' Is it bad if that person uses THEIR OWN tokens (steem or sbd) to boost the value of that post, only to give away what they earn? '
I have looked at this and it does create a minor conflict for me. On one hand I have seen some really crappy posts along those lines however the outcome and intention are hard to fault. You are right nothing is ever black and white.
I agree with your point re grumpy. The motive seems to be more about asserting authority and not wanting to compete with vote sellers who are prepared to settle for less curation rewards.
Right? It isn't like the bot owners aren't making money hand over fist. They are. They don't really need the extra boost from the curation, too. I figured, if I purchase a vote on day 4 or 5, then more of the curation rewards would be given to the people that manually voted earlier. I understand why people are against the use of bots on older posts, but most "natural" votes come in the first 24 hours of a post anyway. Buying votes to reward the curators on day 3 still accomplishes the same thing as a day 4 or 5 vote. But again, that is the "gray area".