I am not a fan of the idea of captcha and I don't think voting bots are the issue, trending sucked before voting bots, it sucked during, and it will suck after unless other things are fixed.
The problem is 80% of Steem users shit post and put no effort into their content and there is not enough manpower or stake being used to counter their actions.
The steem power used by voting bots offers a fair and transparent promotion service for all Steemians. Remove them, and it will go underground and will be similarly used but will not be transparent, fair, and limited to the select few in the good 'ol boys clubs.
Guess you didn't read the first link that explains how non-proof of brain voting is producing counterfeit steem.
Appreciate all that you do for the community and genuinely like you from our interactions on the platform yet my new policy of supporting only witnesses that support abating the creation of counterfeit steem will mean my support for you as witness will be given elsewhere.
P.S. You will likely not notice my minnow sp. 😎😎
I did read it, but it creates no more steem than if the original SP (delegator or bot owner) used if voted. The same amount of steem is used, it is just distributed more across many users.
It is not meeting the criteria of proof of brain. It would be like a proof of work miner changing the algorythm. Such coins are counterfeit. That is, made under false pretence.
Have a look at New and tell me how much proof of brain is going on.
The fact of the matter is Bid Bots are here, like every media platform on the planet there is promotion. I would rather see it run fair and transparently than underground and black market.
A CAPCHA would sort the wheat from the chaff for those that choose to use it.. Even if only as a tool for SMT Distributors who wish to only promote their coins to real viewers.
One's settings could have an option to use the CAPCHA or not. The rewards from those who use it should be greater than those that don't do as to encourage users to comply to steem's white paper.
You are proving my point.
P.S. An even better example is Trending.