This matter is not very simple. I chose not to use voting bots (and even not to get a good look at them), which may reflect on my opinion.
Voting bots influence three elements: 1) visibility 2) rewards received and rewards pool 3) reputation score
If voting bots were to influence only visibility, that would be similar to boosting a post on Facebook, and that, I agree, is about free market and the means to reach a larger audience by paying for it.
But they also influence the received rewards and the rewards pool. I've read there are people using voting bots for profit, in which case the quality of the content may be irrelevant to them, but should be relevant to the community.
In the end, the thing that I find most disturbing is you can ride voting bots to boost your reputation score (even if no one else votes for your posts/comments, although that rarely happens when a post has enough exposure).
Now, the word "reputation" has a meaning. Reputation must be earned, usually in time and by having a following who appreciates your content. If that's not the case, why do we even measure it? We should stick to who has the highest SP, for example (that certainly can be purchased).
Reputation has almost no meaning in here or at least for me not. I look in trending and without the bots there are only +70 rep accounts which some post same content every day.
You are completely right that the bot influences the reputation, but only the bots that have a high reputation. If a bot has reputation of 25 his influence will be minimal or almost to zero.
The Bottracker tool has like most things, two sides, the good one, you know what to pay and when to get maximum exposure and profit and the bad side the bid sniper with very low content.
Thanks for replying! Reputation has a meaning for a newbie with 25 or 30 reputation. When he sees one with 60 or even 50. I won't even go at the above 70.
I honestly would want a reputation system, but an algorithm that can't so easily be used outside its original intention.
I get you about the trending category monopoly. That shouldn't happen either. But trends build hand in hand with influence, because it is based on the amount of rewards received on a short amount of time. And if whales upvote certain accounts by default (and not necessarily their content), or they upvote each other, it is difficult for others to have a trending post. This is where voting bots could be useful, as you mentioned in your post.