This looks like a really cool community, and I'll definitely give it a look. One of the really hard things about Steemit is the fact that someone can be on the platform for a few months and just skyrocket past someone that's been on for a full year (like me! lol).

There is the feeling that I and others like me are 'doing something wrong' or that the deck is stacked against us. Then again, like you say, you have superior experience (years of it) and are able to leverage your networking, blogging, and statistics skills on the platform to your advantage. And, as you do add more value by bringing those things, do you not deserve to rewarded?

It's a difficult question. I plan on participating a lot more in Discord channels (and even maybe starting my own when I find out how!) and commenting on interesting articles like the ones you write, but I suppose I have only this to say: for most of us minnows the grind is all too real.

Arguments on the platform (that I'm sure your aware of) between powerful users and the bot problem are two major issues on the Steemit that need to be resolved in order to give anyone who currently has under 5,000 SP (let alone under a 1,000) anything resembling a fair shake.

I have faith in the platform, but it's clear that we as a community are going to have to enforce some serious changes, somehow.