In a general sense I agree with you... That being said, bidbots don't really steal from the pool as some say. I mean, not technically. Now, this is not to say the rshares are not misallocated, on that front I think there's little debate.
The point is, the rshares being "sold" the "right to the pool" if you will, is being paid out to the providers of the rshares. Those who delegate to the bots. I say this to keep the conversation honest.
In other words, the whales (including freedom) who delegate to the bots are just as responsible for the misallocation we've seen in the past. So, the change in behavior cannot just be from the misguided, the bid-bot maximalists as I call them.
You are 100% correct on the video, which I just finished watching, that there's plenty of people that do not grasp how the inflation pool work, and even though there's countless posts on the math, and Steemians who've tried to explain it to them (im in this group), they are too in love with the short term rush that the idea of "i just multiplied my money" gives them.
As you say, Ideally downvoting would be normalized, but it's easier said than done. Downvotes here may be just a protocol to remove rshare allocation, but the psychological effects of disapprovement on social media in general extrapolate into the real world. There's a reason why plenty of Social Media platforms removed the downvotes altogether, granted they don't provide earnings of course.
Like you, I intend to do my part (and do occasionally) and downvote those who are literal takers, and are here to drain out everything they can. But lets not forget, the smaller guys may have all the will in the world to cleanup house, but the whales need to play the biggest role of all in the cleanup.
As always, thank you for sharing your thoughts.
There is only so much Steem allocated each day. if someone pays 400$ for bid bots to reward their post, that is 400$ worth of STeem taken from everyone else in terms of allocation. Now that is fine, but when you add in the fact they get the money back that they paid for the 400$ redirection, there is no stopping people from doing this over and over again, thus milking the reward pool, and doing so sometimes at a profit.
Yes, I was not arguing agains that. But the $400 paid mainly goes to the owners of the rshares, all those who delegated to the bots. Now, they might sell, they might not... but the point I was trying to make is that the misallocation of value that happens is not one sided.
And I have no issue with that. The issue I have is the system is broken to the fact someone can buy free advertising in a sense that dilutes the pool for everyone else. We either need to step up as a community to solve this by DVs, or bot owners/users can take it upon themselves to burn some Steem. Like I said in the post, I don't know the answer, but I am just pointing at the mistake. And just like people are free to use their stake as they wish, when I see people misusing their stake to the detriment of the system, investors need to step up.
Btw you make a good point, I'm just speed typing. xD
That's the challenge my friend. I've maintained for the two years that I've been on here that our biggest hurdle is not technology, but culture. As long as we have short term thinkers thinking in scarcity the shift is extremely difficult.
As much as I haven't particularly enjoyed the bear market, I'm also somewhat grateful for it. It's served as purifier of intentions. Those who are still here, even those who complain often, are the ones who actually care. The biggest leeches are gone.
Yes, I'm sure when the market turns around, when STEEM his $1 we will get the typical:
"Hey guys... long time without posting... I've been bla bla bla upvote and resteem" post.
But as you said, its up to us to be more conscious of who we support, and literally remove ourselves from supporting fair weather steemians who powerdown constantly.
I think if more whales had your disposition towards this challenge we would be doing 10 times better, but it seems like some of them want to have their cake and eat it too. I don't need to mention names, I'm sure.