Add to this delegating to bots/minnowbooster which has a much higher ROI than curation.

And trails down makes a big difference of course. But that’s very much on/off tho. They work for one, not for the other.

But hey, as long as the bots keep returning less (max ROI 10% is creeping in), soon their customers will be revolting as their returns diminish ever further. Delegators will still be running a profit but the bidbots users will eventually ditch the practice.

The mega SP powered by bidbots obviously has a massive impact on the rewards distribution of the pool as well. This analysis has some interesting data about it: https://steemit.com/@paulag/steemits-bidbot-business-income-analysis-april-18

I have a feeling that much more SP is active now than some months ago, not just the delegations made by Steemit. That also influences the distribution of the otherwise rather static pool.