I bought votes. I didn't like it.

I joined Steem 2 weeks ago and have since been exploring its options and also exploring what I feel like writing about. I've been loving the concept so far!

For that reason I decided to invest some real money into it today. Then I discovered Hive account@smartsteem and although I find it quite a robust, well-built, trustworthy service, the concept of buying votes (and how easy it is!) disturbs me a bit. It feels like it's destroying the whole ecosystem and the whole purpose of what I understand Steem intends to be. It feels fake. It feels like a fraud.

I bought 75 votes for my last post. Basically out of curiosity. But that won't happen again...