i quite agree with you, when i entered 10-11 months ago there were fewer people and the whole community were friendlier and kinder. it wasn't just cause of numbers i think most of those people that came were genuine people that wanted to get away from the facebook and instagram culture.
As steemit grew up and at the same time bitcoin skyrocketed ( that took his part in this) more and more people came here but i think at least half of them ( if not more) had the principal of ''make money quick'' and ''have the same attitude as in other social media'' and somehow downgraded the ''good'' levels we had.
On the other hand good people came aboard too so i think we all know the problems here but what we do about it is all that matters. i personally till now try to read what i upvote or at least read most of it and depending the content even if they are my friends i will use a smaller % for let's say a meme (i too upload memes and i would like the same thing to apply for me too) or a random photo and a higher % for thoughts, valuable content, articles
if anyone has any suggestion or ideas to how we can make the community better i am all ears and will gladly participate
I noticed many new users posting only entries for contests and challenges and that's all from them. Thanks for this comment
hmm most of them probably bored to write something decent and want to earn followers and money fast but i think there are some that watch it as a first way to ''obtain'' some audience