RE: @Grumpycat answers @Wackou, (Grumpycat picture inside)
Sadly this buying/selling bots issue is getting out of control. I was a daily user, since I joined here (almost 10 months ago) and lately I'm kinda disappointed with how Steemit works, its almost imposible to get a decent organic vote, some whale or some user with a good SP that has read some great post and decided to upvote it because he think it worth the work. Almost everyone with decent SP is selling votes, or in a voting circle, a lot of communities are helping minnows with some good vote to encourage them, and thats awesome but thats it, after you realize your not going anywhere if you are not buying, selling or in a circle that is kinda sad to see how its going. I really like how some people are trying to do something about it, like you with this post 3-5 days bots selling votes, and some others trying to keep it as honest as posible, but for me this is just the tip of an endless problem, (wish Im wrong and future prove me wrong about it) but Steemit is leading to some pyramid scheme that is almost imposible to break after its running.
You spoke my mind friend!
The only way, in my opinion, to stop bidbots is to create a negative stigma around them. Call the users thieves, because they are stealing from the reward pool. Call the owners scumbags, because they are enabling the thieves. Do this in every post. Even if it's just in the form of a banner. Most of us don't have the vested share to really do anything about it. But we all have a voice. And together we can mold this platform into a much better place.
Steemit has become centralized and in that aspect Steemit has failed. Look at even @grumpycat here. Agree of disagree with him he is the probably the only guy on steemit that has enough power that is willing to fight bot abuse with it. Is that a community action? No, its one guy trying to do something because he has the power to do it. Affecting the ecosystem is completely in the hands of the top100 accounts.
Do you know what we can do? We can fill up the comment section of a large whale where heavy topics are discussed, but do you for a second think any of them will be taking you seriously or remembering what you wrote for more then a few minutes? Its not out of malice, but rather a instinctive reaction people have.
Without the SP our voice is literally insignificant. You dont have any kind of effect on the platform and people will hardly take your voice seriously like they would of someone like Grumpy or Mark or even Haejin.
Some other whales try to do the same as Grumpy, in a different way but when you have so many benefiting from a flawed system what really can you expect.
I mean it might sound like a shit thing to say, "collateral damage" but how do you expect one guy to get it right every single time. Mistakes are bound to happen.