Oops, sorry I made you worry. Those are the things I downvote (not that my flags have any power yet). Things are changing fast, so who knows re other reasons, such as balancing payouts by flagging blogs that are disproportionately successful. Some people downvote vindictively, but they're usually taken care of quickly. The whole issue of flagging is being debated.

There's a bot that catches some of the plagiarism, but it's good to check it yourself before you vote on articles that might have been stolen.

It does require a lot of upfront work not just to post and comment but to understand the site and to promote yourself. If that time is coming from other social media or other leisure time, then you haven't lost anything. If it's time you would have put into other ways of earning or into spending time with your kids, then you'll want to reevaluate regularly. However, don't expect returns really soon unless you get lucky or work really, really hard.

It is sort of like a lottery if you don't come with a name and a following already. The more of the applicable skills you have, the easier it will be. I agree that you need an introduceyourself blog.