I credit my having gotten off to a pretty good start on here mostly to having focused on commenting at first. That allowed me to build relationships with people while I was still figuring out what to post.
While I've made a few pretty hefty payouts from some old-timers upvoting some of my comments (nothing like those in your screenshots though!) mostly it's more like a steady trickle. But you know, those steady trickles add up, especially since I don't find I have something substantial I want to write a post about every day.