Wow, that was harsh but also for a good reason, who likes to get abused... I *use* upvote service like #SmartSteem & #MinnowBooster but only in a way I think fair.

Truth be told, I might, on occasion, look three or four posts down the trending feed.  It's usually nothing I'm interested in anyway.  I prefer to scroll through the "New" feed.  That way I dont miss something more up my alley that I otherwise probably wouldn't have seen because it wasn't promoted to death.

I mean, I get it.  I signed up when Steemit was a month old, if I remember correctly.  I use a bot or two.  But I've noticed a few people that get a vast majority of their upvotes from bots.  Now, I ain't gonna hate on anybody for making money, but if you aren't getting organic growth in your following, real people aren't upvoting your content, what's the point?!  That's an important feedback mechanism.  You need that to know if people are enjoying your posts or if you need to make some adjustments.  That's my two cents.

Posted using [Partiko Android](https://steemit.com/@partiko-android)

Very fair and open post. I am fairly new to Steemit but i like the way it seems to work around here, open and seemingly well self regulated. Kudos.

My, oh my, how the tunes have changed! Lol

You just sent away your best client? Steemit is different indeed! (I meant this positively but apparently it is taken differently)

> _And by the way - if one of the most experienced Steem users and #1 witness @gtg is flagging your posts, you should know that you're doing something wrong._

Just to be clear: I'm downvoting some of @chbartist posts because I disagree on rewards (obviously that's my subjective point of view), I wouldn't overe**steem**ate my impact there. My 100% VP vote in many cases affects less than 1% of potential payout.

I'm not a fan of such content.
But I'm not a fan of vote selling services either.

And here's the thing:
we can vote for what we like to make it to the trending using "wisdom of the crowd"
**XOR**
we can sell our votes. 

We can't have both.

@itstime is making a very good point. There are no clear guidelines and investors that are not familiar with Steem might be confused.

If there's a shooting range with toys to win, and you don't have clear limits, I'm going to take all the toys with me. Why? Because I like toys. Or because I to shoot. Or both.

You really don't want to scare away your customers by randomly banning those who are winning (good at shooting or maybe just lucky today). Putting general limits would be more healthy and cause less drama.

So... You run a successful business on Steemit. A business you profit from... And you blacklist one of your best clients? 

- This was certainly a big surprise, and I like it.

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/jfp.gif

Thanks for taking a stance against this kind of promotion. Good to see one of the bit bot services also shows interest for the steemians.

Your service is the only I use for this very reason. Both for selling my 8k SP and buying for some smaller promotions. :)

It's always been opinion and my go to example how a vote selling service should be done! although not perfect, light-years ahead of everyone else. 

Cheers for the future of us all! 

Posted using [Partiko Android](https://steemit.com/@partiko-android)

Suggestion : please issue a guideline what you would view as appropriate use of promotion service - frequency / subject of post/ usual traps/ red line to cross.

Quality control is important for promotions services and so is setting transparent expectations for the content creators.

Finally someone speaks about this, I'm tired of the garbage that guy post, or let me explain better, the problem is not his content, it's how he is sharing it with the community, how he abuses the promotion tools... The things he publishes about have a lot of potential, and I think he's wasting it on the way he promotes it. Do you remember the time I told you that what you were posting was shit? @chbartist I don't think so anymore, but I still think it's not right what you're doing.

Haejin, Bernie rape reward pool daily with shit posts, you have no problem with that?

I think I’ve read only one post by this steemian, it seemed alright to me.   I generally ignore the trending page.  Why not just put in logic for a cool down period to help some with self control...?  Or maybe that’s too hard.  Blacklisting seems a little harsh to an over eager customer.  

For the record, thank you for providing user-friendly tools. :)

Good job!  I blacklisted him a while back and started flagging a bit.  $1000+ payouts on these posts?!  Come on!

I also personally think that he doesn't even write them and someone else does.  If you look at his comments he can barely even speak english and uses some pretty bad/bizarre grammar that's on a different level than the body of his posts.

I think two or three warnings are enough for someone to heed to. The fact that this is a decentralised system does noy mean that one is above the law. Good decion.

That is a good PR move from you, and since i know you are a Very intelligent businessman i couldn't expect less.

But let's talk a bit about the contradictions.

First i have read some of @chbartist post, not my kind of reading, but he pass in the abuse checklist:

* Original content
* Not spams
* There is effort in his content
* A lot people read and have real Interaction with his posts.

His sin? Spend money to stay on the trending page.

Meanwhile, we can see posts like [this](https://steemit.com/steemit/@kasou80/trying-out-the-partiko-app-ak10gk4q), and [this](https://steemit.com/dog/@tag177/deti-moei-sobaki-1), and [this](https://steemit.com/steemit/@dinver/kax6b7dx) (the last user seems to be downloading YouTube videos and uploading on dtube) using the same services (smartsteem) and dont get this kind of reaction.

Not to say the shittier posts we see from time to time on trending using bid-bots including smartsteem services.

But since @chbartist brought attention from the big boys to what your service is promoting, i guess that would be bad publicity right?

I dont mind the existence of bid-bots, but treating an user in a different way only because he got more attention than others is not a good thing on my view.

But dont mind me. I am Just a minnow writing what i think...

Well, now this is kind of interesting. For a ritzy Union of 'bidbot entrepreneurs' and bunch of wealthy people who have always tended to advocate for that of **"Everyone can do with their stake what they please"** within a very varied community with many different lifeforms.

But don't worry. Perhaps sooner than later all the posts that have been boosted by bidbots will go and end up to the category to which they really belong in steemit. [The Promoted Tab.](https://steemit.com/hopium/@stellabelle/is-scipio-the-sun-that-the-oracle-predicted-a-year-agot7gthx1i) Which should not annoy anyone anymore. You see? Even simpler solutions with the adequate political will to carry them out in one fell swoop. };)

Meantime, I concur with @itstime suggestions as the right way to go. *For now!*

Thank you @therealwolf for having the balls to post this and to stand up for what is right. You continue to impress me with your dedication to Steemit and your abilities as a Witness.

Kudos to you my man

#### Hi @therealwolf!

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