extremely good points here.

given the low number of active users there seems to be higher number of attempts to slice up the rewards pool before it all vanishes. Perhaps most users think that this life is temporary and hence we need to game the system and make the most of it as soon as possible.

i would agree with you on the witness needing to be above board. otherwise there is no point in voting for them.

it looks curation groups are also not able to slow the spiral of ordinary content being upvoted. the reality in a blockchain is the virtual 51% attack. if more than half of us believe in bidbots then the chain is morally compromised.