I have to agree with you Dave, the BOT'S are taking over and it seems like there's no end of new ones. I get very frustrated with nobody looking at my content even though it is hand produced. The content curation groups are great but some massive changes will be needed to stamp out what's happening.
I also play with BOTS solely to raise my reputation but if tomorrow they were all banned and gone I would cheer.
I'm in complete agreement with you @slobberchops! If they were gone tomorrow, I would be happy... But if they are going to be how to pick up steem and gain power here, then I think many will continue to figure out how to best game the system. Its just human nature!
I think it will change as more like us grow up, so I'm not upset... Just making an observation!