I am still calling myself a minnow; I started out without using any upvoting bots since I trusted that excellent content would rule. As you write, in the early days this was most likely the case, as of today the exposure time is so limited that all your content is diving into Nirvana as you wrote it.

This situation is (call me meme) frustrating since you need to put some hours in identifying content and writing it nicely. For me it is not all about direct payback, it is about being recognized and having your content read by others.

As of today I have two choices either stop "wasting my time" and end steemit or invest some more money to get visible. More capital would incorporate adding steempower and pay bots to assist. I will try some bots before leaving though ​since I do believe in the opportunities of steemit.

I believe upvoting bots have their spot in the ecosystem, but I also trust that the type of content that is upvoted needs to be controlled. My respect for you doing this, it is undoubtedly a lot of work to scan the posts.