RE: I'll Use Bid Bot for Exposure and to Earn More Steem, If You Don't Like It, Then Whatever
As you say, you are well within your rights to do whatever code allows you to do here, just as these others are within theirs to 'spam' your posts with their comments.
I do want to point out something about self-upvotes, at least as they are normally defined. It is true, a self-upvote can go towards curation, but it depends on when the self-upvote takes place, just like any other vote (which would include paying bid bots).
If the self-upvote takes place at the same time or within seconds of the post, as most auto-self-upvotes do, all or nearly all of the self-upvote goes to the creator.
It is only as minutes pass that portions of the self-upvote go to the curators, up to 25%.
In the case of this post, and I would imagine others you've made, your self-upvote happened exactly at the same time as the post. The bid bot votes you paid for came sometime after 30 minutes. So, your own self-upovte will go to you solely, while the bid bot votes will be spit between you and curation.
As a matter of course, the self-upvote going only to the creator of the post is going to be eliminated whenever HF 20 drops, so it will be moot then. Of course, we don't know when that's going to be, so it's still in effect until it does.
Obviously, there's an amount ratio here that gets pointed out any time self-upvoting gets mentioned. A few cents as opposed to $30 on up is small in the grand scheme of things, I know. I'm just trying to point out where the rewards go, not whether it's ethical based on any criteria.
I think we are discussing two different concepts ... because the concept of "self voting" from just the creator has been contested quite a bit.
And then there's self voting via "bid bots", which is some other SteemIt account voting for the creator's post via sending some amount of SBD/Steem.
Usually, I'll already have curators who've upvoted me within the first 30 minutes of me posting my post ... and usually the self upvote via bid bots comes in around 20 minutes after post to 1.5 hour after post (all the bid bots upvote at their own time schedule). So NO, those bid bots do NOT upvote my post immediately once I post.
So the people who upvote my post all share in the curation rewards. I've already calculated out that at least 1/4 of the rewards goes to curators on average, and up to at most 1/3 of the rewards goes to curators, of course like you said, is dependent on when the bid bot upvotes the post after the post goes live..
What irks me is that many of these accounts against bid bots do not go over in detail how the rewards actually get distributed, but instead, just focus on the "total rewards" .... when in reality, the total payout NEVER goes exclusively to authors.
In any case, I'm always welcoming the general SteemIt public to figure out the best and most fair way to distribute Steem/SBD ... but unfortunately, it'll of course be political, power ,etc. etc.
Thanks for commenting and aloha :)
Yeah, I'd have to say that the message transparency bot leaves might not be the best worded. If folks are using bid bots to get their posts somewhere that people can see them, and in effect buying advertising or adding to the curation incentive, then I think i'd prefer to see those posts designated as such, somehow. It would be like any other advertising that happens be it Google or Facebook. And that way, the actual reward payout is as much in question because not only do you have the creator/curator split, but you also have the cost of the bids, so there's actually an even smaller net amount. Showing the gross amount of the rewards just seems to get people riled. :) Or as you say, politicized.
Actually .. great ideas you present, they should mark posts with bid bots as "Advertised" or in SteemIt's case ... "Promoted".
Checked out your profile, mentions you are from Oregon ... which part/city?
We are in the Albany area, so between Salem and Eugene, along the I-5 corridor. So, pretty much OSU country since we're close to Corvallis. Doesn't stop us from being Duck fans, though. :)
So, you in Hawaii, or are you trying to hustle back to it? :)
I'm still based out of Hawaii ... but I do my 4 month trips per year because being on a "rock" can make me go stir-crazy haha.
I'm also a Ducks fan, yeeee :P