I registered about a month ago so I should still fall under the "minnow" title I suppose.
That being said you touched upon encountering another minnow that was bummed due to lack of attraction to his posts. I think a lot of people whenever they enter a messaging board / community where hope to immediately take off, myself included.
It takes some time to build a name for oneself and I am still doing that obviously. However, part of my acclimation to the community has been finding other minnows or whales in a "new" post section and leaving them some encouraging feedback + upvote. In addition, if I like their current post and some of their previous posts I'll give them a follow.
RE: Guide: Hey Minnows! Here’s a way to support each other!