Hello @rlt47 Glad to see your steem! I read what you wrote and i perfectly understand where you are coming from, i created my steemit 3 days after my birthday Aug 27th, and began mostly hanging out in steem chats. My account is now around 6 months old, before i left i still remember seeing quiet a few people who never earned anything now earning over 40+ a post. I earned my followers through mutual connections chatting and attempting to earn a connection with others since i am also more interested in commenting then what people want to do when they can just slap something on and make an easy post. Since my return a week ago i have noticed that there has to be atleast 40% more basically spam. Atleast in my mind when i think about steemit i want my life to somehow be involved and that for me is what i do everyday, such as gaming, there should never be a reason to have to take others things for upvotes when everyones life's are so unique. I've been trying my best to also Leave a comment everywhere i upvote since my return and i have received a reply maybe 1/3rd of the time and i do really appreciate when someone put's effort into something and i have an opportunity to read or gain knowledge or another persons perception on something. Most Channels that i have even seen many active comments (20+ on everything) are either just people with alot of steem-power or the people who have been around since the beginning or are coming from another platform, the comments that people even leave are just sometimes people asking for a vote on someone else's page and you can even see the people who just leave something for an upvote. To Truly grow i think it takes more than just time or patients it takes no soul, to give in effort without recieving, and then to enjoy your rewards with the others who gained. @rlt47 Thanks for the nice post if you read my comment hope you have an excellent day! @originalworks