It's a bit of both.
When I put up my first post and saw an immediate tip, I thought, "Awesome, someone saw and liked my post already!" Zing! Instant high.
Then I saw the name "bottymcbotface" and thought, "Oh, it's just a bot, no one has actually seen or liked it - it's just an automated part of the platform. Not so high anymore.
Then I looked a little closer and saw that bottymcbotface is an actual user, good! Then looked even closer to see that it is automated and my post hasn't been seen by a human. Bad.
On the whole, it's a nice gesture.