I agree with you on the vote-bots.
It is so artificial. It really prevents you from engaging with real people on Steemit.
I actually tested several vote-bots on an article I wrote to see if the return is better. My return on the investment was the same amount as I invested in the vote-bots.
From my experience there was NO benefits for using vote-bots and definitely no incentive in using them in the future.
I think over time, vote bots you own can earn enough from curation to make it possible to fund yourself. But, that's not what I'm trying to achieve here.