Spam, Impersonators, and Fake Posts

http://www.allcomputersites.com/news/gallery/how-to-stop-unwanted-email/stop_unwanted_email.png Steem has been rocketing in popularity throughout the past few days. While this is generally a good thing, it does have its downfalls. I have noticed a large amount of spam, including: * Fake Posts * Impersonators * Vote for vote * Etc I just wanted to make sure others were aware this was happening, and to ensure all users take the proper precautions before upvoting something. Make **SURE** you read the post **AND** check out the posters account... http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1878239/thumbs/o-OLD-LADY-COMPUTER-facebook.jpg

Examples

**Example 1 - Ned impersonator:** [Ned impersonator](https://steemit.com/steemit/@ned-reddit-login/a-message-from-ned-and-dan-a-more-decentralized-steemit-community-for-a-more-fair-and-secure-proof-of-stake-system-) This user managed to get **25** votes... most likely because his name appears to be some sort of testing account for Ned. **Example 2- Top post impersonator:** [Top post impersonator](https://steemit.com/crypto/@mlmtraffic/when-u-see-your-post-at-no-1-on-steemit) This user attempted to impersonate one of the top posters of the recent days, in the form of a thank you blog. Luckily, people were able to catch on. **Example 3 - Vote for vote:** [Vote for vote](https://steemit.com/steemit/@nioctib/i-upvote-you-if-you-upvote-me) At the time of writing, this has gathered 13 upvotes in 26 minutes... is this really the kind of content we want to support? I just want to make sure all Steemers are aware of this issue, and will use discretion when voting. Your vote **does** matter.

What to do if you find spam

https://cdn4.iconfinder.com/data/icons/e-mail-messenger-user-interface/100/flag_highlight_mark_user_interface_ui-512.png Luckily, we have a handy dandy feature to deal with this... **the flag button.** The flag button effectively acts as a down vote (though it shouldn't be used as one). Use this whenever you find some spam.

Conclusion

http://files.usmre.com/4864/blog/misc/happy-guy.jpg Steemit is an amazing community and platform. However, in order to keep it that way, we have to filter out the bad. Since Steemit is anti-censorship, we (as a community) need to filter out the bad. It is our responsibility to keep this site in a quality condition :) Thanks for reading and happy steeming!