In theory, using bots is bad, but they exist on the platform, so if they shouldn't be used, why do they exist? So there is a negative flag war going on because of that, but those who have the bots seem to be very powerful and no matter how much they fight against them, nothing happens.
In general, you must to have a lot of money to have or buy influence ( any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence)
In short, there is a power struggle, where the one who has the most is the strongest, regardless of whether he is right or wrong.
Greetings
Greetings!
The way you wordered it, you've made Steemit sound like a dictatorship with the top being the majority shareholder and his underlings who continue to keep the top, on the top. In many ways this platform reminds of me a pay-to-win MUD. If you're unfamiliar with the term, a MUD is an old school MMORPG which was text-based.
Its EXACTLY that...and kudos for the old school analogy...those were the days!
I'm not really familiar with the term you mention. But I think I scared you, and I'm sorry, maybe I was too harsh.
In this case I am pointing out to you only the negative things, observed in my short trajectory, to answer your question. Positive things it's got too.
I see Steemit as real life, there's a sea of opportunities and a sea of vices. Just learn to survive as honestly as possible and focus on doing your job well. Actually, we minnows have nothing to lose (only time, which is also valuable).
For example, there is something called circle jerk, it is a group of 10 people who delegate a significant amount of SP and use it to vote only for themselves, obviously in this circle is not important to publish quality content. For things like that you can see, for example, a stepshot image, with a huge reward.
I think the problem is in the reward system. You have to make a big investment in order to generate decent rewards, but in theory you shouldn't vote yourself, so how do you get back the investment? And even if you vote for yourself, it's a long way off. There is also something called curation, in which you win by the votes you give (which should be the strength of the platform) but when you look at what you perceive by giving, it is not very attractive either. Naturally, users are looking for ways, whether ethical or not, to see a return on their investment.
Little by little you will discover both sides of the coin and from what little I have read about you, you will do your best.
Greetings