First of all, my "ah experience" as you so eloquently express it, is limited to the posting of various raw materials I run across while questing, raiding, etc. I've never been one to play the AH...but even if I had, I guarantee you I would not have used the addon's you're lamenting the loss of - it feels to evidently of a bot for me to be comfortable using it.

In the end, it doesn't matter how much work you put into the AH, if the end result of the process is a bot program. I doubt Blizzard's intent here is to make the AH more grindy - rather, it's an attempt to limit the bots that can be used. I think they're heading in the right direction. It does no good to ban botters if you leave the ability to bot in the game - you're going to see those same botters (or others) back doing the same thing in a week. Destroying the ability to bot is a lot more effective in the end.

Granted, we'll probably always see bots of one sort or another - but that doesn't mean Blizzard should stop disabling their ability to bot. Just because someone gets murdered every day in this country doesn't mean we should stop prosecuting murderers. :P

As for the AH being less accessible - I think you'll be surprised. You don't often see casual posters on the AH - but this is because their auctions, underpriced, are usually snapped up so quickly by the botting AH sitters that nobody else gets to see their auctions. Whether prices go up or not, removing the ability to bot can only help the game economy, not ruin it.

And, worst case - I'm perfectly capable of getting things on my own, without resorting to the AH. I imagine I'm no smarter in this regard than any other player.