I agree with everything you said and I see a lot of these bad actors around and it's true that being rewarded for good content really brings people in. I received a big upvote for my first post about brewing my own beer and I dedicated a lot of time to that post (even though I sucked at editing) and not to mention an entire day for the brewing session itself. Seeing that big reward made me feel accomplished and gave me the confidence I needed to write more and invest my time and effort into this, and time is something I don't have much to spare. So it's truly good to see people like you who are thinking in the long term and it brings me more hope and trust in the platform. I hope one day I am big enough to help others as well.
Keep creating content and you will find your successes to come more frequently.
I am glad that your quality post was found and earned a good amount. There are many community initiatives that seek to find new people and reward them.