On Facebook I only friend people whom I know personally (and decide I want to hear from).
On Steemit I only follow people after examining their blogs and seeing a lot of original content. (If I could get any results at all by using Steemit "promote" vs what I get from bots then I'd gladly use that but I don't put work into posting to have it immediately lost in the swarm of other posts so I feel investing SBD in your work expresses your own belief in your message)
So I guess I feel that the biggest fault in social media isn't superevil bots and insidious platforms but lazy users with a lot of vanity and gullibility.
I take similar approaches on both platforms as well. I also like the perspective you introduced that a user is showing confidence in their work when they invest SBD into themselves via bots. I've only been active with my account for about 3 weeks now so I'm still figuring out where my opinion lives in regards to a lot of the contentious ideals here on steemit.
Welcome to Steemit... I've only been around since last August but I can vouch for there being some definite battle lines in difference of opinions drawn across this platform.
I found you in the veteran Discord channel though so I think you are in pretty damn fine company for starting out.
Looking forward to getting to know you better.