Tend to agree with you @steevc too many arrive expecting instant returns, not that easy. Those who arrived early grew with the platform and earned by sharing good content and growing their tribe.
Those of us who missed the bus, must work at keeping up with all the changes that have happened on the platform and new introductions of bots and extra outside assistance, too much time is trying to come to grips with just settling down and producing good content.
This is the most unusual platform in that you will go to chat groups and try establish a footing there, whereas I would imagine in the early days everyone shared and commented in here alone.