Brian,
You are obviously free to upvote or not as you see fit.
And yes, if you find content on Youtube that people like and provide a link to it from here people may upvote it and help you earn some STEEM.
My motivation - and I can only speak for myself - is very different from "whoring for attention and votes". I could care less for recognition and attention for the sake of attention, and as a well-paid IT professional the couple thousand dollars I have made on Steemit so far does not make much of a difference. I seek to provide what I consider quality material to people, and whether it is mine or other people's makes no difference to me insofar as that objective is concerned. I have posted all sorts of stuff here - including my own articles and videos and photos as well as those by other people, always with attribution, of course.
Now as for your situation - it seems to be similar to mine which was also a bit slow out the gate. Here is a little manual on how you may speed up the progress for yourself:
https://steemit.com/upvotebot/@edolo/i-used-17-upvote-bots-on-this-post-come-check-it-out
Cheers!
RE: The Facts About Spanking