If You See Something, Say Something
Reporting Vocal Media comments violating platform guidelines; bots, spam, and whatnot
As a loyal Vocal Media writer since 2020, I admit my self-confidence has grown over the past five years. Sure, my creative eye has gotten a boost as expected with time and practice, but my oomph to speak up when I see something wrong, well, that energy has skyrocketed tenfold.
Perhaps my self-assurance is experience related or maybe it's the early fifty-something woman in me who really doesn't give a flying fig newton what others think.
All I know is that while reading Vocal Media stories this morning I came across a spam-type comment on a writer's post, a top story, and it royally pissed me off.
First, I'd like to give a shout-out to Brenton F for his top-notch poem featured here π
Slick and well written; I'm all high fives in with this piece. Brenton put a smile on my face early this morning and I couldn't wait to leave a comment, which I did.
But then below my comment I saw, not one but two nasty little spammy/ bot and whatnot comments that got my blood boiling.
I immediately left a reply to my comment on Brenton's poem, alerting him that I was reporting the unsightly, annoying atrocity to Vocal Media.
As a former Medium editor, I dealt with more than my fair share of this sort of thing with botoramic (I made that word up - sounds good to me) article submissions and artificial comments (lacking sweetener- no doubt) on fellow platform creators' stories.
Artists, yes writers are artists, and they put their blood, sweat, and tears into their work. Whether top story or not, it doesn't matter, the artistic effect does not dwindle, nor is it contingent upon an x-amount of reads, community support responses, exposure or what have you.
I will say it again; writers are artists, and as a member of this community I won't sit idly by and watch the spam jam, no thank you, ma'am, nonsense fester on our goodness to gracious prose/poetic spacious.
Yes, I realize I am in a bit of a zone at the moment, spitting some rhyme-type not exactly proper English ramblings, so please excuse me while I feel all of my feels.
But I am upset and you should be, too!
The investigator in me went on to this person, entity, or whatever's profile to find this:
Of course, I don't want to land myself in hot water, so I am playing it safe by not exposing the name behind this account. Nope, I quite like it here, however, I saw something wrong and reported it. πππ
You know: SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING
I am encouraging all creators to impose like actions whenever they see something that is off. Don't be afraid! Imagine how you would feel if it was your content. It's not pleasant and has happened to me a few times here.
Nope, this gal is not with that program and will proudly shout from any mountaintop.
Notice the group appeal in the above GIF?
Exactly!!!
There's power with projection; I say the more, the merrier, but it all begins with one voice- YOURS!
It's with great hope that the spam-so-not delicious, definitely not nutritious comment will be taken down today affording Brenton his rightful honor as a top story holder without the extra added ingredients he does not need to see or have attached to his name or art.
There, I said it again: art.
Please do not mistake this piece for a rant. I understand and will vouch for the fact that Vocal Media has a plethora of talent and a wonderfully supportive community. I am simply writing to remind everyone to be mindful and not afraid to speak up.
Imagine how things could be if everyone who saw something, said something!
Have a wonderful week and thanks for reading!
One more time: kudos to you, Brenton. I expect to see the unsightly mess removed from your comments soon! πππ π π
About the Creator
Marilyn Glover
Poet, writer, & editor, writing to uplift humanity. A Spiritual person who practices Reiki and finds inspiration in nature.
Mother of four, grandmother of two, British American dual citizen living in the States
Keep reading
More stories from Marilyn Glover and writers in Writers and other communities.
Shedding Light On My First Vocal Media Submission
On June 8, 2020, Vocal Media published my first story, a poem, and my first love of writing. Flash forward three years later, and I am reflecting on my Villanelle with an open mind, reminiscing on my newbie days when although I was inexperienced, my love for words would not let me miss one opportunity to create worlds with poetics partnered with my larger-than-life imagination.
By Marilyn Glover2 years ago in Writers
Comments (8)
Bravo! Iβm glad Iβm not the only one reporting and taking action whenever I see some spammy comments floating around. I have reported all what I saw this week and I truly hope they are all deleted promptly, accounts removed, and some measures taken to minimise spam. I know itβs difficult since those parasites are everywhere. But I agree with you, if we all report them as soon as we see them we can achieve hive work better and faster.
At this point, I'm so used to these spam garbage. It's been going on for years and I only get surprised when I see a piece without those spam comments, lol. But seriously though, Vocal has to up their game. This platform is infested with spammers and AI frauds. It's so unfair to all of us πππππ
Very good work, congrats π
Well said Marilyn. Funnily enough, I am less upset when I see a comment on my stories rather than other peoples. That makes me MAD! Great article. Well done.
Since publishing this story, I have found more of the article featured comment on other writer's stories. I am taking it upon myself to report as many as possible to not only show support but get a message out there: spam, bots & whatnot, you don't belong here!
It's so annoying... Thank you for taking the time to remind us that we are the first responders for reporting such garbage. This is the last site they should be trying to troll. We are a bunch of writers. At least spam us with something useful. (Just kidding Not trying to give them any Ideas, but you get the point) Vocal is relatively peaceful. I would like it to stay that way
Very well said, Marilyn! I couldn't agree more, as annoying as it can be sometimes I think it's necessary for us to help clean up the community so to speak. We're going to be the ones who notice these kinds of things first and taking action is definitely the right step
God job, and yes, I have had a few of these show up when I publish comments and deleted them. I even had a few subscribers that just turned out wanting someone to pass along their business, I guess, and I deleted them from my subscriber list.