@bashadow, if these bid bot owners decides not to take his business then that is within their rights and can return his funds but some wait until he pays to then withdraw their votes.
Also, by this post listing business that have offered services and asking other members to stay away is using power to manipulate the outcome.
Someone like me with no power cant even say a thing fearing the wrath of the powerful
A lot of the people with voting bots vote for themselve on their own posts with 100% power so a kettel cant call the pot black
There are a few witness votes i have withdrawn from people before for the violation i see them committing.
Less than one month on steemit I was flagged by @berniesanders. Because I asked a question. He hit me with his and his 52 bots. I evidently asked the wrong person, but the right person gave me my answer. He was not excessive in his downvote, but it was his prerogative to down vote me. I got the problem resolved through @steemcleaners. I had read the FAQ for steemit. I have also been downvoted by another large whale, once again no real damage, and because I disagreed with them. Once again @steemcleaners fixed the issue.
There is no need to "Fear" the whales. If you get downvoted and you feel it was unjust go to the fixers, steemcleaners, do not retaliate down vote, do not start a flag war, you will lose.
People can complain all they want about bid bots, and people that use them, then they can also complain about censorship and people downvoting. If an individual feels a post pending reward payot is to much, they have the right and some would say the duty, (in case of shit post) to down vote that post and return some of the pending rewards back to the reward pool.
If an individual wants to voice their opinion on a business they do not agree with they have all the right in the world to non-violently Protest that business and to ask other to boycott it if they so chose. It is called free speech. Would you rather have people censor that speech? Look at the amount of SP the individual has, look at the combined SP of the Bot Owners. One man standing against an army of a thousand is not using power over them to manipulate the outcome. He is protesting.
As far as self votes go, or any votes go for that matter, it is their vote, it is their right to use it as they see fit. Nothing says they have to use it to vote on others. Nothing says a person needs to buy votes or to sell votes. It is the vote owners vote, to so with as they please.
I can not help you with your fears, we all have them. If you are a reasonable person, and are not trying to screw with someone, then you have no fear of a downvote. Most downvotes are for a real reason. Plagiarism, copy and paste, scams, and spam. If you avoid them you will be fine.
Thank you for this reply. I try as much to follow the rules around here but its hard to know what will be singled out at called shitty.
As you know, i may post something i fee is good and some see it good while others see it bad. It's a lot of grey areas so i just hope i will make it in this world of steemit to the top. Its not easy to build up a reputation so when its taken away it demotivates.
About downvoting, i have never even downvoted anyone or flagged. Not sure if my flag would have an impact on a guy like sanders so it would be a one knockout losing battle for me lmao