Not having to follow the pack does not mean you will not earn big. I remember a fellow steemian by the name @pawsdog who went against the pack and got a ton more upvotes because of that. He spoke out against @haejin and others who rape the reward pool and got upvotes for it.
Bottom line is be yourself and sooner or later you will be rewarded for your work. I actually read some of your comments between @bitbrain. You are one of the few people on here that actually spends the time to respond to comments even though they likely will not earn you much.
Feel like you are using steemit as it is so keep up the good work. Thanks.
@bitbrain and I often write longer comments below our posts than we do in the actual posts ! And no-one ever reads them but us, lolol :-)