Thankfully this was just a rare glitch. @arcange confirmed via chat:
hey, usually account table is updated every 10 minutes
last two days, SteemSQL was out of sync because invalid follow transactions were found in the blockchain.
@arcange was temporarily unavailable so it took longer than normal to get things fixed up, but it's all good now.
I'm glad to know the account data is usually reliable up to 10 minutes.
For much of my time here most votes were worthless (including my own). It was not uncommon to see great posts with many votes have a $0.00 payout. It's all a matter of expectations (which change and get re-anchored at a surprisingly fast pace). If authors are leaving because they are only making $0.10, where are they going? Back to Facebook, Medium, Reddit, and Twitter where they make $0?
I hear and understand your frustration. I know it all too well because it's exactly what I went through a year ago as I watched others complain and leave. Now look at my wallet to see if it was a good idea for me to stay and keep blogging.
If you're looking for some encouragement, scroll all the way back to my earliest posts where I tackled some of this (one addresses the true currency of Steemit is relationships). Who you know is exactly what matters, just like in real life. We are a social species, and it pays to be friends with people who have wealth because money is a certificate of appreciation. It means someone else gave them a token of value, something they earned via work away from their family, in order to appreciate the work done for them.
I wish you luck here because that's also what it takes: random chance.
I'm glad they were helpful!
That sounds pretty good! Maybe you should be doing that. What's wrong with enjoying your life more? For me, I'd still be doing this as I really do enjoy it. I don't post just for the rewards (see this example from 4 months ago). If you are interested in making money on Steemit, maybe this post will help: Last Week I Made $1,500 Worth of Cryptocurrency Blogging on Steemit. Here's How.
Either way, find your groove, find what works for you, and have fun. If you're not enjoying it, spend time doing things you enjoy instead.
tip! 5 hide