I feel ya @nonameslefttouse.

A year or so ago my vote was worth 15c, ok not a lot but it was worth something, like you an artist I started to use my 15c on posts that I thought deserved that upvote.
I only tend to browse though the art section of the feeds as this is what interests me, I like to see what other people have done, normally pencil to paper as I am old school.

Things got a little strange, people started begin for up votes from me and been the soft hearted person I am I gave them to them.

The same people took the money and after a short spell they left the platform with 0 in their accounts.

Nearly 2 years I have been on here, I have met some great people on here and in person on steem promos and even meet ups and some of them have gone as well.

There needs to be a change, we talk about steem ink needing to do something to make this place better but I am also for us helping the eco system.

I try my best to help others, but at the moment my account seems to be getting weaker and it doesn't seem to matter how much I power up my account.