It should be assumed that all of the ‘rewards’ are going to be cashed out - whether it is from “whales” rewarding themselves, or minnows collecting their rewards. From an investment/price perspective, the main item of concern is that the demand is keeping up with the supply from the newly created tokens (inflation). If you compute the amount of daily rewards that are generated, and compare this with the daily volume of the tokens traded - you will see whether it should be of concern.
There are users abusing the rewards pool. Sure. That has been happening since the very beginning in various forms and will probably always continue. If you can’t see the value in the platform despite that issue, then I am not going to try and convince you..
Oh no... the value is definitely there... and very evident. I'm just worried that it might be short-lived. i.e. It's going to take me a very long time to get anywhere near the point I'm able to start actually cashing out, and I'm just concerned that by the time that happens the house of cards has collapsed.
NB: I'm not saying Steemit IS a house of cards, literally trying to read up, and ask more veteran users, why it isn't one.
P.S. The rewards cashed vs volume traded is a great example, and I'll go investigate that a bit more.
Anyway... Thanks for taking the time to respond with detailed/informative answers... You've given me some great new homework to go do.