Hi @firedream, I take my hat off to you. Looks like you are finally asking the right questions.

This is what I believe to be the case. The large majority of the accounts on Steemit are minnow accounts. By themselves they are weak and easily bullied. Many minnows buy votes from bots which inflates the apparent worth of their posts. Any onlooker will think many minnow posts are profitable when they are not. The bots are reaping the rewards by selling votes. Grumpy Compliance reduces the number of bids on bots by restricting those who want to make a quick profit, hence benefiting everyone else bidding.

The approach adopted has been to hurt those buying votes from non-grumpy compliant bots. This has pressured those running the bots to comply to Grumpy Compliance as they do not want to lose bids (SBD). This also created the perception that @grumpycat is a villian. This is something that apparently most following the actions of @grumpycat believe to be true. This, in fact, is the beauty of @grumpycat. You have now formed a resistance pulling together to defend minnow rights. Minnows have become more aware of the dominance of some whales and are now willing to step up and fight for themselves rather than complaining about being the victims. This resistance should grow beyond just resisting @grumpycat but to any account that is being used to abuse the system or bully others. Sometimes all we need is a common enemy to be able to stand up. I believe @grumpycat is playing this role and appears to be doing a very good job.

After all, the minnows need to play a role in stopping those crabs escaping the bucket.