Automation and botting have always been rampant on the Steem blockchain. "Steemit" is merely a front end to the blockchain. It's a bit complicated if you don't already understand blockchain, but there are other decentralized applications that tie into Steem. Some of the platforms that you can use even offer encouragement programs for using their platform. @esteemapp is one example, and I would highly recommend the platform to anyone; especially new users who are trying to grow without the use of services.

To answer your question about whether growth is possible without bots, yes it is, but it is not easy, and requires a great deal of time engaging with the community. Much of the community communicates directly through discord for community events, meetings, ect.. and there are multiple communities here!

A vast percentage of Steemian's today who do receive organic support, also post boost in acceptable amounts for account growth, and many who boost have been deemed an asset to the community. I should say those who boost "responsibly", but this is a matter of opinion and perspective of course. It's generally less frowned upon to boost if you are keeping your Steem Power, and supporting the sea of minnows with your vote. Boosting and withdrawing constantly isn't good for the economy here, and is obvious of intent for gain.. and nothing else.

Excessive use of bid bots, which results in "sharepool rape"; is a term for what happens when your piece of the pie is so big everyone else has to take a smaller slice.. Sharepool is where the generated "reward" Steem comes from, and it is limited, so use of services which takes too much away from this sharepool is considered abusive behavior on the Steem blockchain.

Would I say this post we are chatting on is an example of bid bot abuse..? Yes I would, because I don't agree with the reward for this caliber of material, but that is my opinion, and it may not align with others! The nature of the blockchain makes it so anyone can do what ever they want, and if you have the vote power to disagree, you can of course flag them, or you can choose not to, or.. they might be so (Steem power) powerful that it would be a bad idea to even dare flag them.. Some people still will flag regardless of consequence, and some choose not to no matter what.

Yes this is a different world, but those of us that have been around for a little bit aren't going anywhere, and I personally choose not to get involved with the drama and politics that are volatile around here.

So, this is quite a bit to take in.. Sorry for the super long message, but hopefully it helped, and if you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Welcome to Steem!