I agree with your decision. I just joined the your service last night and I am still reviewing the system. My natural sense tells me that curation ought in an ideal world, be left entirely to human beings. Of the two ways that I curate, resteeming is the one I would never wish to be left to an automated process as this can tarnish in irreperable ways, my reputation with followers. So, given this is NOT an ideal world, my upvotes, may be traded to gain some exposure while also assisting others in my situation. The $ for exposure bots I find repugnant, and I could never use them. So this solutiuon, I hope, may be a middle road where my votes can further my plan to gain initial traction, and later (if I grow power) I may contribute to the growth of others. For the moment, it seems this bot is a morally sound equaliser of sorts on steemit.
Concerning auto-follow- I have turned it off for the moment, as I have adopted the practice of very carefully scrutinizing content feeds before I choose to follow so that my feed is kept clean and of a high quality. I also do not wish to upvote inadvertently, anyone who I have assessed to be using indefensible methods to gain exposure or monetary rewards. I noticed that you have a blacklist based off of certain cheat or plagiarism lists. This is a good thing, however, I have my own criteria for making decisions about following and curation - For the moment, I mute followers who I deem to be objectionable or who engage in dishonest practices which downgrade the value of the steemit environment. I would love to explore some of these concepts further. I have already asked around about a filter which may eliminate account which I place on a blacklist of my own, for instance.
Perhaps there is room to build into a customizable list for those in your system, which could allow me to turn the auto-follow back on.