So I went to Bittrex's slack to discuss this a bit. As expected, the response was dismissive at best, downright hostile from the bot developers (go figure).
I think I have a fairly easy solution, so I went to go suggest it.
Half way to fixing the problem: Visually identify orders that originate from the API (bots).
The bot programmers in #api-developers were extremely combative about this. I think that's a strong indicator that they know it would fix a lot of the problem, costing them scam money and so they are naturally aggressive in response.
But the bittrex support staff's response was also interesting. My suggestion was met with instant, pre-orchestrated dismissal. As if they are used to hearing these kind of statements, and have a script to follow when they come up. 'Customer dislikes the bots? Say this.'
Bittrex apparently has no intention of making any efforts, no matter how trivial, to correct this issue. As one user mentioned, bots are highly profitable for Bittrex, so why would they take any action against their behavior? I tried to explain that long term they are toxic to the community and eventually their customer base will simply leave, but that was disregarded. I suppose time will tell. Fads come, fads go, if Bittrex doesn't take action to correct toxic elements of the community they are a part of and are actively condoning, there will be an inevitable response to this inaction that has nothing to do with me. I'm just a concerned observer from the sidelines.
This one spot where government intervention would help. The bots are obvious, and if an entitity can make money from it, then you can assume it will be taken advantage off. Even by users and their own bots.