Hi @teamsteem, this is a great post and I found a lot of value from it. As a relatively new user (June 2017) I have yet to get my head around all of the concepts and opportunity the platform offers and at times feel overwhelmed. Your post brought me some clarity.
I have concentrated on writing posts to the best of my ability and have written from the heart about many topics and admit that I have felt some disappointment at results garnered from those posts at times. Let me clarify; I don't simply mean the pay-dirt of a dollar reward, I mean the exposure and interaction from other users, or lack thereof.
I have had posts achieve anywhere from $0.10 to $100+ (the latter are very rare) and seem to have an average of about $5SBD payouts. Some would say that's not a lot however for me it's quite a bit. But disappointingly I have had a distinct lack of interaction at times except from a few comments from my regulars and very little else besides the many good post steemit dear, follow me now remarks, which I despise. I've written posts and have had a reasonable (for me at least) SBD reward and yet out of the 12 or so votes I've received on it have only had 2 actual views. That indicates to me people are simply voting on my posts and not reading the content. Their prerogative of course, but disheartening to me when I have put my heart and soul into the post. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to the loyal followers who read and vote however it's disconcerting to put 3-4 hours of work into researching and posting a piece to have 1 or 2 view it, and maybe not even read all the way through.
Anyway, That's just the way it is and I understand that there are people on the platform that have no views on their posts at all so I count myself as fortunate to have some loyal followers who read and remark here and there.
Your post was nice to read today as it reminded me that there are some outstanding people on the platform and it's not simply a feudal system where the upper-echelon kings and queens [read whales and dolphins] skim the rewards on the backs of the serfs and peasants [read krill, plankton, minnows etc.]
After reading your post I am ashamed to say that I upvote my own work; I don't know if that's a good or bad thing to admit but I was inspired to see your own self-vote percentage was super low. To my discredit I have not read any of your work, a fact I will rectify today.
You probably will not read this reply however it's on the blockchain and so I'm going to take the opportunity to thank you for a little inspiration when needed most. There, it's official, I said it. :)
[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default - DM on Discord @galenkp#9209 -]
If you putted something in you get something out whether or not your post is worth 0$.
Imagine being on Facebook and not knowing anyone? Could you imagine what it would feel like and what your interaction would feel like? How would you make real connection. That's where we are right now. Soon everyone of you know will join. Don't expect Steem to be this static thing that doesn't evolve.
Thank you for your reply, you’re right of course. :)