The problem is, that the improvements regarding the trending page are subjective and that too many people were thrown under the bus. And not only people, but stakeholders.

With bid-botting, the difference was that most people buying votes, were simply doing it to generate more money and to sell it. Most of those users weren't big stakeholders, mainly leeches to get the most out of the reward pool, so it's fine if they're gone.

On the other hand, whether someone thinks @slowwalker's, @broncnutz's and others behaviour is appropriate for the platform, is subjective and opinionated. And I find it to be a very dangerous game to force stakeholders to have a certain belief. "Either you stop upvoting your friends, or we're going to burn your rewards to the ground". This mindset is harming the bond between stakeholders, which should normally be as positive and neutral as possible. With Bitcoin, Ethereum and most other coins, there's just one direction: forwards. But on Steem, it's super opiniated.

And if I were to be treated like @slowwalker, I would wonder whether my stake in Steem is appreciated enough. If it were an SMT, he could simply sell it and buy another SMT, all based on Steem. But with the main currency, he is forced to either adapt or to sell it for bitcoin/another altcoin.