I have shared this frustration on many occasions. I maybe have been able to coordinate a couple of unvotes for disagreement of rewards. Think it was from @bluemist's bot if I am not mistaken.
I've learned to accept getting them blacklisted as a measure of success but, in reality, getting one abuser account blacklisted is hardly a success when all they need to do is use another account or service.
I am certain a number of abuse accounts have enough stake to claim discounted accounts as well so they just move operations.
The best way to decision stop an abuser is for the bot owners to unvote and NOT refund but that won't stop abusers from using a less scrupulous services. It still will hit them in the finances and that makes abuse a risky game as it should be.
Probably my chief complaints is the bid bots accumulation of so much stake while making this mess but so few would actually use it to delegate or flag abuse to clean it up.
@themarkymark has done both of these. He was also 1/4 of our bid bot owners (former or current) that has delegated in the past. He also provides server resources so that's helpful towards a project that is aimed to help enrich the ecosystem.
Hopefully, we get a few more bot owners to pony the "bill" against abuse in general and maybe start paying those that take the time out of their day to go seek it.
Overall, I agree with you about bid bots. The only reason I have kept a handful on my witness votes is they ones that have coordinated with us against abuse in some way.
Here's an analogy, it may not be the best one and I apologize for that:
It's a bit like if someone were going around lighting fires in our apartment building. And then we congratulate them because they put two or three of them out by themselves, instead of us having to do it by ourselves those times.
I may sound like a hard ass, and maybe that's what I've become. I'm inVested here. Body, Mind & Soul.
I'm seeing that a few of these crime fighters that I looked up to, may not be all that I thought they were.
It's not a bad analogy, @lyndsaybowes.
One thing I would point out is the lighting the apartment fires isn't necessarily intentional on the part of the bid bot owners but, regardless of intent, the end result is the same. We have a mess on ALL of our hands because of their business model.
To be frank, I do hold the bot owners accountable but to various degrees. They incurred a cost to us all by their business and believe the ethical response for them is for them to now use their stake that was acquired I the process to fix it.
Some of these bot owners may have implemented aome measure of controls to reduce the mess like a blacklist but I don't think that absolves them from the responsibility of cleanup.
Do I think it's their duty to fix this if they want to preserve their business? Yes.
Do I think they are going to do it? Hell no.
Think, we need to mark the ones that do absolutely nothing and let out flags speak to their business... All in due time.