These people didn't actually make any money, though. Those votes are paid for, meaning they made no actual profit. But yeah, I think bid bot business hurt STEEM more than people are willing to admit.
There's just no reason to engange with the token in any way as its been overtaken by these bots.
RE: ....I was bored so I decided to take a look at the Trending page, "Really People It's Over For Steem"