If you're new on Steemit then you probably are confused about all of the bots moving around the ecosystem.
Well, having that in mind I opted to create a STEEMIT newbie guide on bots, how to use them, what bots to steer clear of and some other pointers.
Not every bot is good, not every bot is bad, and although many are similar, some aren't, so if this is something you'd like to learn about... read this guide.
If you're a veteran Steemian, then many of these things don't come as news to you, but I'm sure that when many of you joined the concept was equally alien.
Bid Bots: Understanding Bid Bots and Their Mechanics
Screenshot from Steem Bot Tracker
There are a lot of bid bots out there.
These bots work in a characteristic way. Their full vote is divided slices as "players" enter their bids.
Once you bid on one of these bots (check the Min Bid level), you'll be attributed a slice of the vote. When the timer runs out, the percentages that each "player" has are the percentage of the vote they deserve.
This means that the more you bid, the biggest the slice, but as more and more "players" enter the bid, the vote gets dilluted, so the most profitable way to use these bots is to always just bid the minimum bid allowed.
Be careful though, many bots work in a way that more than 1 bid joins the slices for that particular person.
Also, 
It basically makes it so that promotion after 3.5 days is forbidden by the user
You can see that I used one of these bots, 
You'll see that I ideally wouldn't use this down on this text where it states my opinion on bots, but I see it as being necessary for now.
Maybe if the promoted section actually worked as intended that wouldn't be necessary, but for now that feature needs some work done on it.
Now, carrying on...
Voting Bots: Promote Your Content
On the other hand, we have voting bots.
Voting bots aren't a gamble and nearly always produce profitable votes since they sell their votes by less than they add to the post.
This takes some of the risk away. When using bid bots you can get your slice of the vote crushed if too many join or if a guy with a huge bid enters close to the end of the timer.
In the image above, you can see another screenshot from Steem Bot Tracker of a voting bot... in this case 
You can also see that the bot is currently not working, as it is recovering its voting power.
There are also some other bots like this, like 
If you want to instantly promote a post, then this can be a good option.
When Should You Use Bots:
Now that you know about the bid and voting bots, you have to know about when to use them.
Some users only care about the profit the votes give, and so they may use them whenever they so please.
However, think about the purpose of Steemit, you'll see that doing this makes no sense.
The only way you should use bots, in my opinion, is right when you publish so you can get a boost and get seen in an easier way.
But here's what I think about bots...
My Opinion on Bots and Their Use
Now, you may ask yourself what is 
Well, it's pretty simple. Ideally we wouldn't have them...
- BUT!
You'll see that I use them as well. So Why?
Well, Steemit is growing in popularity and there are countless posts being thrown at the blockchain... it's easy to fade away...
ESPECIALLY... if everyone uses bots.
As everyone uses bots, not using them is a handicap, and before anyone says it isn't, this is only the case when you already reached "critical mass" of followers or when you have big friends that have you on auto-vote.
For everyone else, you just can't compete without them if you're a small fry.
It all comes down to... how fast do you want to grow?
Now, you'll also see I never pay those 40 SBDs etc to Bots...I think that is excessive use.
I just throw enough to get noticed, and I don't crush those numbers to reach trending. I think that is overkill and takes away the meaning of reaching trending all together.
Bots to Avoid: Steer Clear
Finally, there are some other bots out there doing the rounds.
I can mention one bot you should avoid, and its name is 
If this guy upvoted your post, it wasn't a good thing because it means it spotted duplicate content.
Of course sometimes this is innevitable if you're repurposing content of one of your blogs to steemit, but cheetah's upvotes go mainly to spammers that copy paste stuff to try to make a quick buck from it.
You should also avoid bots that ask for too much information... you mean, those who seem like phishing scams.
Always research the bot you're thinking about using, and ask a more experienced Steemian.
Community Bots
Finally, you may notice some community bots around.
They usually exist to empower members of a certain Steemit community.
I'll give you STAX as an example.
STAX is the community bot from the #steemsilvergold community and she does the rounds, upvoting the members of her community to show them support.
You can only get on her voting list if you're part of the community and contribute to its power, so there are no free rides.
There are a lot of community bots like the Silver Gold Botty out there, and if you stumble upon one, now you know what it is.
Conclusion
So, to conclude, I hope you now know more about the bots roaming around Steemit and their purpose.
I urge you to use bots in a responsible way and in a way that doesn't hurt the community. Don't use bots to pump content you aren't proud of, and try to use them for your best pieces, but not after 3.5 days, do it when you want the visibility, right at the start.
Cheers!