So in trying to argue against the comparison of a bot as an ad agency, you argue that it actually is? Huh?

Yes. Just like an ad agency, the bot grows to accommodate more clients. Funny how that works. It grows and grows. I get that the reward pool is finite, but really bots are supplementing an already broken promotional system.

Besides, it's not the bots that are actually being abusive. It's the users. Even without bots, the users would find a way to game the system and abuse the reward pool.

promotion when really there doesnt NEED to be any promotion at all, just good content, comments, and networking.

That is a fallacy. There is always need for promotion. There is a finite reward pool which means there is fierce competition for those rewards. Those with the STEEM power tend to be the ones getting all the rewards. I'd rather they be bots that want me to bid for their vote to promote my content than wasting it on self-voting for useless content.

that bots are putting a spotlight on not GOOD content creators, just RICH content creators.

Another fallacy. People that invest their own money to make their content visible are not RICH. They're savvy. Marketing is a necessity and an investment. Some of us have to use our hard earned local currency and convert it to STEEM to pay for this. Money they work hard for.

Now this is all based-on the concept that there is only an upvote. There are downvotes. Downvotes are tools for curators to correct the payout of content to acceptable levels.

This is where @grumpycat becomes an a real issue. @grumpycat indiscriminately punishes content creators trying to attack the bot. As I said before, you can't blame the feature for the abuser. Further, not all content creators are abusers. Some are just trying to do the converse which is get their content noticed and raised payouts to appropriate levels. @grumpycat tries to wipeout payouts which is why there is conflict. If @grumpycat were any normal user that said

Hey. This isn't right, let's get this lowered to a more appropriate payout. Things would be different.

That's far from reality and that is what will help the platform. So far EVERYTHING you have said is what IMHO will be a threat to the platform. Who will adopt a platform that isn't for everyone?