Testing... Testing... Is this thing even on? Part 2. Vote bots in play!

7 days ago I wrote a post.  I am testing the actual effectiveness of vote bots.  Please read on and read last weeks post to get a good idea of what is going on here.  Also, if you read this post and want to help out with the research... please leave me a human comment to let me know that you read this post (this is some serious research and I need your help to get results!!!)

Last Weeks Test VVV (those are arrows pointing to the link below, I know they look like capital V's but trust me)

https://steemit.com/steem/@allcapsonezero/testing-testing-is-this-thing-even-on

I won't repeat the last post... you can read it right there if you want ^^^ but it is too late to get me paid.  I have already collected a righteous sum of [0.011 STEEM, 0.352 SBD and 0.191 STEEM POWER]!!!  That is real!  In my blog that shows up as 0.81.  Not too shabby for 45 minutes of work that I wanted to do anyway.  I am a scientist (currently) conducting a series of experiments for the good of our amazing platform.  I am in it for the results not the money, but I will take the loot.

So, let's get to analyzing the data from the first test.

13 upvotes, 4 human commenters (humanity was confirmed by a series of humanity confirming comment tests conducted by me, if you would like to check out my methods for proper humanity confirming scientific procedure, please click the link above and see for yourself - my method is on point!)

I find the human commenters to be more important to this test than the upvotes.  1 of those upvotes was from me, and one was from @steembasicincome which I know for a fact is just a robot auto upvoting me.  That leaves 11 upvoters who could be human BUT if they read the entire post I clearly asked (TWO TIMES!!!) to comment of this post to confirm your human identity.

So... 4 people read that post.  I got paid 81 cents.  I invested nothing but a bit of time (and blood and sweat and tears, it ain't easy being so thorough in this science-y stuff) and nothing else.

This weeks test 

I am going to invest the exact same amount of time, blood, sweat, tears and in addition to that, invest $20 SBD to 4 vote bots of my choosing (by trying to maximize investment using the steembottracker.com tool).  

I want you to comment in a human fashion to confirm you read this post.  I will see if I get more than 4 viewers.  I got 4 viewers in last weeks NO VOTE BOT TEST.  This VOTE BOT TEST will also see my payout.  I profited 0.011 STEEM, 0.352 SBD and 0.191 STEEM POWER.  Next week is not going to be about my rewards.  It is going to be my rewards less the 20 SBD that I invested to voting bots.

You can read about my results next week after my glorious payout.  Don't forget... this is research.  This is about the results, not the sweet payout ;) 

I am keeping the tags the same and posting at around the same time.  I did not add a photo to my last test and should keep this test plain text as well.  I will, again, upvote my own post for about 8 cents.  @steembasicincome is gonna show up to the party too.  This time 4 vote bots will also be added to the list.  Let's see what happens.  

Why are you doing this @allcapsonezero?

I am glad you asked that strange bold text.  I believe that there are many problems on steemit.  I believe that voting bots are not the problem.  I believe that vote bots in conjunction with greed could bring about the steem apocalypse.  I believe that heavy steempower votes rewarding jackassery and junky posts and things properly dubbed as "Circle-jerks" are just as dangerous.  I don't care how you get to the trending page, if it sucks, I don't care if you got a vote bot or a humongous rich shut in nerd of a whale to upvote you, the message is the same.  WE ARE MILKING THIS MONETARY TEET UNTIL IT RUNS DRY.

In my last post I had an interesting encounter with @transparencybot.  My post was about how I think SMT's will likely kill steemit and how the SMT whitepaper essentially says that people will pay money to get to the trending page and turn the steem blockchain into the "advertising blockchain."  I paid for some votes on that post as I thought that the topic was fairly important.  @transparencybot tells everyone in a comment that "This post, with over $50.00 in payouts, has used the following bid-bots." and goes on to list the bid-bots used and how much they paid out in rewards.  It is a good service.  I commented on it as it was a robot and I figured I could hammer my point home only to find that the owner (operator, creator, technologist?) was quick to comment back.  He is just another concerned steem citizen trying to do something about the problems he sees on the platform.  I know that I don't have all the answers.  I may disagree with his tact, but I feel his intentions are spot on.

The reason I disagree with his tact is that the vote bot has evened the playing field.  If we were to eliminate vote bots today.  Whales would get way whalier and whale up their friends.  People like me would write posts and have a cool interaction with 4 people and pocket my 81 cents (don't get me wrong... because I love those 4 people and am grateful that they exist).  I know damn well I write good.  I know that I am entertaining and I know I am full of myself and that my shit smells like roses.  I think that vote bots give 'commoners' a chance at greatness.  If you are bold enough to spend $50 or $200 on visibility... good on you.  If you are dumb enough to write a shitty post to try and milk out some rewards... you will be caught and put to shame.  That being said... you better make sure that your post is good if you want the world to see that you got $500 in rewards coming your way.  Your post better reflect rewards you have coming to you, or they will be taken away.

This post will not get there.  I just cannot afford it.  I think this test is likely good at the $20 level as we will see what kind of visibility (if any) that affords.  Don't forget... the future of the steem blockchain is advertising.  People paying to get onto trending is what the future vision of steem is in the SMT whitepaper (page 57 I think).

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.  Is a big whale vote on a shitty post just as bad as a vote bot vote on a shitty post.  If I don't have a whale friend and I make nice posts and want the world to see it... is a vote bot a bad thing?  Is the vote bot the problem or the greed?  These are questions that my science is not going to answer.  That will be for the philosopher (who I will be again soon).  This week we are going to find out if a $20 investment into vote bots will get me more than 4 human views.  That is the primary test.  We will also see if I make more than  0.011 STEEM, 0.352 SBD and 0.191 STEEM POWER.  Don't forget that this weeks test I will be in the hole 20 SBD.  I could lose money on this post.  It's ok... it is for the results.  The results people!!!  (How selfless am I right?)

So, to conclude.  I am going to spend 20 SBD on vote bots.  I will use 4 vote bots of my choosing and use the steem bot tracker to try and get the most out of my money.  I NEED YOU TO COMMENT and SHOW YOUR HUMANITY to help me with the results (sorry for yelling).  We are going to see if vote bots do anything for visibility and if spending money on vote bots will help me make money.

Stay tuned.  I hope @transparencybot shows up.