I think that it is still possible if you are doing it smart. You should use old accounts, change IP adress for each account and go slowly (50-100 upvotes weekly)
I think that should work fine, but problem is that it is too slow. That is why I prefer to purchase upvotes....
That's the main problem. I consider myself one of the better commenters who didn't just focus on quick cash by targeting shit like jake paul and having a comment stick for 20 minutes.
I focused on the long term and even the plan you outlined above is too slow. Even on videos that aren't moderated much, on average my comments last about 1-2 days. I'd break it down like this:
50% of my comments get ghosted immediately either for having a link when the channel doesn't allow.
30% of my comments stick for 1-2 days.
15% of my comments might last for 3-4 days.
5% of my comments might last more than a month.
I have comments I posted awhile back that still bring me in traffic from months ago. But those are rare to duplicate these days. And even in a big niche like the one I'm in, there just isn't enough videos with views to comment on.
So factor in all of the above problems with the fact that upvotes are such a huge pain in the ass to get at the moment and you start to realize that for now YT commenting is dead ATM until they figure a work around. Or you have a big operation that can streamline most of the issues like accounts.
I know yt commenting will never die, but right now there isn't much money to be made unless you can get the upvotes back.