I feel ya, where you went with this. I too have been here for over a year. I almost gave up on posting, especially when I got discouraged seeing the whales getting massive upvotes and such, and the little guys got squat. But that made me work harder, and find where I belonged. I tried the daily freewrites, and got hooked. I tend to stick with reading their posts now, and sometimes go to other posts. The freewriters are helping each other grow, unlike others.
As for the voting and comments, I used to think the same way until a few told me that you can vote as much as you want. The reason for trying to keep to just 10, is to keep your vp from dropping too low. Sometimes I vote more than 10 in a day. All depends on the comment or posts. Many will not think less of you if you don't upvote their comment. It is the response that brings worth. I hope this helps a little. :)