I joined in August 2017, 10 months, no bid bots a couple of down vote flags, and some stolen SBD by a high rep scammer, who is still a high rep person. All my growth has been pretty much organic. 4 months ago a couple of people delegated some SP to me to get me up to a vote slider.

You are not wrong, there are good people, good groups, and people can make it on their own power. They just have to be willing to do it, and to find the people that can and will help when they can. So no you are not wrong.