Yes, I am really losing confidence in the whole upvote bot system as I seem to pump more STEEM into this account but don't seem to be able to generate anywhere near what I invest as a little minnow. My voting power at any given time is only worth a cent or two and I don't seem to be attracting those with high voting worth at all. I only seem to change by rewards by sending out something to a voting bot to make only a marginal return in STEEM and SBD. There has got to be a better way to navigate this system. I see too many people on here with posts showing their value of hundreds of dollars in the trending section or hot section. I am not really sure what the alternative is, aside from building a strong account over time and hoping some curator or dolphin wants to bring you into their club.

I can contribute every day and night and it can be worthwhile and well thought out dialogue. It seems as if the system is set up that the more I vote and post, the worse I make things for myself. It almost seems like I should be a casual observer, perform a few upvotes and stay offline after making a single post that may not get any upvotes without a bot being involved. I have to admit, it is frustrating because I am trying to learn this system from so many different angles but none of them is resulting in my overall account balance rising. My reputation score is going up, but I don't even really know how much that counts for anything. Ugh.