Whereas it doesn't have all that much to do with your post, it actually does, as well.
Humanity's "Greed Gene" is alive and well, and perhaps doing better than ever; it's close buddies with the "Entitlement Gene." I know this from starting in the art gallery business in 1985; from being a "serious" writer since the late 1970s and from having spent many years in Network marketing of various kinds.
In spite of all its idealistic aspirations, Steemit is showing itself to be little more than another microcosmic representation of the greater world; replete with greed, whining, exploitation, manipulation, idealism and more.
The bulk of humanity wants "something for nothing" and has zero care about what it takes to get something for nothing. And they HATE being faced with the argument of "something for something" because it flies in the face of their particular construct of How Life Is™. Variety is definitely NOT the "spice" of their life.
I came here because I really dig "social blogging" the way it was around 2001-06, and Steemit is somewhat emulating that. It's a shame that the "Money for Nothing Seekers" have invaded Steemit in force, but it's also inevitable. In a sense, it's funny to watch... in the same tragic-comic sense its funny to watch a crowd scramble and fight each other other if you throw a handful of coins in their midst... even getting VIOLENT, although none of them can pick up enough to materially improve their lot in life.
The sense of community is still here, but perhaps the greater truth is that the "city" has split into smaller "villages." We end up with our subcommunities who follow certain people and interests. And maybe that is as it should be. Beats me. Just free-association commenting, here.
I appreciate what you shared here today. During a brief, friendly exchange under a blog post here, one thing led to the next and I was offered a video of shoppers lined up and waiting for their chance to grab one of those tv's on black friday. Fighting, pushing, shoving, screaming. Some of these people are so dense, they're fighting each other over the opportunity to spend those coins you mentioned. It is funny to watch.
I've only been here a few days, but I've already found far more interesting small creators on here than on Youtube or Reddit. So far, it's been a good experience and I remain cautiously optimistic about the whole platform.
I've noticed the top posts on the trending sections are often some of the worst content or they vibe with the general negative attitude infecting some of the people on this platform, and so people glob onto them. Since I have such little power on the site right now I wouldn't dare downvote some of that content, but I think in the future it will require some community engagement to deal with bad content.
That's why I've been sticking to the new and hot tabs to try to discover small people making good work instead of getting bogged down in the nonsense. It's certainly true there's a lot of not-so-great-content in the new and hot tabs, but when I find something of quality in there it excites me much more than trying to get comment recognition on the trending posts.
If you're looking for a positive Steem experience, I would recommend doing the same until you're big enough to do something about the bad content :)
If I walked up to you on the street and said, "Hey man! Follow me!" Would you go?