I am one of the few people on steemit who always upvote good comments. Like you basically said with the lawn mower analogy, it is the right thing to do.
My upvote is pretty much worthless right now, only 3 cents but i try to make sure I give atleast a 1 cent upvote on any decent comment even though many times the upvote i got on my post from that person is smaller than what I give them.. because once again, its the right thing to do regardless of how they treat me..
I have never understood why people get discouraged about the little money here but go back to fb? Maybe its because they are falling back in with the normal crowd (the sheeple).. I will never go back but I am guilty of not putting in as much effort since the numbers have dropped because it seems like no one cares right now and thats hard when u pour ur heart and soul into an amazing article and make next to nothing on it..
I have tried posting at all different times this past month and it doesnt seem to make a difference at all :/ but i know when bitcoin takes off again steemit will get busy again cuz like u said, most people are here for the money whether they stay it or not..