Most people arrive at the same conclusions after a while, will you give up or will you persist?
The title of your article actually answers all the questions you raised, with one word "community". You need to find like minded people and build your community, that way you can all build each other up and stand together. To use the sea creature analogy, smaller species of fish will band together to create massive schools, where the larger animals don't need to do that as much.
There are a few things wrong with steemit and I thought it would be different but as in life the money has the power.
Don't get dishartened it's just how it is at the moment and most of all don't give up just keep plugging away you never know who is reading and even who may become a whale in the future.
Good luck all the best.
Thank you for the kind words! I guess, I did answer some of my questions in the original post itself hahaha..I just needed the community perspective, the reassurance that what I was thinking was correct, and that I wasn't just being presumptuous based on my lack of knowledge or inexperience on steemit. I suppose you're right that if the minnows keep on swimming together we can really shake up the waves and perhaps create some waves of our own. Consider yourself followed!
It's hard to know what to think sometimes, even with 6 months under my belt there's always new things to learn. I am sure everyone thinks like this at some point Im glad I could help you out with a different perspective.