Gave you a witness vote a long time ago. And, I am glad I did. When I was very new to steem, there were some horrible trouble maker people griping and moaning about who was a whale, and who was using bidbots, and who was not. Didn't take me long to realize the hardcore negative reputation the nay-sayers had spoke to me more than their words.
The way I see it, as I am building my account to where I am eventually able to to a daily show and blog, bitbots work well for gaining steem power.
But, I also put a lot of effort, passion, and research into my writing. And as a filmmaker, you can imagine how passionate I am about creating good work. So, I agree with you about there not being much of a connection as mostly I get upvotes from bidbots and hash-tag group I work with.
My gaol for this my steemit account to educate as many people as I can about how mainstream media is used to manipulate them. And how to stay positive and deflect the negativity that goes with that media. And having the goal of wanting to educate people about how the media is used to manipulate people, I think is a worthy goal.
So eventually, maybe not as quickly as current whales, the community putting effort into this platform will see it's reward of a self-sustaining endeavor. And the freedom that comes with the elevation of many, I think is a world changing dynamic. True freedom for all can actually be a reality.
I am grateful to know and feel I am free now after so much help from others like you to help me get here!