i dont agree nor disagree. i think success can be had without the bots, and i get that people want to use them as tools for advertising (their money), but a lot centers on how people choose to define "success".
something you might want to consider is that not all people have your talent, drive, skills or ambition.
for as much as i try to network, my social skills are backwards and networking will always be a bit of a fail. it's important to realize that networking is not an easy skill for some people, so saying that people have failed to network or failed to do the work and thats why they arent successful, thats imho, wrong thinking. they just havent been successful at it.
on the other hand ive seen some people make it to dolphin upbotting material that otherwise might not make them more than a few dollars. upbotting is a "skill" in a sense, but it shouldnt be. that's like saying people who have extra money or who are willing to take a risk deserve the huge profit.
this sends the wrong signal out, that no matter how we believe in a new paradigm, we still have the mindset of the old one, where money equals power, or who you know (cronyism) gets you ahead.
at some point we need to decide if we want to support the same values that got us to the hole we are in today.