I'm glad you spoke out, because there is no reason not to discus this. Like I mentioned on Twitter, most users who have been here for awhile know who you are and what you stand for and also respect you for that.

I think the lack of engagement is much more of an issue than the upvotes. And with this being a small community and your interests not always being 'mainstream' you do get a lot of people who follow you, but don't necessarily engage. I do agree with @steevc chicken/egg argument and I can imagine that this is not the place you wanted to be in after 4 years.