Bid bots are a HUGE problem on the Steem-chain.
The debate about whether bid bots are abusive is as old as the #Steem-chain itself.
Many people insist bid bots are abusive, because it rigs the {botted} post to trend higher. The higher a post trends the more money it makes {in theory.} For this reason, bid bots are seemed as an unfair way to make a post trend. They also discourage staking. bid bots run off liquid steem, not Steem Power {SP}. A third reason people are against bid bots is because they promote self curation.
Recently, there have been Whales who have figured out how to bot flag against bid bots. When someone's post gets botted then it gets flagged for the amount it was botted for. Sure, some posts are un-effected, but many bid bot users now find their posts flagged down. Sometimes they don't even know why. Its a huge mess.
Here is my solution, because in a weird way the bid botters have a point. The point they have is: That too much on the steem-chain is based on stake. It's hard for the bottom 80% to compete with people who bought steem at 3 cents and also mined steem. The top whales also have a history of self up-voting and not really curating others. Stake is god on Steem because of self up-voting. And yet day traders often make the most. Stake hardly prevents dumping either. Dumpers have made a lot.
Here is my solution for both parties. Create a tip jar widget for @steempeak or @steemit. Instead of steem being used for bid bots; imagine if people just used liquid steem to tip each other! Think about it... You could only tip alts; not yourself. And if it doesn't effect your payout or trending status... There's virtually no way to abuse a tip jar! The jar could be time constrained or never run out.... theres quite a bit of options.
Bid bots are "old steem." They are So 2018. On the way out. If you love to bot all your posts I suggest you stop because you will probably get flagged soon, as more bid bots get added to blacklists. Hopefully they will be replaced with another way to use liquid steem to curate. Maybe something a little less self serving. Something that will still help small users.Something that helps Steems Rate of investment. Like a tip jar.