No they didnt. Cuz they didnt join like me and you when steem was at 4$
They mined steem nearly for free.
And yes. This was a circle jerk for devs. It still is. That's why I'm posting about the authors with the biggest rewards from time to time.
I would have also been able to extract a lot of value, if I had teached myself python.
But I don't like abuse.
As I said, I see things different than you.
For example, in general I wouldn't call it abuse to "extract" own money.
Yes, yes, there were some early miners, but that was even before I joined STEEM (and I am here since three years already). Since then nearly everybody, including some of the early miners, who didn't leave STEEM, suffered huge losses.
I myself doubled the amount of STEEM I own, but its value decreased dramatically.
I don't think that most stakeholders are having bad intentions, but unintentionally they are acting shortsightedly.
And the devs are by far not the biggest earners here.
Believe what you want..