The issue is if good content creator don't bid on the bid bot then only "bot farmers" will. I've seen it happen and I still see "bot farmers" using the bot to their advantage.
So for now because those bots exist I encourage good content creators to use bid bots.
If we all use them, then whatever supposed advantage they offer is negated and all we end up doing is giving money to a middleman for no reason. If each member was required to purchase $100 worth of rewards, that means $100 worth of rewards becomes the new zero and the value of our token drops to reflect the new zero. This is a slippery slope. Just because everyone else is eating cheeseburgers and tells me they taste good, that doesn't mean I should too, because they will eventually kill me. :)
All this does is push honest artists out the door.
If people are promoting their work, their work should be in the proper tab. False advertising is frowned upon. Steemit isn't above that either. Somebody should probably figure this stuff out before it's too late.
I will not be using them. I don't play that game. Too much on the line.
I just want to add to this comment.
The old trick where someone causes a problem and then offers a solution for a fee is the oldest trick in the advertisers book. How did that slip past everyone?
What will happen is that only dishonest or greedy person will end up using the bid bot. if there is only one person using it they will probably bid only the lowest bid possible...
Right now I see no solution to this. Dan Larimer was against vote selling and I think under how Steem was originally design vole selling would have been a lot less prevalent.
https://steemit.com/eos/@dan/proof-of-good-governance#@dan/re-dhouse-re-dan-proof-of-good-governance-20180101t041025775z
I wrote him a little letter on that post.
I guess a solution is hidden between the lines on that post as well.
In this post I suggest posts be moved to promoted and away from trending the moment a bid bot is detected. Combine that with negating votes and rewards once a bid bot is detected(there's no reason to pay an advertiser for advertising to us, that's not how the business works) so people can still see the post, take interest in the author, find their blog and vote for content there rather being able to vote for the advertisement/promotion. The more the member wants to put in, the higher the paid slot in promoted. The ROI should come to the author in the form of leads to their blog much like true promotions/advertising. If people do it properly, it works, and can't be abused for a simple ROI for no other purpose than abuse and leeching profit for nothing out of the reward pool.
The solution is to simply act on it.
Everything here, combined with a few other things I said only paves the road to true advertising that involves bloggers placing their own ad banners on their regulars post. Clicks could generate ad revenue to both blog and advertiser. Everyone still makes money. No abuse. I'd say more but at this point I don't have time to get into details.