Thanks for your comment, @miti.

I hear you and totally understand the experiment to live bots free can be bitter an experience, a dire barren society to live in even. Yet, IMHO, the key is not in the financial rewards we receive but in our networking value.

There are plenty of communities which can be totally validating and reward awesome content with a high number of upvotes and even comments. Friendships are built there and it's a long term game to play.

I also have put lots of work in posts which went totally flat, yet others did much better than expected. Even if they were merely creative writing [to self] plays and didn't tap into any niche as such.

Not every community has SP weight and we may have to look at different rewards, rewards not enumerated in the form of $. But as long as we can maintain a healthy ecosystem, eventually some of those community members will power up.

In one of my earliest posts I wrote here on Steem, Imentioned these 3 errors most minnows make:

1. Upvoting only popular content
2. Bought into the hype of the minnowbots
3. Too focused on earning

While also focusing on:

You've forgotten to connect with other steemians. You've forgotten to build community. You've forgotten to get your name out there.

Oh... that post earned something like $0.5 pre-Steem Magic Sauce. :D

Followed.