@hopeward OK, that seems to work. The workflow is a bit weird though: it seems I can only add accounts I follow to lists, so I needed to follow the bot, edit the list to add it, change the list setting and then unfollow the bot so it doesn't show up in my main timeline.
Is that how it's supposed to work?
@neverpanic I don’t think it will work if you unfollow.
Following or unfollowing is still top-level, primary and necessary.
The list thing just gives you options under that level.