I disagree with bots for a couple of reasons.
They 'automate' the voting process, this mean zero actual 'engagement'
therefore anyone who uses a bot is EXTRACTING from Steem, not CONTRIBUTINGMostly the bot users have already earned, (and have power to spend) their interest (obviously) is earning. This means 'minnows' with zero or close to zero are 'excluded' or at least feel that wy, which slows platform growth.
Whale bots voting for whales so whales can earn is a "circle jerk" and self limiting for the steem platform in the long run.
Upvoting a crap post just because it is a "favorite author" is like placing a standing order for specific authors at a book store. OK if your into the same stuff all the time, but is somewhat 'narrow minded'. How many books do you want your local store to stock? Ever tried something new? how would you know it existed?
The only way for steem to grow from 400K -> 4m or 40M is to increase the 'base' ie minnows and Bots are a hindrance to that IMHO