You sure have a good point here. I personally look only to my feed and occasionally head to the New tab, as there maybe more folks to follow. I do think people will get fed up with promoted stuff... as Facebook, Twitter and others over use promotions and many are getting fed up with it.
Hopefully here as well.
The promoted posts in disguise make the mountain seem impossible to climb. That's too daunting for many who came here with nothing. If only they knew the mountain is actually a hologram. Everyone involved, I think, can still succeed by taking an honest approach rather than making the same mistakes as so many advertisers and promoters have in the past. That's really all I can add to this.