The vote buying needs to stop.
Reminds me of my post (well past payout) Steemit: Buy Votes, Get Paid.
We can get rid of vote buying by disincentivizing it. If enough people start doing what I'm doing (and it becomes well-known that users are behaving as such), people will quit buying these votes. That is - If I see that someone has paid for a vote on their post, I will NOT upvote that post.
This is an interesting idea. I spoke of flagging but recognised that was a bit harsh. Perhaps this could work. I already check every comment to see if the author upvoted it their self, so that if they have I can withhold my own. Shouldn't be much extra work to also check posts for booster purchases before voting.
Thanks for the idea, and I will do my best to spread it to those I am close with on Steemit too.
As for your post, I am simply too tired to read anymore tonight. But, I will check it out tomorrow. Goodnight-