...the message is full of links sending the readers who knows where.
This is unfair, as all of the links except my downvote tool go directly to Steemit, and my tool ultimately redirects you to Steemconnect, so they are all legitimate links. I'm here for an open dialogue, but the irony here is that the answers to most of the question you may have are contained in those links you have dismissed.
How is that helping?
It is easy to dismiss my work at face value. You would need to carefully review the full history of this account and my @duplibot account to get the full picture and understand how fighting fire with fire is appropriate.
Since downvotes do impact voting power just as you've described, I've built this tool to allow you to make a smaller downvote of any percentage to spare your voting power.
And on every profile page in Steemit you will see a Mute button in the upper right hand corner. This is the "block option" you've described.
Another form of the block option is to downvote, which lowers an account's reputation and once it reaches 0 or less that account will be automatically hidden for everyone. I have had success moving accounts to 0 rep with my other @duplibot account.
I've openly admitted many times that my comments are no different than the spam I'm fighting, but I have continued to received considerable support from the community and I have been able to reconcile this. Long term, I do plan to shift my efforts more toward flags to eliminate my comments but I need to build my SP a bit more.
Please share your thoughts, I appreciate an open dialogue such as this.
Thanks for your comment, I'm going to answer it soon.
My thoughts about this, long story short, no matter how many downvotes you give to these people, they are still here, still spamming and scamming, advertising services that (I'm not sure) are good. Even if their reputation goes below 0, they still can post. I've seen reputations like -11. No one stops them.
So if I'm downvoting them, I'm practically giving up my power to help others grow. And what do I or we get in return? Absolutely nothing!
As about your links, they might be legit, but with all that phishing and scamming going on here, let me be suspicious and not click any link from someone I see for the very first time, even if your intentions are good and the links take to Steemit.
I appreciate your effort but downvoting is not the answer, not for me!
Right on this post is a comment by @a-0-1 which you may not have even noticed because it is automatically hidden at the bottom of the page and you have to click 'Show' to reveal it.
I have asked the community to help move accounts to zero rep and this has proven effective at stopping these accounts.
I totally understand this, which is why my long term goal is to build my SP enough so that I my downvotes are impactful.
And finally, this account does not post. At all.
Look at my account as well as my other account and you will see continued engagement with the community seeking validation of my work, which they have given me overwhelmingly. I'm not out there commenting frantically, I talk about my work and respond to feedback such as yours to open a dialogue. Here is a great example of the community offering some harsh criticism that I turned into an open dialogue that resulted in the original account replying:
I'm here to support the community and the platform itself and I think that's easy to see after reading through my history to get the full picture.