I never use bots and so far I struggle to grow, most of my post didn't get votes or reply at all, 0 votes 0 reply.
I guess using bot is the only way to grow on steemit, because I saw so many people, especially high reputation accounts that used bots and they got massive income from simple posts every day.
I will never use bots anyway, so my account is the same as dead if this is continue.
If this bots trend still continue, then steemit is only for rich people who can buy bots to upvote them and they can get a lot of income from it.
This is very sad, because I thought we can grow on steemit without bot.
You can grow on steemit without the use of bots. Follow my friend @diablolika. She is somewhere in the comments here. She just writes every day and has gotten a following. Some posts pay really good... some posts don't really pay. The key is to make money not the reason. Then you can just enjoy yourself and whatever comes your way comes your way.