Great post @troglodactyl. As a relative newbie on here, I have been wondering about what consequences these ponzi style posts bring. If Steemit devolves into everybody trying to upvote giveaway posts at the perfect time, that's just going to cause spam where a piece of original content could have been instead. For that reason I appreciate what you're doing in downvoting these. It's selfless and for that you have earned a follower :).

On the other hand, I see the sports prediction competitions on here as really fun, engaging content. It is mostly skill-based, and if a minnow wins, it can really give them a boost. This definitely makes Steemit a more appealing place to be. My favourite competition of this kind is run by @costanza, as football is my favourite sport and betting for profit is one of my hobbies. Even if it's not yours, I recommend giving it a try :).