I agree completely.
Part of making Steem a success is being able to reward quality content, either as posts, or as comments – which as you pointed out can begin a discussion, or even act as inspiration for further posts.
Definitely sharing this, and hopefully the community can do something about spam and bots.
Thank you for sharing this post and for your wonderful comments. When more people follow these tips, Steemit will be a better place for all. Following you.