There doesn't need to be negotiation. You don't expect people to negotiate with you about upvotes, it's no different with downvotes.
Everyone has as much influence as their stake allows and can influence the reward pool by that amount. You were milking rewards with shit posts and I used my stake to influence them in a direction that made more sense.
"Word of the day" is something people like to read.
The New York Times (and many other newspapers) have a history of publishing such things because people LIKE them (like horoscopes).
https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-word-of-the-day
It can't be considered "spam" to post a definition + a signature.
You don't expect a street-musician to hassle you when you throw a coin into their hat, it's no different with TAKING coins out of their hat.