I couldn't agree more with what you're saying here guyfawkes4-20. I just dropped a comment on cryptoctopus post which mentioned this post, I hope you don't mind. I think that article might be of interest to you if you haven't already seen it:
https://steemit.com/steem/@cryptoctopus/finally-an-update-about-steem-community-feature-hivemind

I have been massively frustrated by bidbots and their fake returns. I used them at first just because I couldn't take seeing the low payouts on work I had taken days over sometimes. Even back then I had a suspicion that they weren't actually returning any profit on my posts. I hate everything they stand for; preying on human vulnerability and gaming people through psychology. The platform would be better off without them and that post I referenced above talks about hivemind, which looks like it could go some way toward creating a filter between great content and 'less than great' content that has just been propelled into trending by bidbots. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts, it is reassuring to see other people who see the same problems and are looking to inspire debate around finding solutions :-)