A real interesting topic @shayne!
I do think that most whales don't use bots because then don't need them. If they would upvote their own post with 100% then it would be top ranked on the trending page and it get's even more interesting when another whales upvotes the post of another whale.
So, I don't think that they see them as a tread of as something else. They are just not interested in using them because they would just make a negative investment!
When arriving on the steem blockchain I was really against bot, but after some discussion I did understand that it could be seen as advertising! Why would you promote your post, when every steem you use for it, would be burned, if you can use a tool which return around 90% of your investment. So they pay actually only 10% of the actual cost to promote their brand, which will attract new followers and does score some upvotes!
People do still believe that when the payout of a post is high the article must great and some kind of FOMO jumps in!
So, my views on bots have changed to more neutral! I did try out some bots, and yes it did increase my reputation, the posts did get more attention and my followers number was increasing but .... Yes there is always a BUT!
Using bots did give me a false feeling of appreciation. When I did stop trying them out, I stood back with my feet on the ground and to be honest it was a deception to notice how much value my post were really worth according to the steem community!
Secondly I did understood that not much of the gained followers were real genuine followers. At least they did not interact with me. Were they just following me, because they knew I was using bots and tried to get some curation reward or were there other reasons? I don't know and will never know!
So, I will not swear never to use a bot again. But I know have peace with my status within the ecosystem, which maybe doesn't have a lot value but at least it is genuine.
I try to increase my circle of friends by browsing for new authors I did not know, and if an article is good, to write a genuine comment!
This site is not very good at user retention.