From a financial point of view, I find vote buying unprofitable. First of all, bought upvote amount doesn't stay same until payout time. My understanding redistribution/recalculation happens while rewards are pending and the value of the bought vote or any vote goes down significantly by the payout time. Second, the author gets to keep ~75% of that amount, as 25% or so goes back to the seller as curation reward. Lastly, remaining amount gets split in half: 50% illiquid, 50% liquid. In the end, it becomes a loss in my opinion. I think people should be educated about this too, that might discourage them from buying as well.