You got some valid points, but it's hard to deny that being successful on steemit (or other social media websites) is almost like winning the lottery.
There are so man quality posts that are undervalued and vice versa. I have been contributing to steemit myself for a half a year on a daily basis (and think that the posts have quality), but have only gained rewards from bots. There is no denying that.
From almost 700 followers (which many of them are fake), perhaps 10 people vote on my content (if I'm lucky!).
And I know that most of the minnows and plankton feel the same :/