I agree with your assessment of shadowbot.us as there are a ton of people with little to no Steem at this moment. This could indeed change in the future as anyone can decide at any point to purchase Steem and then power it up. Most of course will not, but you never know so I'm willing to support the platform either way as I would still rather have those upvotes as opposed to not having them. However, at the end of the day it is all about Steem Power.