Yes, I think I'm trying to find a middle ground

keep in mind that I'm competing against a completely inactive version of myself that earns about as much or more even with the 5-8 posts at $30-$50

but it may seem like if I really want to contribute, it'll be at a cost to me, in time, effort and money, as compared to just renting it out etc

maybe I can try 1-3 memes a day instead of 5-8 at 15-20 steem self vote instead of 30-50
this will make future investments, like trying to hire ppl to promote on reddit and artists etc out of pocket probably impossible, it's still going to be at a pretty hefty loss compared to doing nothing at all for me, but will hopefully add a bit of value to the platform without the appearance of unfairness.

I'm not sure atm, I'll take a small break and see where people sit and whether I'm up to the challenge of doing this going forward. Not the best time for me to be making content due to irl circumstances, and I was borderline unwilling to do it even at the old rates of pay. I think realistically this won't really be possible unless I get more votes from others on it.

The verdict here is cloudy overall. It's hard to discern whether it's the quality, frequency, it all coming from the same person, appearance of fairness that's at question here, politics or other feelings playing a part, probably some combination of everything.

Thanks for your input, quite a fair viewpoint