The contentiousness of Bidbots (the "Raping of the Reward Pool") is NOT predicated upon the effects Bidbots have upon a post's participants (the poster and the post's upvoters). It is, rather, predcated upon the effects they have upon all other non-involved Steemians (the system as a whole).
We can say the same thing about curation trails. Send money to @qurator and you're redistributing rewards that could go to someone else. The quality of your post may not matter in the end.
STEEM/Steemit is a SYSTEM ... and a system MUST be analyzed in its totality. A reductionist "analysis of its parts" misses the "emergent properties" that only become apparent when viewed as a whole.
And yet, every system is an amalgamation of its component parts. You can't fix a transmission by standing on the curb looking at the car. ;-)
@blockurator,
EDIT: "MANUAL" Curators.
Quill
Duly noted.
My EDIT: ...
lookingyelling at the car.