Using bid-bots is a no-go under #newsteem. But, what about TipU? I completely forgot about Tipu, but then I received a tip recently which made me look into how it actually works at the moment.
I guess you can find this information in a lot of places, but I didn't, so I thought I'd just summarize what I discovered right here for those who are interested!
@tipU is still active and doing well - But, how does it work?
First of all, TipU is still active and it is in use. But, there are two different ways in which you can experience and enjoy the TipU bot.
tipU curators rewarding your content
There are curators out there curating good content and making sure that TipU upvotes good content. There is a maximum number of curators, and it is currently reached. But, it might be need for more curators in the future. If such a thing should happen, you can simply rejoice and be happy, as it will increase the reward of your post, and come as a nice and positive surprise!
Other Steem users reward your content using TipU
This is the part I was most curious about. Doesn't tipping with @TipU conflict with the policy of no bidding-bots on #newsteem? Well, it would - if the goal was to get a higher income on your posts. But, if you decide to tip content on Steem using TipU, it will always be a minus project. In other words, if you send TipU 5 steem to upvote an article written by yourself or someone else, that person will only receive around 4 Steem as an award. In other words, it is a minus project. But, if you want to spend 5 Steem on supporting and encouraging a writer you like, then the most important is the chance to actually give a tip and to support the writer.
In other words, you can still tip and support writers using the @TipU bot, but if your goals are selfish, then it will not succeed. That is why the TipU bot doesn't get in conflict with the principles of #newsteem.
Want to tip some content? You need to send a minimum of 1 SBD or 5 Steem to @TipU. In the message, copy the URL of the post you would like to give a helping hand to!