I think you argue with rather drastical words but I agree that this is not an ideal situation. The same applies for upvote bots as well. Why should you feed these whales or wannabe-whales, right?
But the thing is that the distribution of Steemit in its current form sucks. I hope it gets better with the coming update we can expect this term but so far you gotta do what you gotta do to grow. And these ways are working methods. I don't think that it is a terrible thing to do but I understand and respect that you have your issues with that.
Personally, I want to grow as quickly as I can but also as healthy as I can. I think using resteeming services and upvote bots is a useful way to achieve that without hurting the platform.
Regarding the messages in our wallets I consider that borderline to spam. Right now it is useful for me but if that increases I will certainly find it very annoying.
Joe, I am looking forward to our next conversation. Always open for thoughts. :)