Everyone seems to conveniently overlook that the Terms of Service forbid bots:
17.1.3. Use any robot, spider, crawler, scraper or other automated means or interface not provided by us to access our Services or to extract data;
When you are using a upvote bot, you are effectively : Hiring ( Using ) a bot ( robot ), to upvote your post ( Accessing our Services ).
I think @grumpycat is taking a step in the right direction, and I hope more whales can step up to discourage the use of bots, outright. This is supposed to be a 'proof-of-brains' platform, exactly how does paying a fee to a robot fit into the equation? I see bots as the main obstacle that could ruin steem, many newcomers here see the botting on their first day, wonder why so many people abandon their accounts? Do you think steemit will become a household name like this?
Oh there is this great platform called steemit, all you have to do is write a great blog everyday, then pay a service 500 dollars to promote it for you - it's the future of Social Media!
Get Real.
Do you forget that most of the bots are provided by Steem witnesses? Is a huge business, for a vote people pay a lot of money, so from one side they get their full vote in SBD or Steem, and then since their vote is so heavy it will bring an extra 25% as curator.
Thing is people is so greedy that they will wait until last minute to bid, making their money worthless and at the same time of those who play by the rules.