I've been annoyed by the vote trading and nepotism right from the start, but needed to play along to secure my position.
Everyone is "playing along". You stated you unvoted those with whom you disagree, but somehow it's wrong for these same people to unvote you for the same reason.
I didn't say you're wrong to do so. Everyone can have his own list of reasons, and noone is required to publish them.
Until now, I maxed out my 30 votes and made sure to have the lower ranking guys in, so they get to produce more often than the bots and inactives.
Everytime I needed a new free space, I had to consider the voting weight of the possible candidates. I'm glad to leave that behind me, whatever that means for my income. I hate to sell out my ideals.