I do not think that group downvotes without thoughtful review of the content and engagement is meeting that criteria.

Are you counting downvote trails as group downvotes or are you saying downvoting anything that vote-trades and buys votes as group downvoting? We have minded the content in the past with out downvotes even on vote-buys so it's curation as well even tho this one doesn't get you any returns and only wastes all of your time going down the rabbit hole of explaining to them why they were downvoted.

I don't consider protecting and growing one's own investment to be altruistic in any sense of the word.

? Letting others earn 3x-4x more ROI than you do because they are risking their investment going to shit which it did while you try to keep users and retention going is not altruistic? Seemed to work well for donkeypong and those who could've made a lot more SP before they left after they realized it was all for nothing. What do you call those who didn't care about their investment and the currency at all throughout the years and just sold out turning Steem into a pile of proof of stake where content was just a placeholder piece of garbage?

Not to sound rude but sometimes it seems you just like to comment everywhere to seem important.