I don't know who is responsible for the flag bots.
I've been here since August and still don't know how to ensure success of a post. I more often make more than a quarter by instructional, health, or cathartic complaining posts. I'm trying to keep the complaining to a minimum. Nothing is certain here. If there was a resurgence of black plague, you might still be more likely to make money from a photo of a fly on a leaf, than a post on how to cure plague with water and salt, even if it worked.
I don't know what garnered me the highest vote count.
The most money I've made so far, I think was a meme.
https://steemit.com/meme/@lifeworship/my-first-meme
That was 5 months ago when steem was worth more, right? Also, is it that there are only a few whales, (mostly the creators and preminers of steem) and that their votes are weighted such that they are really the only ones that can move the needle in terms of payout from votes and have the "reputation" to flag?
You got it, all of it, first guess.
The steem price ride has been a long slow decline, but if the censorship trend keeps up on youtube and twitter, and if another, better platform doesn't replace Steemit, and if the government doesn't shut down the whole thing because it's too hard to censor, maybe it'll become something. That's way too many "ifs" for me. The reason I've stuck around, is so I can attempt to impart a small bit of knowledge I've found in this world to people who follow and vote for me, and for the intelligent people I get to talk to. Intelligence is in short supply where I live.