large numbers of inapropriate messages. Unfortunately, everyone seems to have different definitions of what is and is not inapropriate.

The definition of spam changes from platform to platform. For example, activity that is considered okay on Twitter is considered spam on HIVE.

Some people consider anything that they don't want to hear to be spam.

Some consider the unsolicited reviews I post on Internet Rivers to be spam. Internet Rivers is a legacy Web 1.0 idea. Irivers simply links to HIVE related web sites. Yes, directories are spammy, but they serve a purpose.

I mention that different people have different notions about spam. Even worse, activities that are okay on one platform might be considered spam on another.

Notably, Twitter and Tumblr loves when they share memes. Internet memes often include copyrighted materials. The act of sharing memes involves posting a large amount of unoriginal content.

But lets get back to the review.

All forums need to have systems in place to protect from spam, plagiarism and identity theft. Hive bills itself as a "decentralized" platform. HiveWatchers is a decentralized mechanism to protect the forum.

The web site HiveWatchers.com invites users to report abuse. You can also drop comments to posts on the @hivewatchers account. They are pretty good about responding.

Who Will Police the Police?

It is an unfortunate fact of life that blogging platforms must develop mechanisms to police their web sites.

Unfortunately, it is common for policing efforts to be abused. It is common today for large tech firms to use their policing efforts to silence unpopular opinions.

When malactors take control of the policing mechanism, thos malactors can cause as much damage to a platform as the spammers themselves.

In a distributed community like HIVE it is very important for members of the community at large to engage in the policing effort. One must also occasionally take the dangerous stand of policing the police.

Defending HIVE with the DownVote

The primary tool for defending HIVE is the down vote. HIVE downvotes flag content as problematic, the downvote reduces the reputation of a user. Most importantly, the downvote removes rewards from a post.

The power of one's downvote is determined by the HivePower in one's account. A whale will have more downvote power than an account in the plankton. Small accounts can be destroyed completely in a downvote war with a whale.

Small accounts should never press the downvote button as large accounts can wipe them away.

Unfortunately, I've seen a few newbies coming from Youtube where the downvote simply adjusts the algorithm preferences. In youtube it is okay to downvote posts because one does not like the video.

In HIVE, the primary purpose of the DV is to strip rewards from accounts that abuse the blockchain.

IMHO, one should not downvote accounts for disagreements on content.

Communicating about DownVotes

Since downvotes remore rewards from an account. I believe that it is good form to tell people the reason for the downvote.

HIVE is a publishing platform. Unfortunately, many people in this world do not understand copyright laws. It is common for new users to post images that they do not have the right to post.

People who are used to sharing random images from the outside world on other forums often don't understand copyright laws and the problems created by copyright infringements.

Likewise some people don't understand trademark. A person who loves microsoft might register the user name microsoft not understanding the fact that the registration creates some trade mark issues.

Another recurring problem is that many authors like to repost articles that they wrote for other platforms ... not knowing that the articles will run afoul of Hive Watching efforts.

My biggest pet peeve with #hivewatchers is that people will often start downvoting posts without ever communicating the reasons for the downvotes.

The Image on This Page

I did not create the image at the top of this page. I bought the rights to use the image on this post from a Microstock firm called BigStockPhoto.com. It is okay to use stock footage on pages when one buys the rights to the stock footage. It is also okay to use public domain and content that uses the creative commons license.

When using such images one should always cite the source of the images.

It is also best for users to positively state that they are the creator of the image when they create an image.

Recently, I saw a professional artist getting downvoted on HIVE. The professional artist had a professional art site. The professional artist put his latest creation on HIVE. @spaminator DVed the poor guy.

Communicating with HiveWatchers

One can communicate with the HiveWatchers community by dropping messages on the @hivewatchers account. They also have a discord server.

I prefer to use HIVE itself for communicating with #hivewatchers because HIVE is more transparent than discord. Using a discord server to coordinate downvote attacks is a little bit like a secret service.

If your account has a decent amount of HP, you might consider joining HiveWatchers in downvoting accounts that abuse the platform.

I am Being Downvoted

This account @irivers is currently on the @spaminator DV list. In typical form, @spaminator simply downvotes accounts without giving a reason why.

Downvote campaigns should always start by citing the transgression that caused the campaign.

@spaminator did not tell me why. So, I have to guess.

I know my content is original because I typed the comments into the flappin' platform.

My guess is that @spaminator does not like what I say. My goal is to simply write reviews for Hive Related Web sites. The unsolicited reviews usually say good and bad things.

In my review of Waivio I praised an innovative feature of the platform that allows Google and Facebook users to leave comments on Hive posts with a proxy account called @guest09 .

The proxy account is an innovative idea. However it is also an avenue for Spam. @spaminator DVed @guest09 into oblivion.

Since @guest09 did not give the spammer rewards, the DV is not the best way to handle spam from the proxy account.

There needs to a different mechanism for watching proxy accounts.

The DVs might be because in my review of POSH I praised the idea of using the POSH token to reward sharing links to HIVE.

I do not like that POSH currently only works with Twitter. This is because I don't like Twitter.

Currently, hivePOSH has people log in with Twitter then associate their HIVE account to their twitter account. I think it would be better to log in with HIVE. Then people could associate their Twitter account.

Yes, I criticized a product by a whale, but I think I have a valid criticism.

I believe that people promoting HIVE should use the HIVE authentication mechanism before the Twitter mechanism. Twitter's implementation of Oauth tracks people!

Speaking of authentication, the new HAS authentication by @arcange just might be the thing that brings HIVE into the major leagues.

I think it was my criticism or POSH that set me asail on Downvote Creek. I will never now because HiveWatchers does not communicate with people.

A general rule on HIVE is that small accounts should never criticize whales.

But, my goodness, if you are a whale, grow some skin. During HiveFest the creators of PeakD.com said that they loved this type of criticism as such criticism leads to new ideas and improvements.

Conclusion

Yeah, I admit, the idea of unsolicited reviews on an independent site is a Web 1.0 idea. Alot of the ideas from Web 1.0 are valid. Links build traffic.

A large number of people like such reviews. IMHO, the best approach to reviews is to praise good things about a product but to point out things that need improving.

Seriously, is there anyone who thinks that HIVE should be put in the subservient position to Twitter on @hivePOSH ?

I love the work that the #hivewatchers community does to defend the blockchain from spam. The downvote is a great tool for stripping rewards from accounts that abuse HIVE. People with HP should participate in downvoting abuse

My longstanding complaint with HiveWatchers is that the community has a history of not communicating with people. Most people will amend their behavior if asked nicely. I suspect that Hive has lost hundreds of users simply because HiveWatchers failed to communicate the reason for the downvotes.
#spam
#hivewatchers
#downvotes
#hive