What are the benefits or problems with bots on platforms like Steem?
Everything has its upside and downside. If the upside is more as compared to downside then it is good to accept and adopt. In case of bots in steemit, there has been a lot of talk and noise around it, especially after steem crushing to 0.25 usd. Everyone started blaming bot system for steem value to have such a fate. But the same bot system was also there when steem hit an all time high of 8 usd and no body pointed finger at that time. So it is a natural behavior of human being to blame a system when it fails. But if this blame comes with a belongingness, then it can improve the system.
Bots are also having both pros and cons. Imagine, you have an excellent post, you want it to be in the trending page so that some people will be able to see your post. I will try to analyze this post putting it in both the situation from a user's point of view. That is both when the user can find a bot to boost it and trend it to the trending page and when the user do not find any bot nor any direct system through which it can boost it to the trending page.
When the user finds the service of the bot in steemit
The user has an excellent post and he happily sent bid to the bot and received an upvote and made it to the trending page. Many people come across the blog and the author received applauds from many readers and curators. Many people commented and many other curators join and curated the post. So the best purpose of a bot system exhibited in this example.
When the user don't find the service of a bot nor any direct system to boost a post
As there is no bot system, the user even after writing an excellent article did not find any service of bot nor any direct promotion tool to boost his post and bring it to the audience. Now as he does not have sufficient SP, his own worth is also very less. As there is no promotional tool available he can not bring his post to the trending page. His post despite being well written gets dumped and buried with so many other posts in steemit as the author could not able to bring it to the trending page.
Now from the above you can realize that there is need of promotional tool and bot system can fulfill this need. So we have to have the bot system. But wait. There are abusive actors also. Some people with malicious intentions are always there looking for opportunity to check the loopholes of the system & to abuse it for the personal benefit and to degrade the culture of the community.
So the point to buy from here is that if you do not have sufficient and strict guidelines and rules, just like other tools, this promotional tool will also be a way more for the abusers than for the real users. So there has to be comprehensive guidelines for the bot system in steemit, which is missing right now. Although individual renowned bot owners like minnowbooster, smartsteem and some others have their guidelines to fight spam and abuse of bot, there is no such universal guideline which is common for the entire community. Just like we have steemcleaners in steem community to fight spam and plagiarism, we need something comprehensive guidelines and etiquette to use a bot in steemit. That can solve the existing problem interface of bot system.
So the bot is necessity for the users in steem community but do not make it a simple prey for the abusers. Make the guidelines tough & comprehensive. If the guidelines will be tough, it will be more difficult for the abusers, but it will be too easy for the genuine authors who just want promotion of their good content.