You're not wrong - but it's all a symptom of the fact that the content discoverability on steem is quite poor.

I do have hope though, I read a post about commmunities and hive mind that's in development now and I think if something like that comes in, and is actually effective, It could greatly reduce the appeal of bots.

If you have your own community then your topical posts will get seen more by the people that are interested in that content, and the exposure/votes will come organically.