I reckon the fact that leasing prices haven't crashed reveals that manual curation is merely a euphemism for off chain transactions.

This would be a pretty logical explanation for why the lease market is holding up. It is difficult to know for sure if other blockchains are now being used for the transactions. I wouldn't even know where to start looking.

The rampaging horde of autoflaggers will not simply vanish either....they've had a taste of blood.

This is actually a bigger concern. If we start seeing content creating dolphins and minnows getting squashed with impunity then it will be a sure sign that the end is near.

A bit of looking at the big winners of manual curation from former bots is likely to reveal why stake leasing hasn't declined in volume or value.

This will probably be easier to identify than digging through rival blockchains looking for linkages. If I continue reporting on developments here this is probably where I will look next.