You really have to be interested and make valuable comments!

Absolutely! I generally take some time for my comments, add value to to poster, or even to other comments. That helps for sure to get noticed and get not only the poster to upvote but also others.

Point 1 helped with me as well. Recently enjoyed 2 times a long weekend completely away from Steemit. That helped to find the fresh new positive balanced energy again to continue at Steemit. I was so frustrated about the unfairness here, I wanted to throw the ball. But now, I decided to continue and so far so good. Regardless of the unfairness, there are a whole bunch of good and interesting people here, so that helps as well to not turn my back.