I feel your pain.
I'm leaning on the thought that Steemit success is a long game, made up of connections and good content over the long haul.
I see you are already familiar with the #minnowsupportproject and PAL room. Personally, I've seen that be pretty helpful all-around.
Otherwise, I'd say the secret is to comment and connect and de-prioritize content creation to some degree.
"When does the hurting stop?"
I think I post and comment a decent amount. And the stats show my influence is growing so there is absolutely a positive upside to it. But again... 10 views... 😨😭
Keep up the good work though mate!
Hey great points @somethingsubtle , I think we all need to help eachother so it's win win. By the way, as I just mentioned above, I'm not sure if the #minnowsupportproject is working for me. How do you know it's working? What results have you personally noticed from it?