This ... I have a personal rule, I never interact with bots in a professional capacity (it's a sure fire strategy for demoting yourself to a cog in a machine),

This ... I have a personal rule, I never interact with bots in a professional capacity (it's a sure fire strategy for demoting yourself to a cog in a machine), this includes slackbots etc. I would certainly not interact with a bot for a company I don't even have an business relationship with yet.