Don't get too discouraged @flauwy ! This is all still so new, especially for all us newcomers, so I think in time things will become more stable.

I will admit I was a little disappointed when I first joined steemit and noticed so many users using upvote bots and/or constantly self voting (and you can see on some pages the massive difference in post views vs votes which isn't so great for the platform). Of course I can totally see why this approach is appealing given that it is completely within the rules and it gives you a much higher exposure (and money) and theoretically more engagement but there's just something about voting bots and self-voting that doesn't sit too well with me. But that's just my humble opinion. I'm sure there are plenty who would argue on the contrary.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'll do my best to not to use bots or upvote my own content and see where it takes me. At least this way I can be sure that any engagement I get will be fairly organic, at least in theory.

I must say so far I've really enjoyed most of the content that is being posted here on steemit and the steemians are really awesome so even if my future posts don't end up being successful without bots at least I'll be enjoying the process of engaging and consuming content and having fun along the way :)

Cheers!