Is there a smell of corruption? Because it is in favor of power, connections instead of user voting, just like in favor of dictation over democracy. Isn't it?
Not reacting to the SEO manipulation would have meant accepting a fraction of bought voters.
Banning RG completely would have meant to ignore the even bigger fraction of valid voters.
Google's actual decision seems to be the most democratic: Forcing RG to decrease the number of bought voters while not dictating over the voice of the valid voters.
You have an interesting point. But it's hard to say:
Fair voters always greater greater than bought voters. When you buy backlinks from the SEO consulting service, they gave you hundreds or thousands everyday, just like some people complained in the comments.
"Google's actual decision seems to be the most democratic: Forcing RG to decrease the number of bought voters while not dictating over the voice of the valid voters."
The problem is: how can they tell which is which?
I doubt this type of criteria is reliable. I collected some information from the user comments along with other research and wrote a blog post here:
