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Dude I love that beard!
So....I happen to be a user that is currently using bots to advertise my content.
Not all my content mind you, just a specific project I've launched.
Just because there is clear abuse happening with bots, doesn't mean everyone using them is abusing the system.
Have a look at my most recent post and give me your thoughts...I not only added a disclaimer but tagged my post #advertisedcontent
These tools are available to everyone on the platform...if you think you have something worth advertising, you shouldn't be condemned by people for doing so.
Anyway, steem on!

It's good that you included a tag to label it as advertised, but the lack of transparency (posts looking like they are up-voted by the community when they are not) is only part of the problem.

By paying an up-vote bot, you are siphoning energy UP to the top 1% (or less), working completely against Steemit's built-in decentralization. The whole idea is to spread the wealth more and more, but when people pay some bot, which then receives 25% of the up-vote as well, they are generally giving the person running that bot at least as much as they themselves are getting... all of which is drained from the rewards pool for everyone else, who is actually receiving up-votes from the community.

Plus, there is already a promote feature on Steemit, that functions as a means to burn SBD (which is debt on the system) rather than centralizing power with a small few, and boosts your content up the hot/trending just as well.

Oh I'm being very transparent...as I said I even have a disclaimer right at the top of the post.
I'm not saying the system can't be improved, but going after people using bots isn't the answer, the real crusade is going after the owners.
Help force change.
At the same time though that requires telling stake holders what they can and can't do with their stake...and that's never going to work if we ever hope to onboard real money to the platform.
Btw...we all know the "promote" feature is useless and garnishes no results.
I like civil discussions like this btw... Thanks for not being a dick.
Hope you're having a great day.

Right, that's why I addressed that the lack of transparency is only a part of the problem. Even if someone is being transparent about vote-buying, that doesn't change the fact that the act itself is completely opposed to Dan's visions for the platform, and terrible for the economy. At this point, the majority of the rewards pool is being distributed by these 4-5 whales (mostly @ freedom) purely based on who pays them, eliminating any quality, discouraging anyone from joining the platform, and widening the already disgusting gap in stake distribution.

Thank you for the tip. I tried the flag on this post, but I don't see a slider bar like you show in your post. I assume this is because I have very little voting power.

Brilliant blog I must try some of theses tips

Wow, I had no idea that you could down vote something. That is wild. I think that it is kind of mean spirited to do. I feel like if you don't agree with someone you should just not up vote them, or just ignore them. I could see how it could work well for spam though.

Ya, there are TONS of people spamming, committing plagiarism, and making deals with some whale or another to upvote their shit-posts to $100s of dollars. Even just something as simple as a meme being "valued" at 5x what a well written article is; the whole point of the 7 days voting period is for us to upvote & downvote things to come to a consensus, or something like it.