I don't use the so-called bots. They are a form of promotion and posts using them do not belong on the trending page as they have nothing to do with what the community likes. The real winners are the whales of course and they will seek to maintain their 'nice little earner'. I don't like to see conflict here, but I admire those seeking to address this. A crap trending page damages Steemit and sets unrealistic expectations.
I can understand minnows buying a small vote to try and get noticed, but spending 500 SBD for one post is ridiculous. Maybe paid advertising has a future on Steemit, but at the moment it's not doing it any good.
Personally I'm happy to earn anything here. If I'm doing well it's due to a lot of invested hours, not money. Buying your way in is a short-cut, but I doubt they will get the same engagement.
The engagement is definitely different. I've seen some promoted posts that are very small in content with nothing but bot comments.
I just wonder how this is going to play out!