I swear I don't want to be. I swear I'd be really happy to be completely infatuated with Steemit, and if I could enjoy the ride.
But some things are still really bothering me.
As a physicist, when studying a theory, one of my most important tool is called "Occam's Razor":
Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected
In other words, the simplest answer is usually the correct one. And unfortunately, this just doesn't seem to apply to Steemit. More specifically, here are some of the points I'm having trouble with:
1. Most of the successful posts on Steemit are about Steemit
I'm not sure why explaining, analyzing and gushing over Steemit is considered "good content". I've seen people comparing Steemit to Facebook and Reddit, but no one on Reddit is explaining how to use it. The fact that there are so many (really good) posts explaining Steemit just shows that Steemit isn't as simple as it could be. Occam's razor tells us that something's fishy.
2. Whale Cartels
A whale can upvote his own post, which of itself is a huge problem. But what's stopping a few whales from banding together and just upvoting each other's posts? Chances are it's already happening, and it could be crippling to the system.
3. Don't roll your eyes, but - where does the money come from?
I've seen two explanations:
1. "Well, where does the money in Bitcoin come from?". But no. This is in no way an answer. In order to obtain bitcoins, you have to invest money yourself, whether you're buying it or mining it. On Steemit, you can obtain Steem by copying and pasting links and photos from just about anywhere you want - that is, you can obtain Steem for free.
But, you'll answer, you only get money on Steemit for good content! Which brings us to our next point:
2. "You obtain Steem from the investment you put in your good content". But "good content" is horribly ill-defined (as you can see by just browsing the front page). When I but bitcoin, I know exactly how many bitcoins my money is worth. But when I obtain Steemit by uploading content, I have no idea how much my content is worth.
Steem is like someone coming up to you in the street and asking you to choose between an apple and an orange, explaining that he'll reward you if you choose "correctly". You are being paid for something subjective, which sounds absurd.
I haven't heard any answers to these problems which obey Occam's argument, which is what's stopping me from going all-in on Steemit. Here's hoping things will change soon!