Just quickly while I'm thinking of it, I did read somewhere that too many early votes and a self vote will put most whales off voting, so using bots later probably would be the better course if your post isn't getting much attention.

I've never personally bought a bot vote, but I know many have experimented with them. I am a member of the Minnow Support Project so I can use their vote bots twice in 24hrs, but I tend to use them for others who I feel deserve a bit more of a markup than they're getting and I can give. So I guess I use it to support my upvote as a minnow. I also get an msp-lovebot vote since I delegated to them, which I didn't realise was part of the package.

I get bot votes from being a member of the Team Australia community group, but these don't leave comments. I think @greenacrehome set one up for the homesteader group too, but I don't know if it's still going. Would you say that these are different to the paid bots?

On a side note I get some upvotes from accounts that don't post or comment at all and sit at 25 with their rep, but have pretty SP. Are these bots too do you think or just investors who prefer to just read?

I would add that I don't think bots should be able to affect your reputation. That should be earnt from real people.