I am a newbie to Steemit, but I completely agree with your post. It can be enticing to take the "easy way" and use automated services to build the artificial connection. I have yet to post any content, but will be uploading some videos to dtube and posting some of my writing very soon.

I look forward to seeing the transition of my account go from the current 10 fake user followers to actually building an authentic following!

Thanks for the sharing the post.