Hey @papilloncharity

First up: Awesome pics... as always!

Re the declining $payout value of posts: Well... the good news is that right now is the best time to be collecting SP. Each post (assuming it gets the same number of votes) is getting the same resulting SP and STEEM rewarded as when STEEM was at $5 (as long as SBD is not paid out too)... we can chat on discord if you're keen on the math... but long story short: Keep up the posts. With fewer people posting, those of us that are are actually scooping up more SP (even though it's technically worth less USD/Rands/whatever fiat). If/WHEN it recovers, we'll be sitting pretty.

Re getting more votes: I disagree with @steevc re bid-bots, but I really do understand both sides of the argument... so let's not get into that now. They DO work, but if you're opposed to them, there are other options (aka "programmes").

• @Qurator for example - which you already belong to. Consider using your outgoing votes to push up your tier.
• @MoonBot & @KiwiBot are nice ROI bots too (well... really nice when STEEM is up... I need to run the math now that we're so far below $1).
• @SteemBasicIncome ... While the ROI is really bad - 70 weeks or something if I'm not mistaken. There are lots of comps running where you can win SBI votes for free. I'm going to send you an SBI share right after this comment either way.
• @UpvoteBank ... give your votes to other minnows in the pool and you'll get 5x your UV Value returned. The math on this one has me really baffled. Not sure how sustainable it is... but for now it's working, and turnaround is < day... so it's worth checking out.
• ... and of course the legends of @teamsouthafrica and #teamsouthafrica ... but this you know already :-)

and many many more... Actually I think I should probably right a post about it and call for more examples... I'm sure I don't know about 1/10th of them.

Anyway... chin up, things will get better... and even if they don't, you'll have made some cool new friends.