Ouch, shots fired. Low value post. Gaaasp.
Just kidding. I will respond soon with more.
Edit. Here goes my long winded response.
"You don't lose SP by not using it. Your voting power is just wasted. The Steem is still there." I completly agree but I didn't word it all that well. But point being UNDERUTILIZED VOTES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN SPENT LOSE THEIR POTENTIAL TO EARN VALUE. By selling I would consider this a "salvage" item similar to when a hotel has a hotel room for rent. Yes they want $150 a night (fair market value) but if you catch them at the right time you could get the exact same room for a fraction of the value. This is salvage price. Unspent voting power is similar. Just want to point that out. I am a business guy; so finding fair comparisons helps me to keep things in perspective.
Your next point about my post not having any value is quite harsh. I will start by stating that I disagree. I find value in information that helps me make financial decisions and I feel like this blog is likely to help people decide if they will spend money on bid bots or not. I want to address your point about me encouraging the use of bid bots. I don't think I have done such a thing. Could you please point out where I did this because my intention was to try to stay neutral. You cannot categorize a positive or negative ROI as encouraging or discouraging.... I am collecting data and presenting factual information... at least that is what I though I was doing.
I agree completely that there is a conflict of interest when witnesses start to use their position and understanding to, as you put it, "rape the platform". This needs to be addressed. We are in agreement; but, the service is not the problem.
Now to your last point. This is what I see as the real meat and potatoes of our disagreement. You want to resolve the issues by imposing some sort of market controls to regulate people's behavior. I don't think that will solve the underlying issue though we might be able to strong arm people into complying with what you think they should be doing. The truth is of matter is that bid bots are actually generating profit. Money drives adoption, therefore bid bots helping to drive Steem's development forward. As people become aware of profit from bid bots the competition will increase and the profit margins will decrease with the increase of competition. This is how free markets work and trying to intervene and manipulate markets for a certain desired outcome, almost always, ends badly.
We need an engaged community that is not just here to profit. That is how we build this thing up. The idea of building this platform up by tearing certain people down, in my view, will not work. Bid bots are a part of the ecosystem and I think we should accept it and move forward. The best solution I see going forward would be rewarding those who downvote and not only those who upvote. That way there will be incentive to curate both good and bad content.