Bad actors in the crypto sphere.

Before I got into the crypto space I had never heard the term bad actor.

So what exactly is a bad actor?

Is Steven Seagal a bad actor?

Yes he is.

However, that's not the kind of bad actor that I'm talking about.

Source: Giphy.com

Simply put, a bad actor is someone that acts bad. They commit bad actions, as it were.

However, one must also include the word actor in the definition. That's really what a bad actor is. Someone that is actually a good actor when it comes to fooling people into believing that a certain project or idea is valuable, and that you should get behind it. Especially when it comes to giving them money.

I'm not going to mention any names because most people already know who the famous bad actors are.

Sometimes a post will trend, and that particular post gets upvoted by a bunch of bid bots. Is that author also a bad actor? Well, that is debatable. If it's a complete shitpost, then he might be. However, if he earned less than he paid, then I wouldn't consider him a bad actor. Just a bad investor.

If, on the other hand, he invested $300 and he made $1,000 then he is most likely the very definition of a bad actor. That's because he was able to fool people into upvoting his shitpost based on the idea that it was valuable.

Now, there are definitively several powerful posters that consistently get high upvotes with questionable content. Some of this has to do with circle jerking, and some of it has to do with nepotism.

Some of these people were very early adopters though.... and they are simply on the auto voters of certain whales. Are they bad actors? Well I'd say that they were just in the right place at the right time.

The funny thing about bad actors is that most of the time they don't realize that they're being bad actors. Perhaps they've fooled themselves into thinking that they are the good guy.

I can tell you this much. If you run across a project that appears too good to be true, and there is a front man that is smiling in every single photo telling you about how much money you're going to make by using his referral..... then at the very least you should be wary of him.

Source: PIxabay.com

Here's the thing though...... let's say that the project he's involved with actually does work out. Let's say that you invest in his token when it costs $5, and it eventually rises up to $50. You make some good profits. He makes some great profits.

Is he a bad actor then?

You can see why it's a complicated issue.

I encountered a post today by one of my favorite people on Steemit. @whatsup

It was actually one of the earliest posts that she had ever made. In that post she questioned the logic of pushing quality over the social media aspects of Steemit.

I definitely agree with that assessment. Steemit should be as easy to use as Facebook if it's ever going to take off and be in the minds and wallets of people. People's minds are connected to their wallets after all.

The reason why I bring this post up is that you can find a ton of people that are pushing the idea of learning to make quality posts.

Pushing the idea? They're selling the idea. For actual money.

The people that make the most money on this site aren't great posters. They just know a lot of people. They were in the right place at the right time. Either that, or they had some great idea that happened to work.

I'm not saying quality posting can't be profitable, but I am saying it's much more profitable to be social, engage, and interact with others. There's no magic course you can take to be a quality poster that makes lots of money.

Anyone selling you on a course to do so is more than likely in the bad actor category.

The bottom line is that it's not always easy to tell who is a bad actor and who isn't. You might see a lot of people getting upvoted from unknown accounts. How do you get involved with these accounts? I don't honestly know. I think that some accounts are simply upvoting certain people because they are friends with them. Well.....that's how this site works too.

Bad actors? Debatable.

However, if something seems too good to be true then you need to ask yourself if it's too good to be true.

No matter how rich somebody might appear to be, the chances of them being altruistic are almost zero in the crypto space.

Guard your money.

You earned it, so don't give it away for empty promises.