Thanks very much for this interesting study. There a few things I am not sure of:
To clarify this:
Smartmarket is a bid bot?
It will vote your post for about 20% - 25% more than you paid?
However they will keep the curation on the vote?
The curation part they keep is how much?
its not a bid bot, it is a system that allows people to sell the votes they are not using for themselves.
www.smartsteem.com
and the curation goes to the ones that vote, not the ones that pay.