The formula I use for profit on bots is -
- Multiply the vote by .75 - this removes the curation that will go to others
- divide the 75% number by 2 - you get half in sp so this removed it for the purpose of looking at sbd
By this method, a $1 bid needs to return a vote of $2.70 to be profitable in sbd. If you count the increase to sp, you do not do the division.
I would say that most people who have any level of success here do not roam around voting for anyone. Everyone is using auto-services to vote. The vast majority of my post voting is done by @steemdunk. If I want to support you - I will add you there and vote for you each time you post. Therefore I am supporting you but I will rarely even see your post. My manual upvoting mostly goes to comments.
I visit the people I upvote like that a few times a month to check on them and their content. If I was a whale - with a huge vote - voting many people per day automatically, I could not even do that. I have people that vote all my posts but I only see them come to comment once in awhile.
Most whales - and most people here - are not running bots. Instead they delegate to the few people who do run bots and get paid regularly. It is easier for big people to delegate and have low value for their own vote - otherwise they get thousands of comments of people begging them for votes.
Bots one way or another do seem run contrary to the stated ethos of the platform. It might work for the wealth of those at the top, but I wonder if it is good for the health of the platform over all. I remain with the sentiment that greater rewards should be filtered to those who are using the platform for social media and blogging purposes. If more people get wind of the bot situation, they may choose to not join or soon be run off and fewer will be willing to invest in SP. Given the issues FB is facing, now might be the time to focus on the overall health of the platform. That which becomes too top heavy, topples over.
I do appreciate the conversation. Wishing you a very good night:)