Absolutely. I agree with you. That's currently how things work here and for people like you and me, it's incredibly unfair and annoying.
I could crank out awesome content every single day if I put my mind to it, but why? So I can make $3 or less on something I spent a couple hours thinking up, writing, editing, formatting, and finding images for? -- and that's just for 1 post.
What I find is that leaving comments on the posts of more popular Steemit users (this post, for example) very, very, very rarely prompts a response from the author, but often allows me to run into friendly, helpful people like yourself who I would enjoy following/upvoting.
I can't/don't want to buy SP either. I think your commenting/building relationships strategy is better for people like us and I will likely implement it as well. I haven't commented much outside my social circle lately. Thank you for sharing...
You're welcome, and I am so glad to connect today. I just ran into a post with some comments talking about cross posting on other platforms such as G+. I don't get the whole strategy yet, but I'm on every site known to man (exagg) and I can certainly promote out there.
The commenting works but you need a thick skin. For 30 comments I get about 5-8 replies and average I-2 upvotes on the comments. But like you mention, I get a lot of connections from this - people who would never see me otherwise.
I'm trying to think in the long-term for a platform I barely understand that changes constantly! There is no end to the chances I will take to get my message out.
You get only 1-2 upvotes because, after HF 19, people (i.e., dolphins and whales) have had to use their upvotes more wisely or spread them thin to something like 1% per upvote, which amounts to a few pennies in most cases. Of course you don't get a slider to adjust your voting percentage until you reach 400 SP...
In addition to consistent comments, I think it's important to actively engage the non-spammy comments on our own posts to maximize those relationships. I am starting to get my regular set of commenters/upvoters, which is really cool.
You have a great message and I'm happy that you're persistent about getting it out. DTube will also be a fantastic alternative to YouTube, if you haven't checked it out already. I haven't checked out your other presences online, but will do so...
You can find me by searching "fitinfun" on any search engine. It's all me me me and one of my best achievements. fitinfun was not a word when I started and google wanted to show "fit 'n fun" for the result. Vanity!
This I do not understand:
"people (i.e., dolphins and whales) have had to use their upvotes more wisely or spread them thin to something like 1% per upvote, which amounts to a few pennies in most cases."
I get the theory, but at 1% that means they can vote hundreds of times a day. Why not go to 40-60% and vote 20 times a day? That's what I thought I would do if I ever got to such lofty heights. That way I can make a bit of a difference and actually help people maybe.
I absolutely agree with you on the replying on my posts. I do have some repeating peeps and that's rewarding. And the financial rewards crawl upwards week by week - I've only been here 8 weeks. I just want that Alexa ranking and I guess I will have to work much harder to get it :)
I just got a message from a minnow friend telling me he is spending 8+ hours a day on the commenting and replying and is burnt out with the lack of response. I told him to work harder lol! He's a guy with awesome content and thoughtful comments. Ergh...
I'm holding off a bit on Dtube but will definitely go for it in September :)