seems unproductive to expect others to constantly downvote them down from ROI and get a lot of hate when instead they could just make them unprofitable to begin with

Yeah it is. But where would the profit go? It would be nice to see a % nulled or go to steem.dao

Answered Taraz re: first point. So it's like buying the vote 7 days ahead, but no funds are sent. hmmm.