These are good insights for a newcomer like me. The "public content platform"-part is definitely the main factor that drew me here.
The first comment I ever received on Steemit, was on my introduction post that I had spent weeks writing. It was a semi-automated commercial for an upvote bot, that stated that since I was new, I deserved to be supported. Not at all because my post was good or whatever.
To be honest, I'd rather not have comments like that cluttering up my posts. Luckily I later got a "real" reply as well, from @steemmatt (I recommend checking out his blog, it's really interesting!).
But I do see value in certain bots as well. @minnowsupport for instance, where users can cast votes on behalf of it when they come across content they want to support more than just with their regular vote. I also like those bots that gives 10-12 tiny upvotes to good posts in the commentary fields. For me at least, they have been really good confidence boosters.
Thank you for your reflections and keep up the good work!
Oh yes those are great bot services but the ones I were mentioning in the post were the ones you pay for to vote on posts. It's paying for a whale vote.
Thank you for the comment and taking the time to read my post. I appreciate it :)