TL;DR; The Reaper is back with a vengeance
➼ Follower numbers going crazy, down by a lot
➼ Rewards leaderboard scores are weird (probably points being removed because people are marked as spam)
➼ Overall engagement is down/strange
➼ Much confusion and people feel down on themselves and are taking it personally. Don’t. It’s not you.
Your follower counts are going down because the spam algorithm is very aggressive this week. When someone gets labeled as spammy, aka a “0” label, the Farcaster client no longer counts them in your follower count. They are still following you and you can see it on the protocol. Use the frame linked here to see how many have been purged.
Your follower counts are going down because the spam algorithm is drunk or extra salty this week. When someone gets labeled as spammy, aka a “0” label, the Farcaster client no longer counts them in your follower count. They are still following you and you can see it on the protocol. Use this frame to see how many have been purged. https://farcaster.xyz/miniapps/lb-nemJj8mJO/followers
The spam data set hasn’t been updated in 11 days. We used to get an update every week on Thursday evenings. That cadence has been inconsistent since the beginning of May. Any frames that show your spam label are 11 days out of the date. The spam algorithm runs daily and people are re-labeled. But until the json file gets updated, we can’t see your true status. We are just guessing. If you are in “show more replies” inside of a channel, you might not have a spam label. The channel might be set to prioritize members replies. If you comment on a naked cast, aka one that’s not in a channel and you are in “show more replies” you probably have a spam label.
You can check your label here.
If you have a “0” spam label, you aren’t eligible for the Rewards Leaderboard. Your engagement also doesn’t count for others. So if your points have gone down, people either deleted their replies/undid a recast/like OR They got a spam label of "0" sometime this week and their engagement no longer counts so your points went down.
Engagement is weird this week. The team is clearly tweaking the home feed algorithm and it’s starting to have effects. You can’t fight the home feed, but you can change your default feed to “following” and use that more and you can pick a few of your favorite channels and scroll them and interact to train the home feed to show you some more interesting things.
With @tipn and @noiceapp in play, some folks may be changing how they engage and liking, recasting, and commenting less or being more careful with their engagement since money in now attached. Just a theory but this could be a factor in why engagement feels different.
I don't think it's one single thing, but a multitude of factors converging all at once.
I’ve seen many casts where folks are feeling down; feeling like they aren’t doing well because the metrics they can see are down. Don’t feel bad. It’s not you. It’s just how it is this week. You aren’t being ignored or mass unfollowed. It’s not personal, it’s just the algorithm. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you show up here often, engage with people authentically, and show us your whole self, it will work out. It might be slow. It might not be measurable today, but consistency is key.
Since engagement is down, go out of your way to engage this week.
Find one new person to follow
Scroll a few well curated channels on topics and you like and say hi to some new people
Respond to all authentic replies on your own casts
Tag a friend into a conversation they may not have seen
Use quote casts to elevate great content and share it with a new audience and add to the conversation, but be sure to give some engagement to the OC (original caster!)
Reply more if you have the time. You could make someone’s whole week
Be sure to have at least $25 in major tokens in your Farcaster wallet and do all the verifications you are comfortable doing. I don’t think the visibility changes have gone into place officially but they are coming. To be more visible you will need:
1. A good spam label (Level 2)
2. Multiple verifications
3. Money in your wallet
4. Engagement*
*engagement goes both ways. Be generous with your likes, recasts, and comments and people will engage back. And if they don't, why are you following them on a social network? Your attention is valuable!
The way visibility on Farcaster will work is a combination of these labels. To show up in replies, you will need a verification label. You can get this by connecting social accounts and holding a balance of $25. We will also add a system where users who have been active on the network for a while and have built large followings can get a verification without connecting socials (exact system tbd) Verifications will not affect your ability to earn rewards or airdrops for now. We are going to test out the proposal as it stands, and we may make some changes to the criteria depending on how easy or difficult it is for people to achieve. Your feedback as we roll this system out is always appreciated, and we'll make changes based on it.
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TL;DR: The Spam Reaper is back with a vengeance aka 25% of my Good Followers got marked as Spam this week ➼ Follower numbers going crazy, down by a lot ➼ Rewards leaderboard scores are weird (probably points being removed because people are marked as spam) ➼ Overall engagement is down/strange ➼ Much confusion and people feel down on themselves and are taking it personally. Don’t. It’s not you. ——The Great Purge...Again—— Your follower counts are going down because the spam algorithm is very aggressive this week. When someone gets labeled as spammy, aka a “0” label, the Farcaster client no longer counts them in your follower count. They are still following you and you can see it on the protocol. ——-Spam Label Official Updates Aren't Updating——- The spam data set hasn’t been updated in 11 days. We used to get an update every week on Thursday evenings. That cadence has been inconsistent since the beginning of May. Any frames that show your spam label are 11 days out of the date. The spam algorithm runs daily and people are re-labeled. But until the json file gets updated, we can’t see your true status. We are just guessing. If you are in “show more replies” inside of a channel, you might not have a spam label. The channel might be set to prioritize members replies. If you comment on a naked cast, aka one that’s not in a channel and you are in “show more replies” you probably have a spam label. If you have a “0” spam label, you aren’t eligible for the Rewards Leaderboard. Your engagement also doesn’t count for others. So if your points have gone down, people either deleted their replies/undid a recast/like OR They got a spam label of "0" sometime this week and their engagement no longer counts so your points went down. ——-Engagement is Weird——- Engagement is weird this week. The team is clearly tweaking the home feed algorithm and it’s starting to have effects. You can’t fight the home feed, but you can change your default feed to “following” and use that more and you can pick a few of your favorite channels and scroll them and interact to train the home feed to show you some more interesting things. With @tipn and @noiceapp in play, some folks may be changing how they engage and liking, recasting, and commenting less or being more careful with their engagement since money in now attached. Just a theory but this could be a factor in why engagement feels different. I don't think it's one single thing, but a multitude of factors converging all at once. ——-Vibes are Down, Let's Fix Them——- I’ve seen many casts where folks are feeling down; feeling like they aren’t doing well because the metrics they can see are down. Don’t feel bad. It’s not you. It’s just how it is this week. You aren’t being ignored or mass unfollowed. It’s not personal, it’s just the algorithm. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you show up here often, engage with people authentically, and show us your whole self, it will work out. It might be slow. It might not be measurable today, but consistency is key. Since engagement is down, go out of your way to engage this week. ✷ Find one new person to follow ✷ Scroll a few well curated channels on topics and you like and say hi to some new people ✷ Respond to all authentic replies on your own casts ✷ Tag a friend into a conversation they may not have seen ✷ Use quote casts to elevate great content and share it with a new audience and add to the conversation, but be sure to give some engagement to the OC (original caster!) ✷ Reply more if you have the time. You could make someone’s whole week ——-Verifications are Coming——- Be sure to have at least $25 in major tokens in your Farcaster wallet and do all the verifications you are comfortable doing. I don’t think the visibility changes have gone into place officially but they are coming. To be more visible you will need: 1. A good spam label (Level 2) 2. Multiple verifications 3. Money in your wallet 4. Engagement* *engagement goes both ways. Be generous with your likes, recasts, and comments and people will engage back. And if they don't, why are you following them on a social network? Your attention is valuable! https://paragraph.com/@pichi/25percent-of-my-good-followers-are-gone
Great summery, I'm not noticing the vibes being down but I'm also really into $bracky and livecaster right now.
Many folks are insulated from it. But most of my community is deeply affected by the spam algorithm.
I’ve been noticing my followers content plummeting, it’s frustrating to see real people caught up in the algorithm
Thanks @pichi , now I understand where 600 followers went this week. I thought that by creating my channel /acid-channel I was penalized for it... great cast, with your permission I'll share it. 30 $degen
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Thanks for the powerhouse cast. When that happens, I'm worried that I've been labeled SPAM. When that happens, I check with my bookmarked past casts. I determine if that cast is displayed or folded.
Since we follow each other I can’t tell anymore. Can you share screenshots of what it looks like?
Thanks, I'm fine now. This is how I check the SPAM label I do when Rewards point stops working. As a matter of course, @dwr.eth doesn't follow me, so I determine label status by checking my browser to see how reps to him appear.
ok banger awesome thread, 👀
I had to test the crazy long casts!
Great help for people
Thank you!
Yeah not sure what’s up with engagement lately, is everyone busy…🤷♂️ (I know I’ve been a bit busy the last week so wasn’t super active, but I’m still here daily)😉
Always love reading your guides on the spam labels and overall engagement here on fc! Thank you for always taking time out to explain stuff I wouldn't have even thought about but are so important to having a good experience on here
Thank you for reading! I appreciate the support and kind words! Makes sitting down to write it worth the effort.
❤️ ❤️
what a wonderful long cast🥳
Thank you.
Thanks for sharing pichi. I wish there’s some sort of selfie verification or something that’ll differentiate between human and bot. I got spam labeled months ago 💔
Unfortunately you still have one. It’s not about being human as much as being “spammy” by Farcasters made up standards.
Thanks for sharing pichi great guide but if someone in spam 2 but he can't showing on the leaderboard and on cast so what he did ?
Two theories: 1. You actually have a bad spam label but we can’t see it because the public data set is so out of date 2. Something is broken. I no longer know which it is.
Hmmm can he should contact to developers by email ?
The Spam Algo is on a rampage. Within the last week many have noticed their followers being purged everyday. The disconnect between the public data set and reality is huge. I've personally lost 9,142 people who within the last 10 days have lost their "good" spam label and have no idea because they have no way to check. You think engagements weird? It is...because when they loose their good label, you no longer see their engagement, or them. https://paragraph.com/@pichi/25percent-of-my-good-followers-are-gone
Me shitcasting everyday
Great read! Hopefully the dataset get's updated soon (or the changes reverted :))
Thank you so much for reading! Means a lot from you because I know you study this stuff extensively too!
@podom.eth you asked this last night in /farhouse and idk if it was really addressed--but this likely has your answer
Much /appreciation 4 $degen sharing. But sister pichi is 1 of 4 👏 /mfers who have blocked me. (And, in all honesty, the only one I am saddened by.)
oh. Welp look at me accidentally rubbing salt in the wound.
If you can’t read it, basically it seems spam algo got turned up a notch. this cast from weeks ago seems to be what just triggered and many are missing verifications https://farcaster.xyz/v/0x100a16a4
noticed the same last week, engagement tanked also
It’s been really weird.
Thanks for explaining dear 111 $degen
Thanks for reading!
Your explanation is excellent, as always) thanks for this clarity) it matters a lot to people) 50 $degen
Thanks for reading!
appreciate this, interesting read!
Is this a replay of last year's debacle? I certainly hope not. I know how it feels to be unfairly labeled here and it's no fun... And this app can't survive losing more real people.
June 2024 and June 2025 feel very eerily similar.
Thanks so much Pichi for this, I enjoyed it, it just facts, losing legitimate followers is so heartbreaking, legit reply guys and casters. The Spam Algo: Your Friend, Your Foe
Thanks for reading!
my score down down down，i dont konw why
https://paragraph.com/@pichi/25percent-of-my-good-followers-are-gone?referrer=0x0bff2342cEa541817120802B09B2d2f634B20521