Thank you for being brave enough to say this. I think you are very correct, but there is even more to it. I think we are also all being hurt at the moment because the price of Steem and SBD has dropped so dramatically. It is now less than $2 when less than 2 months ago, it was almost $16. (1/8) That of course means people have less available in their upvotes to be able to help others.

I think it is important for people to reach the SP level of at least $50 as soon as they can. Seeing that single $0.01 upvote seems to attract more people too upvote you.

I know it is hard for me because I do try to help newbies that are trying by writing good posts or comments. But with earnings so low, I can only help a few each day before I too have to try to get more upvotes and curration rewards. Like everyone else, unless I can grow my SP, I will never be much help to anyone.

As for delegating SP, that is only a good idea if you have plenty of SP. I am not sure exactly what level that would be because I have not reached it. But I know I did an experiment this past week and delegated steem power to three people willing to pay for it. I made a mistake in doing as much as I did because I dropped below the 500 SP. That drastically hurt my ability to help others and in turn, drastically decreased by own earnings.

But you are correct, we all need to help each other. If nothing else, use 2 or 3 of your upvotes each day to help someone else. Then you can use the remainder to help yourself. I try to do that every day and will try to help more and more as my SP goes up.

That is a key point also. You have to grow your SP. If you cash out all of your SBD and take it out of the system, you will never be able to help others and you will always be struggling. Those that are hurting for money, need to always use some of their SBD to increase SP if they are going to make more money in the future. It is hard to do when you are hurting for money, but that is the best was to grow.

For those that are very new, I suggest you spend more time commenting than upvoting. But make sure you make real comments that proves you actually read the post. I try to upvote every real comment with at least $0.01 (when my SP is at full power). But I will NOT upvote anyone who does noting but say "Wow, great post." or makes a comment that has nothing to do with my post. Seek out people and build real relationships with them. You'll make much more in the long run.