I'm an aspiring author and I've invested a significant amount of my own money into Steemit because I believe in the platform. I see you have a similar amount invested, or perhaps you have grown your SteemPower to it's current size based on the growth of the platform as a whole--either way, it doesn't really matter.
I spend quite a bit of time curating other people's posts (and I especially try and "spend" my own votes on new members of the Steemit Community who I feel are making an effort to create quality content as opposed to the vast amounts of crap which is being posted by so many of the Steemit users).
I finally decided when I move my own money into "Steem Power" instead of just transferring it in, I would use it through upvote bots. This allows those who curate my posts to get a little boost on their votes and it allows me to move my money into "Steem Power" and I get a bit of a return. Perhaps I am looking at it backwards, but the way I see it, several people are benefiting when I use the upvote bots. Also, since I am actually producing content which I feel is quality--I feel like I am helping improve the overall platform. If I were just producing a simple "copied" picture and calling it a post and then boosting it, I would feel wrong.
I realize some people don't like the upvote bots, but advertising is a fact of life. I don't think these same people are angry at an advertiser when they see a commercial on tv or when they see an ad on Facebook.
I have decided when I move my own personal money into "Steem Power" I would use its flow to advertise my posts and perhaps find some new readers for my fiction. To me it works as advertising for the product I am producing.
In the end, I feel Steemit as a community is a place to interact with other people. Commerce is one way we, as people, interact with each other. If the entire community decides at some point in the future to ban upvote bots, then I am on board with that choice.