There is also another side to paying for votes. Some people have to pay for votes because others are doing it, even if one has quality content, people just don't look at what you write unless your post has done well. My content is a good example. I usually get 10 views during the 7 days. If I get 10 views, I get 3-5 upvotes. So 30% of people like my posts which is a rather high percentage, of course it might be that people just vote on random stuff and no one likes my posts. Now if I pay, then suddenly people notice my posts and I get more views, more votes, and more reputation. Now that I haven't been paying, I average $.50 when I write a post that takes me a long time to write.

But you are definitely right that people paying for votes is shitty. I'd rather have it so that it isn't possible. Someone might actually notice that I have quality content. And I'm not afraid to say I have quality content, because I see so much utter crap here on steemit. I even gave up writing, because I couldn't see me paying for votes something that could last. Anyway, my intention was always to get to reputation 50, because that used to be the level at which people started to be recognized. Nowadays, it seems that 60 is the new 50, so I'll just have to grind until I get there, never.

Anyway, I haven't paid for votes for a long time, probably half a year. I tried to last week, but something went wrong and then I realized that what I was trying to do is just wrong. So I didn't continue.