Dear Noob,
Welcome to Steemit! You just arrived, the place is full of strangers, you're confused, scrabbling along. You are looking to find a friendly face in the crowd. A mentor, maybe. Just as in the 3D world, the online universe has the full spectrum of personality types. Here are some common signs associated with toxic people. As a noob, you are most at risk of being targeted, so have your guard up and step carefully...
Unscrupulous narcissists know you're likely to be unfamiliar with how things work around here. And they're waiting to pounce. They'll come across as friendly, generous, helpful. You'll feel grateful for the valuable upvotes and flattered that he/she takes an interest in what you're writing. You'll feel like, if you stick with this person, you'll make something of yourself on Steemit.
Revealing character
Real relationships take time and effort to develop. This occurs naturally over time. If someone's genuinely interested in your work, this will show in their interaction. Beware anyone that takes an excessive love-bombing approach or tries to hurry you into a decision.
Take a look in the comments section beneath their blog posts. They're often not so guarded here as they are with the persona they're trying to project in their original blog. Do their responses look hurried, short, thoughtless? Do they copy/paste similar responses? If that person talks about respect in their blog, yet is openly dismissive, rude or downright mean in their responses, this is a red flag. The gap between what they say and what they do reveals their inherent toxicity. If there's no genuinely friendly interaction, the narcissist is merely cluster bombing the noob pool to guarantee a hit.
Amateur
There are many amateurs passing themselves off as experts online. Steemit is no different. How do you discern who's genuine and who's fake? The comments section beneath the blog can be very revealing. An amateurish narcissist can be exposed when a genuine expert attempts to engage them in the comments. If the real expert happens to disagree with the narcissist, it's interesting to see the response. Most genuine people will welcome the discussion and seek to rectify the issue. A charlatan will either dismiss the expert or simply ignore them, not wanting to draw attention to their own ignorance. Being unveiled is the narcissist's biggest fear. They don't want their lack of skill, knowledge or expertise exposed. This type of narcissist will write any old rubbish to cash in on a popular subject.
Chat
Another way to gauge whether you're following an abusive person is to talk with them in live chat. Many Steemians have channels on Discord. Here, it's possible to see them in action. How do they come across? Are they the same person they claim to be in their blog? Are they overly rude or nasty? Do they bully and control? Do they impose restrictions on others? Do they KNOW EVERYTHING? These are all red flags. Ignore them at your own peril.
Do your research
Read a few of their posts. Check for consistency. Do they change opinions with the weather or do U-turns in the face of a popular opposing opinion? This type of person is not interested in the truth; they merely want to collect followers, submissive people they can use and manipulate for their own personal gain. If their current line isn't working, they'll swap it for a more lucrative one.
Image
Narcissists are out of touch with how other people view them. They are incapable of stepping into other people's shoes. They lack genuine empathy. They only see the ego they, themselves, are projecting. In their eyes, they are doing a perfect job. They will often compliment themselves on a job well done when onlookers can clearly see they're making a mess of it. It's very difficult for some of them to refrain from self-congratulation.
Quality control
Look for quality. Do they say the same thing over and over each time they write a blog or post a video? Are they lazy, using copy/paste duplicate information to fill up space? If so, this person genuinely has nothing new to say and you're wasting your time. They are posting subpar, unoriginal dross to make money from your upvotes. The content is irrelevant to them. They'd upload a video of them cleaning their belly button if they thought it would help them achieve their goals.
Originality
Narcissists are often incapable of originality. They are plagiarists who leech heavily from other sources, sources that have proven popular. If you can find an original source, a true expert, you'll get better results. At least you'd know it was original rather than a regurgitated, poor copy.
In Part 2:
exploitation, psychological damage, excessive control, power and more...
Thanks for reading. I hope this helps you avoid some of the pitfalls of playing with narcissists. If you can think of any more, please share them in the comments section below.
But, more importantly, please enjoy your Steemit journey and be safe.