I also have been reading in another thread discussing the issue of Whales with voting bots. There is no simple way to stop this from happening, but the problem is, it's a way for someone with a lot of money to come in, power up, vote hard for a month or so, cashing out all along the way (reducing the market cap and price) and then power down and commence another process of slowly pulling even more out of the system.
The discussion thread is here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@craig-grant/steemit-developer-curation-experiments-brace-yourselfs-major-changes-are-coming#@l0k1/re-craig-grant-steemit-developer-curation-experiments-brace-yourselfs-major-changes-are-coming-20160827t104457835z
I opined that the curation rewards need to be scrapped altogether, because, above all else, they are contrary to the principles of a decentralised system, they aim towards centralising the vote patterns, instead of letting humans vote on what they like and have that rise to the top naturally. Secondary, and what the topic addresses, is the fact that this system can be gamed and no way that does not interfere with human voting will fix it.
By the way, I lived for 15 months in Amsterdam. I was stuck in the homeless trap the bureaucracy and laws create, and while with my citizenship I was able to get a payment, I could not really get and/or hold a job, maybe I could have moved elsewhere but then my money would have been cut off, and in the end I went with a dutch homeless friend to southern italy, where he stole my ID and bank cards, and left floundering, I came up with a hare-brained scheme to travel to Ukraine, and as winter fully set in, I ended up in Sofia, where I have been slowly but surely able to get back up on my feet, living in a house, I had a job for a time but now I am working to make doing what I love my way of making a living.
I loved the Netherlands, but if you aren't rich you can't establish yourself there. I knew I could establish myself in Sofia, having lived here long enough previously, knowing enough of the language, etc. I did learn quite a bit of Dutch when I was in Amsterdam though, without even trying. It's an easy language for english speakers and I especially find the funny phonetic system very quaint and cute. So much old english and old high german still in it.
Thanks for your extensive reply @l0k1, appreciate it. Will read the post you mentioned later.
At one point I thought it would be better to have one Steemer one vote. And the votes would count. But what need for Steem Power then. Except dividend like payments maybe? Maybe let reputation count for bot or no bot detection? Well, it would have implementions.
You had some extreme experiences in your life allready. Amsterdam can be tough, specially without Cash. If you are more in the East/North of Nederland life is cheaper. Still it is extensive. Bad how you got crossed over by somebody you trusted. Hope you do well in Sofia.
Nederlands grammer I do find difficult, hahaha. But it indeed has some English and German resemblances.
You seem to know a thing or two about Old languages. Find Germanic ones easier to learn than Roman ones.
Groeten uit Winschoten!