Omg god... @talltim, I agree with you so much..... :-/ This post make me sad. As you, i 've spent so much time here and I even went to steemfest. I needed to be sure about why I was doing all of that......
But I realised, that even if we all join Steem because of the money, we shouldn't stay for that. Because we will not have it. If we got it it's because of luck.
We don't have to think about money. We have to think about a decentralized place (that's why we should use Busy and not Steemit who is part of steemit inc).
We have to think about sharing content gaining money or not. Steem is a social media based blockchain. It will not change the world tommorrow. But ... you know right, that only fews cents can already change the life of people in Africa/Asia ?
We don't need to be here for the money but for the passion to share, to make friends.
I was already a blogger and I blogged for years without gaining any cents. Why wouldn't do it here too ??? I blog here too because I am read, commented and better found on Google (thanks to Steem SEO).
Stop complain... Choose why you are here. And if it's only for the money, better leave the plateforme. Otherwise you will get too frustrated.
But I agree with you that's not what steem advertised (blog with quality content and get rewarded). That's more about who you know than what you do. It's more about how much you also have and can make your upvoter win (have you heard about circle jerks?).
Anyway, don't be here for the money... It will drive you mad. Be here because of the hope it gives of having a "decentralized place without - for now at least - any advertising every where and who still can change some really poor people's lives" .
If it was just about the money I would've quit a long time ago.
It isn't. Its the principle. Those intangible properties that supposedly separate us from animals in the jungle. Except here, money is tied to power - so you see a system that is teeming with all kinds of opportunistic parasites.
That's what I'm railing about.
It could change, and maybe it will - but until then I'll just scale back. I'm sure there are more newbies in the hopper who haven't realized what I have.
But they will.
Keep feeding the bots, whales. Soon they'll be the only thing you can talk to.