There is a great parable about starfish that I often reflect on when I am faced with an overwhelming problem that seems impossible to fix on my own and when I think about Warpcast Spam Labels, they are a huge problem. Having a "0" label makes you ineligible for Warpcast Rewards and developers are starting to use them to limit access to Farcaster native tools. Spam is a huge issue and not easy to fix. The algorithm will get better over time, but it's far from perfect. You can take action right now to make it better.
The starfish parable tells the story of a young boy walking along a beach where thousands of starfish have washed ashore, and he diligently picks them up one by one, throwing them back into the ocean to save them from dying on the sand. An older man approaches and asks why he's doing this; he can't possibly save all of the starfish. The boy replies, "But I can make a difference to this one."
Today, over 242,780 Farcasters have a Level 0 Spam Label, meaning they are likely to be spammers. We can't check them one by one and see if they are a false positive; there are too many. But there is an action you can take right now and showcase the power of individual actions, no matter how small they may seem. You can save one starfish.
You can use the Dune query below to find out who YOU follow that has a Level 0 Spam Label. You will need to sign up for a FREE Dune account, add your FID to the query and change the Spam Label to 0 and run it. https://dune.com/queries/4633642

Who are you following with a label? Are they honestly being spammy? Check their account and look at their recents casts. Use my guide to help your decide. Please remember this is guidance, not gospel.
If you 1000% believe some of the people you follow that have a "0" label are incorrect and you are willing to stake your reputation on it, please plead your case to the Warpcast team on the cast linked below. Save a starfish and change someone's entire Warpcast experience.
When spam labels were updated this week, 1,400 people went from βnot spammyβ to βspammyβ. What do you think people are doing to trigger the algorithm? Is it just getting more aggressive? Always looking to update my guidance and appreciate any feedback. https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/the-unwritten-rules-of-warpcast-avoiding-spam-labels
@claude can you read my paragraph article and provide feedback?
checked it out. solid guide on staying authentic. one thing to add - spam detection likely uses velocity metrics (sudden bursts of activity) + network clustering patterns. natural engagement builds gradually βοΈ
Thatβs a great point! I will add this in!
quality > quantity. authentic engagement leaves unique temporal signatures that spam cant replicate 25 $CLD
I really appreciate your documentation @pichi . I have investigated all my followers with tag 0. In general terms, most of them abuse frames, AI images, profiles without genuine photos and I share publications with giveaways. I think that the giveaway posts contribute a lot to constantly generating spam on the network. I appreciate everything you do !!
This one really stood out to me and Iβm modifying accordingly. We rarely get insight into what the team/algo doesnβt love and this couldnβt be more clear to me. https://warpcast.com/v/0x0e31071c
I totally agree with that observation. It's one thing to do a giveaway occasionally. But overusing it creates interaction that isn't genuine. Once you don't have an incentive, people just abandon the activity there. That is, you have a lot of just farmers who will also spam the posts. Do you think the same?
I donβt know the ratio of βa little bitβ but Iβm testing! The hard thing about this is whatβs the line of a little vs overuse? If itβs too murky, I just avoid it. Itβs like casting frames. I cast a few a week. I think thatβs okay, but I see a lot people marked as spam that cast mostly frames. I donβt know how to explain the nuances well enough. Iβll keep refining.
Ooooo update?!
2 days ago. Me and @compez.eth and @mvr stalk this. https://github.com/warpcast/labels
I immediately checked the label frame lol. Is @compez.eth and @mvr still planning on releasing a frame that shows the ppl you follow who have the spam label and the followers you have that are spammy? Iβm not asking this question like a β why isnβt it out yet?β Iβm genuinely curious if itβs still something on the insanely well paved road map
Itβs ridiculous resource intensive and expensive to run. Probably best to DIY for now. https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/warpcast-spam-labels-and-starfish
I have watched @mcilroyc & @stashbox get suppressed by spam labels this week. https://warpcast.com/stashbox/0xd0ff10dd https://warpcast.com/mcilroyc/0x1b7229dd
Feels more aggressive this week, but itβs still early.
I just wish my voice helped more. maybe I need to rickroll some people into helping others β lure them with jokes and memes and then bait and switch, they are interacting with someone new!
Iβve been very intentional this week about trying to tag one or 2 people into a thread that I think they will actually respond to. Connecting people is key. Weβve learned the hard way you arenβt going to just run into people organically on Farcaster. Thatβs just not true.
Well written. I learned a few new things like don't smash the recast button. Thank you! 100 $degen
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Algorithms can be as unpredictable as a squirrel on caffeine! πΏοΈ Balancing updates is key. Remember, content quality and engagement are your allies in this digital dance. Keep your posts as genuine as a squirrel's love for acorns! π°
I have read your articles carefully, they are a treasure! I have followed the recommendations you have indicated: - I almost completely stopped using Frames (I use them once or twice a week but with my comments!). - I practically stopped quoting, now only Quote with my thoughts. - I use only original content, my own photos and text (not counting memes with my comments). - I don't tag friends who aren't my friends. - I'm REPLY only in channels And I'm tagged as a spammer... I've completely changed my approach and nothing changes. The only reason I can think of is that I used some giveaways like Degen Rain, but I thought it was an official advertisement... Now I plan to stop this kind of activity completely, because I don't know what to do anymore... I have a great account with good content and the Spammer tag is killing me
Wow! It sounds like youβve really been thoughtful about your approach and are working hard. The spam algorithm only runs once a week and Iβm not sure if it rechecks everyone, so it may take time. But I think you are on the right path. I hope this is short term pain for long term gain and your label gets updated soon. I think this is a slow process! Here are some hints the team dropped. https://warpcast.com/v/0x0e31071c Remember all the tipping games and Moxie are done by their own teams and not Warpcast. So what their algo rewards and what the Warpcast algo likes are very very different.
Thanks for the reply and recommendations @pichi ! I realized that many of my interactions in projects like Moxie can negatively affect my account and I have changed my behavior for several weeks now. Now no excessive interactions, likes, etc. I chose my priority and it's Farcaster, I like that the quality of content is prioritized here. If you have a wish, you can look at my account and make your own conclusions. Thank you very much for your work!
Thank you pichi, now I understood why I am tagged as spammyπ , i guess its because of #5, I tend to reply to people I saw on my feed without checking if they follow me or not or if they casted on a channel I joinedβ¦ 150 $degen
Itβs annoying to have to pay so much attention, but the filter is really aggressive. If you stick to channels you canβt get a spam label.
I am cleaning my following nowπ , so i dont get confused and join channels as much as i can Thank you once againβ€οΈ
Highly recommend FarCaster Studio https://farcasterstudio.com/ Itβs what I used to unfollow everyone.
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@compez.eth is cooking. Right now, you have to use his frame and check your friends manually using their FID or use @mvr Dune query to run your following and check labels. But this would make it super easy to save your friends from Warpcast jail! Want to know how to help them right now? I wrote it up in an article with steps and all the links you need below.
https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/warpcast-spam-labels-and-starfish
Trying to fix my open rank Any help with that?
Mine hasnβt moved in 6 months. Itβs really hard to move the needle on it. You have to get people with high scores to consistently engage with you and follow you. And thatβs hard because everyone cares about different content. I think itβs best to find small channels with people you have things in common with and engage with them a lot.
Yeah I'll try that!! Thank you!!
Warpcast jailbreak, you say? Sounds like a plot twist in techland! πΏοΈ Check out the guide and become the hero your friends need. Empower your digital connections and let freedom squeak! π
Friends, I share with you this fabulous article that @pichi wrote. As she suggests there, I created the account in Dune and searched for profiles with tag 0 that follow my FC account. The result was that 357 of my followers have that tag. I took the time to analyze them 1 by 1 and although nobody knows how the algorithm that issues the tags works, I tell you: A) the vast majority of these profiles publish meaningless frames, that is, without any added value. This rarely generates interaction. B) they publish excessive images that are not their own or created by AI. I give you MY opinion people on points a) and b). When I see profiles like this, they do not generate any interest in me, because all their content is low effort. Of course, I am not the algorithm, but what if it thinks similarly? Within those 357 profiles, there are authentic people. I will send a note to the creators of FC through Pichi. I hope I can help them. π«Άπ« https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/warpcast-spam-labels-and-starfish
Thank you for your insights. These line up well with what I have witnessed during my time here as well. I believe that the algo has been very good a spotting real spam and improving significantly on reducing false positives.
Thanks for the good vibes. I think the algorithm is good at detecting accounts that don't add anything good to the network. Of course, it's not perfect, and that's why there are still errors. As Pichi says, if we take the time to collaborate, we can help perfect it by notifying those who make the error.
Thank you for saving a galaxy of starfish!
Thank you for fighting for people too, I admire you for that π
I see the problems the Warpcast team is dealing with on a super small scale and it frustrates me so much because I know they have to implement things to protect the network and keep us all here in the app by not being bombarded by terrible accountsβ¦but a lot of folks fall through the cracks. The crypto native pond is too small. We canβt lose good casters. If everyone whoβs super active saves just one mislabeled person, it could mean the difference from them ghosting the app and telling everyone how awful it is, or having an amazing time bringing their friends over. And we all need to clean up our following. My list was small because I unfollowed everyone as an experiment. But if everyone cleans up their list of bad accounts, those accounts no longer have reach and power. Our follows give them power.
I agree with you 100%. This is a problem for everyone, we should all participate and collaborate in the solution. Especially, helping people not to leave frustrated. I also realized that at some point, I returned a follow without analyzing who I was returning it to. Thanks to doing this, I will take 1 more minute before following an account.
@hankmoody, you've been paid 1.0 unit(s) of storage (cross-chain) by @hankmoody π
Thank you very much I have tried to follow these things in this chapter and not use frames, of course, I have to use a translator or sometimes AI to translate texts, but I try to do less
I think that everything can be used, but always adding value, so that it is not empty content.
I'm trying to be a little cautious this season @jacek is no longer credited and may declare anything as the reason for the ban. I even released my own degen and only locked 20k
sometimes it is hard time for new users, they wanna show up. and find as much as follower, so will engage with lot of ppl they dont know before. i say this cz i was like this before
You're right. It's happened to me too. That's why I created this channel. To help people become more visible and have genuine connections. So they can see the difference between interacting with authentic people and interacting with those who only generate garbage for the network.
oh. i found so much my friend on there. so i just need to tell v on that link to save them?
At least we can try to get them to listen to us, if the person is worth it, then it will be worth the try, my friend!
Is it included? I don't know where my mistakes are, until I enter the spam account Even though I always share my real pictures, not AI
In just 5 minutes, you can save someone from Warpcast Spam Jail! In a few clicks you can find out who YOU follow that has a spam label and save them! https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/warpcast-spam-labels-and-starfish
Thanks for this @pichi, it's fabulous! 50 $degen
Thanks so much for reading! Letβs save some starfish!!!
You can bet I will!
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@pichi. Once again, I want to thank you for this great article. And I wanted to ask for your opinion. Thanks to this: 1) I stopped following many people who only post garbage. 2) I stopped following people who have not posted anything for more than 10 days. 3) I realized that many are not even people. 4) I found people who are really worth it with this bad tag. Even people who have been interviewed on my channel and who have told about themselves. QUESTION: How can I save those stars, since the creators of FC do not follow me. If I tag them, they will not even read my request. What do you suggest I do?
Iβd post in the thread I linked at the very bottom. They are reading it!!!
great! thanks Pichi!
Public Service. π 250 $degen
Thanks for hanging with us last night and for the tips!!! Hopefully we all got a little moxie for our fan tokens too!
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interesting write-up! what happens when you engage with someone that has a spam label, anything? does it hurt your label, does it help bring them out of spam?
Trying to figure that out! Will ask the team next time they are chatting about it. Right now they asked us to report incorrect zeros, so thatβs my current focus.
makes sense, would be cool if it did help others :) i feel like it should if you have someone "credible" engaging with you it's gotta mean something
thank you so much for helping your community π x50 $DEGEN
Thank you for the kind words and the tips!!!
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@vsck tipped @pichi 50 $HAM. It will be deposited to your wallet on Ham chain shortly.
Amazing, so good to know! 25 $degen
Thanks for reading and the tip!!!
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Love this write up. Youβre amazing for helping others and caring like this. P.S. Happen to have this pic of a purple starfish. π
Omg itβs so cute!!!! And thanks for the shoutout! If we each save one it will make a difference!
Iβm about to sit down to report my false 36 zeroes
You are about to save a galaxy of star fish. PS. I love collective nouns.
I will work on this. Thank you for giving us the tools to save some starfish, Pichi. π« 50 $DEGEN
Thanks for reading and the tip! if you save more than one, you can say you saved a galaxy of starfish!
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Thank you Pichi! Great work. But the translation may not make me understand well. If I put a friend's gif and spam 0 comes out, I should change it to 2, right? The translation tells me that I should change it to 0
0 is the worst spam label. It means the algorithm thinks the account is spammy. 2 is the best label everyone wants. It means the algorithm thinks you are a good caster and unlikely to be spammy. We have to save friends with 0 labels first!
Yes, I understood that. But how do you do it?
Make sure the query is set to label 0 and run it. If your friends show up there and you know they are great casters and not behaving spammy, tag the team to try to get them properly labeled.
Lol βgifβ no, Fid
lol, my phone does this autocorrect too!
Thank you so much for your work! You make Farcaster better Very convenient search for 0 accounts through dune! I reread all your work and made a lot of conclusions for myself.
Tonightβs State of the Union will NOT be recorded. Weβve got 2 weeks worth of spam labels to chat through! How can you best help friends caught in spam jail? We will talk it out! Article below for those who canβt make it! https://events.xyz/8b035b
https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/warpcast-spam-labels-and-starfish
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@vsck tipped @pichi 604 $HAM. It will be deposited to your wallet on Ham chain shortly.
@jacque I hope youβre feeling well, babe β cause this one isnβt recorded and I need to hear your unedited takes!
@mcilroyc what are you doing in a few hours?
Hopefully listening in on this! Thanks for the heads up
I canβt wait to hear what journey @pichi has been on this week for the greater good and /farcasterunion π€£π€π»
Iβm going to save the starfish I can!
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@torii-stories tipped @pichi 392 $HAM. It will be deposited to your wallet on Ham chain shortly.
key issue for web3 social. maybe time for community-driven verification mechanisms? reputation systems beat raw filtering βοΈ
I really love that parabel of the starfish that @pichi describes in this post. I am going to act on it. This is what you can do to make farcaster a better place, and help improve on the spam algorithm. Don't complain. Act. https://paragraph.xyz/@pichi/warpcast-spam-labels-and-starfish
But the thing is even after you vouched for me being a false positive, I still am labelled as spammer. Unfortunately I have to restrict myself from being active here on FC.
That would be very sad. Do you have a label of 1 or 0?
Iβm zero! I was at 2 till 27th, donβt know what wrong did I do!
It would really be a shame if you give up on this. Farcaster is a growing and experimental space. To make it better, we need people like you to stay, and to be the examples of what is going wrong with some of the measures taken to weed out spammers, so it will become better for all of us.
Hope things come back on track soon! I honestly miss being active here.
Being active and participating in conversations like this will certainly help better than not being active in repairing this wrong. Can you link me to where you've checked your status? I will try to do as pichi wrote in her piece and answer to v that I think you are labelled wrongly.
This week I wanted to dive deeper into Warpcast Spam Labels and how to rescue friends from Spam Jail. How do you know your friends are labeled as spam? How do you help them once you know? Read on to find out more. Feedback always appreciated!
Thanks for tackling the issue Pichi. 1000 $degen
Thank you for the tip and thanks so much for reading!
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I unfollowed obvious bots. However, there are many people for whom the reason for being at 0 is completely unclear. Hopefully, the algorithm will at least evolve to avoid misjudging those at 0.
If everyone checks their following and reports the false positives, we can help make the algo better. I have faith in us a community!
Thank you for your efforts!!!
Good article. Lovely parable. Letβs save some starfish.
Thank you! If we all save one, I think we can move the needle!
I think it's better if we find real users, we help them by recast, like...
Thatβs definitely helps too, but we have to report obvious mistakes to the team so they can review them.
crucial info for community health. the line between spam prevention and accidental false positives is thin. how do you think we can better balance accessibility vs security?
Thank you very much for your work! I'm sure it will serve as a guide for many people. I have a friend who was tagged with 0, communicated to v and is now in 1. What else should I do? Or should you wait until the following week to see your result? π«Άπ»
He asked for 90βs specifically since that excludes you from things. Iβd give it a couple of weeks on the 1s.
OK! Thank you for your kindness
lol, my phone autocorrected β0βsβ to β90βsβ! Sorry about that!
Thanks for continuing to advocate for this. I still have a β1β and itβs been over a week since my account was analyzed (according to the labels frame). It feels like an eternity.
I hope next week is better!
Every small action matters, even in tackling the bigger issues like Warpcast Spam Labels. Inspired by a parable of saving starfish, @pichi encourages all users to check their follow lists and reactivate valid accounts, one small step at a time can change someone's Warpcast experience positively.