Hi @blockdeals! I saw your project that was introduced in Steemhunt - https://steemhunt.com/@urbangladiator/blockdeals-earn-steem-for-finding-deals. It was so impressive!
Yes, I totally agree with that Steemit can support more projects like yours which attracts users from outside. Sometimes using bid bots to promote some post is helpful, but the problem happens when everyone needs to use bid bots. Most of SPs are gathering in bid bots. Many posts need to use bid bots to make people read them. Then, I guess Steemit is likely to be a ad-based community.
Agreed Steemit is becoming more ad-based than curation based. Even with some healthy votes from whales, we are no where near the trending page.
And since we're looking for visibility we have no option but to use the bots. I'm sure many others feel like this too.