Good job you have done in these 50 days. Thanks for the mention :)
I experienced most of what you have written on being a newbie in Steemit. Especially agree with the 'self-upvoting' part. It just feels ridiculous. I cannot get myself to upvote something that i put up. More so because I have always found it weird to see people doing that on Facebook and Instagram. Here it is different because of the money involved. Even then the principle is the same.
Like most, even I joined Steemit for making the big bucks. Soon enough, I realised that isn't going to happen. That was when I slunk away. On my second innings here, I decided to just use it as a blogging and social media site and not as a money making tool. I still haven't made a dime, but I am much happier using Steemit in this manner!
Thanks for your nice comments @twowheeledmonkey and think nothing of the mention, you deserve it.
I'm glad you decided to return. You are an example of a good steemian and steemit is lucky to have you.
I think you've hit the nail on the head! We should network and blog and connect and anything else is a bonus. Getting a response to your post is a joy in itself and receiving crypto for it, well that's just a lovely extra on top.
See you around. Gaz