From what I can see, having under 1000 followers is not much and I would not expect a lot of upvotes. Having participated in earlier days, I'm guessing the overall participation rate of 100K users, was much higher than it is now, at 350K users (most are not active).

Leaving for a year is punished hard, then, Steemit not having it's act together, has it's own effects as well. It's difficult to take seriously, when they don't take it seriously.