I have to disagree on many points. The first thing is, that I don't pity any whale - the only whales I have ever encountered are either self-righteous or passive and I don't see much support at all. The only thing I see is self-proclaimed "reward pool rape" Robin Hoods that flame other people and use said upvote bots to push their hatred posts with amounts that no smaller fish can come up with and therefore doing not only reward pool rape themselves, but also taking away the ROI for paid upvotes from anyone else who bid in that round. This is the real harm being done in two ways.
The other point is, that if you as a minnow find a bot with a positive ROI (that is not overtaken in the last second by some hater/flamer/spammer) you are also providing good curation rewards for your real followers. I love it, when my real followers and readers get also a decent curation reward.
The third point is, that there is no real way to get seen without a decent upvote bot strategy. It's a fairy tale that consistent good content makes you seen automatically. Yes, good content is the key, but it doesn't guarantee that you get seen at all and the more people that come to Steemit, the more difficult it will get. The best content in the world is useless, if you don't get the traction to kick a post off.
My solution would be a different one. I would forbid whales to use upvote bots and only let smaller fish use them. This would make the whole system a lot fairer and prevent the three huge damages the flag-flame-spam Robin Hoods do. And yes, I know, that this won't happen or is not even possible, but it's as legit as to say "don't use bots at all".
That's my take on it....