Yes it's hard and the competition is hard in all kind of forums.
You must be unique, targeted and patient...
My forum is new and each week growing by members.
Active members is still hard but I belive that by time and by acts (like adding content) the forum will be more alive.
In the beginning i thought maybe I would like to have this option on.
Later on I thought why should I hide the bots?
Now I reversed the procedure and it's still hiding the bots.