I don't really know what to think of upvote bots. You present both sides of the equation here where they aren't good for the platform, but because they are already in the platform, and people will use them, it's like the only way to get people to see your content at all.

If they were gone, then this would be a fair playing field.
But it this case, it's not. Some people can produce great content here, but don't have the resources to pay to reach the top of the page for more readers to follow them.

To be honest I don't know much about this topic on steem. I'll have to look more into them. I'll give it a try without using them, but if I feel I deserve more, I'll maybe try them out. Hopefully if there's a way it won't be available by that time for anybody.