To be honest, I didn't expect your answer on this comment @smooth .. at all.
But you are correct - the problem with self-voters and circle-jerkers is as bad as bid-bot abuse and I shouldn't put the one of the other.
However, I don't have a solution against it. Limiting self-voting abuse is something which should be done on the blockchain level. I.e. through changing the dynamic of downvotes - e.g. making it profitable to downvote bad content.
Only problem is: this could get out of control - so we need to be careful with this.
Regarding bid-bot abuse: Smartsteem.com is already on the forefront against abuse, but there is only so much we can do there, when the rest of the services (excluding buildawhale) aren't doing anything about it.
And my understanding is that you are not per-se against voting-services, otherwise you wouldn't have delegated to upmewhale, passive and promobot.
So my question is: what change would you like to see and would you be willing to support it?