I understand where your coming from. I was against the bots when I first signed up to steemit. It seemed to me and still does that buying votes goes against the philosophy of the Steemit Community. I struggled with the realization that my post would not receive much attention unless it had a decent value attached to it. Yet I believe in the concept of helping others. I've giving a good portion of my earnings away to other steemians hoping that my actions will inspire others. I do not like the fact that with the current system upvoting seems to profits very little. I also find it disheartening that even with fifty upvotes only two people will leave comments. The feeling that no one will really read my post, even with the higher values. Is something that comes up frequently in my thoughts. The current culture does not promote quality and creativity. It promoted upvoting only for profits.
Personally I upvote to show love. I pay little attention to my upvote power, but I do use the bots to boost other people's post. I feel it's a win win. I figure hopefully they'll remember me next time my post crosses their feed, and show it some love. Unfortunately the pay for votes have become part of the system. Though they are a nice way to give back. If using bots on other people's post became part of the culture. It might balance things out.