Hello Steemians,

This post will be short and succinct. In a community made up of creative 'people' who aid each other by upvoting quality, isn't using bots just another extension of upvoting oneself? Is it just me that thinks that this behaviour is not the best in relation to sharing. The amount of Steem Dollars that you get to allocate to others is not, in my opinion, there for you to upvote yourself with and then use bots to add to this. This just turns it into a race and the greedier people will get there quicker. That sounds too much like centralised philosophy to me. It just doesn't feel right.

Look at my posts, from the very first one. let me give you a figure - $0.07. That is what my first twelve posts received. Did this put me off? No, not at all. I accepted, from the beginning, that this was a long process and you might not make anything, but by creating posts, commenting and upvoting, things have developed and you become a part of the community very quickly.

I see it like this. Steemit is a whole lot more than just a blog site. It isn't a quick buck concept. It is something special and that is why I am creating this post and it is why I do not need to be policed or coersed into doing something that my common-sense, unselfish, long-term self can see is simply a positive thing for the growth of Steemit. It's a sad affair that people are taking advantage of Steemit, just because certain things are not in place or because the 'opportunity' is there.

I am not comfortable with upvoting oneself. The curator rewards are for those that have spent the time trawling through the plagiarised and other quality posts, not to reward ourselves more than we deserve, which by definition, it is infinitely so, due to the nature of how upvoting is meant to work. It feels like a trust has been betrayed, somehow.

I am not comfortable with the use of bots. They usurp from the communal pool and I feel that Steemit would be a more productive and interactive place without them. I have seen posts where there are three or four comments and nine or ten bot comments. This to me doesn't sit well. Why are we being creative at all if we can just use bots to pump up our wallets? To me, the idea, or the root of it, lies in creating quality, original content that you hope will be appreciated enough to be upvoted, or interesting enough to be appreciated. We also reward posts that reciprocate or vibrate correctly with us.

I am pretty much laying my hand bare here and hopefully we can have a good discussion on this matter and maybe even bring about some suggestions or changes that would benefit the healthy longevity of Steemit and protect it's interests. I am not asking for any benefits here, but instead want Steemit to be what I see it to be - a community of creative folk who enjoy and support each others' posts and comments.

Thank you for reading this and I apologise that there are no pictures, but I didn't want to dress this up or dilute the message. It's a genuine issue, I feel and I don't think that we need to keep taking like we do, as Steemit is something special that we ought to be nurturing and policing to ensure that our community is protected and grows in the right direction, with the right people at the helm, who have made it there through their input, work and likeability, and not from the pseudo-help of a bot. If you use a bot, you are a bot.

Please let me know what you think and I am more than happy to try to elucidate further, should it be required and if you feel that I am missing something, please let me know as I would not want to fail in addressing that.

All of my posts are 100% original content (or picture linked/sourced directly, if used). 100% of all curator rewards will go to the curators of this post, because I don't upvote my own work and all rewards are powered up 100% for Steem Power. I'm here for the long haul, to learn, share and grow with you.

Thank you.