Hey man, thanks for bringing this up. I don't usually involve in talks about the platform and its issues, but I have the feeling that we have been in a long period of stagnation. It's probably even worse with all those vote buying services. The "Steem hard and you will succeed one day"-mantra that has been chanted by many successful Steemians seems to work only for a few.
Steemit is supposed to be a social platform, right? I think the vote selling and buying has somewhat taken the social element away, which in turn has discouraged a lot of people here.