Most of the new users came into steemit based on the advertisement of "make money". They see boys, and the number of people using them, and think, "oh, that's how I make money!? Sweet, That's easy!" And to your point, they don't know that it's utterly killing the ecosystem of new users.

People need to vote on each other's content to make this place work. Using bots only hurts those who are using the bots. It creates the growing gap between the whales (or kraken) and minnows. Unfortunately, whales don't see it that way. Some truly believe that they're doing more good than harm, no matter how much you try to explain the math and social impact. They "don't have time" to vote on others because they're "too busy" with other ventures. But they still want to get paid for doing their other ventures by using their existing power to expand their future influence. That doesn't sound too altruistic anymore, now does it?