So, it looks like bidbots aren't going anywhere for awhile but, perhaps they could behave with a little more community orientated spread? There is a lot of talk about the *nonsense that is Trending* and all it takes to get there is bidbot purchases. However, there is (in my head) relatively easy to control as well as help with wider distribution. Yes, it won't fix the problem with the lack of manual curators but, it does mean that organic content has a better chance of making it into trending without bidbots.

***Stop the stacking.*** 

https://i.imgur.com/w8E2yT6.jpg

Since all of the major bidbots are known and listed, it should be relatively easy for the bot creators to run a script to see if a post has already had any other bids already fulfilled on it and then cancel the order in favour of the next bidder and return the funds. Very soon, the bidders will adjust their buying to only ordering one on a post meaning that there will be ore available in the bidbot range to spread to other bidders. Not much really changes for the delegators/owners and they can continue earning.

But, the massive amounts coming from the pool won't all be piling onto one individual post and will instead be spread to many. This could work in favour of both the community for distribution and the bidders themselves as if their posts aren't getting 1500 dollars, they are less likely to get flagged and more likely to get additional votes. Good content that has had a vote bought on it will likely attract additional voters willing to bump it up.

This will almost immediately have an effect on what is seen in trending while still giving visibility to the bidbot posts and allowing them to compete side by side. It might also mean that there are less losing bids at the lower levels also. The additional benefit is also that if content that is voted into trending by a bot is actually nonsense, it makes it much easier to deal with from a community perspective.

For example, this [post by Jerry](https://steemit.com/steem/@jerrybanfield/introducing-steem-power-backed-smart-media-tokens) that still appears in trending after 5 days has 800 coming from the pool on it yet, has been downvoted about 800 dollars worth too... still in trending. That is pretty ludicrous considering the organic community has decided it should not be there but the bidbot purchases can't be balanced. That also means that the 800 in flags that went to one post didn't go onto several post or, go to the community as positive votes. 

Stopping the stacking of bidbot votes would stop common situations like this. This way, the community can decide what is valuable enough to keep the bid without the bidbot operators coming under fire for not removing their votes. 

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmRfupsD63t1DMuvyDVD3XEF5qteYbiM16dBZBv4Um8yYH)

There is already so little free SP in the pool that having it going on flagging nonsense posts is ridiculous. Distribution needs to happen but when so few posts are taking so much from the pool inorganically (regardless of their quality), it is very difficult for others to grow, even those using the bidbots. 

As said, I don't think this would be too hard to organise for the largest operators of bidbots and it won't really cost them anything since what they lose on one bidder will quickly be taken up by another. It would be a *'simple'* interim fix and would go a long way to balancing trending so that the projects and posts that have the community and whale support do not need to also buy votes just to be seen in Trending. It would also mean that there is likely to be more variety in the section as more will get both bidbot votes *and* organic votes when they are deserving. 

So:
- Wider distribution
- A wider range of users in Trending
- Chance at additional votes for bidders
- Easier to deal with abuse by the community
- Less responsibility of Trending on bidbot operators
- more people getting rewarded (even if bought)

This is again not in my wheelhouse but, the general idea is simple enough that those with a basic level can see the benefits of not having massive votes stacked one atop the other. 

Of course. This might all be irrelevant considering a lot of people don't want to change anything. 

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]