I've read and written about voting bots before. I've also used them. In my head, the use of them just feels really wrong.
If I see someone's post with a comment section full of upvote bot comments it puts me off immediately. I don't see a post's author with a following of eager readers I see a desperate person looking for a readership by shoving their work under everyone's nose.
I had a long hard thing about bots. Those who sell their votes to profit, simply waste their own choice to vote. I don't believe they would be voting for the buyers of the vote.
And there is no filter. You can write garbage and still buy a vote.
I would love to see this system of voting bots brought to it's knees. It takes control away from individuals and posts that the PERSON deems appropriate to upvote.
i totally understand what you say.. being pragmatic i realise that only a very few whales manual vote these days ... so in order to get ANY rewards i do use the bots.. its still early days for steem and this is a step in a direction that will change.. and you will SOON see big changes happening with a new kind of reward happening.. stay tuned for that..