Now must be the time to PANIC!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAhHHH!!!!
Ok, now I got that out of my system.
Let's have a rational discussion about the matter.
I've heard complaints from some talented up and coming authors on steem that payout is lower, and why aren't thier posts doing as well. I also have noticed that my posts don't seem to grow in value as quickly as they did a short time ago.
We can easily see from 
"The number of votes for posts on the trending page ranges from only 7 to 844. This is considerably different to that of the August report where the highest vote count was 3678 and there were 4 authors that received well over 1k votes per post on the trending page."
So... What Gives?
Is it the season? Is it the instability of Steemit.com? Is it the feeling that we are 'home alone' and the developers are off in vacation land, which some people seem to have? Is it the bitcoin frenzy that's going on right now?
Probably a combination of those things. It's hard to know, because we are so new, that there are no easy patterns to point to. Only calculated guesses.
From my experience on steem for the past 4 months, I am realizing that steem is one of the more stable cryptocurrencies around! We have ups and downs, but have stayed close to the $1 value for 1 Steem for that whole time! That's incredible. While bitcoiners are riding the rollercoaster, we experience a relatively smooth ride. That's nice.
What do to besides panic?
Mindset
First of all comes the long term mindset which is very important here. Anyone who has been here more than a month must have the long term mindset. Otherwise who would stay for pennies, or less than pennies a day?
It's wonderful when we get a quick return on our efforts, but if this place has shown me anything, it's that diligence and longevity wins the day.
Keep working, work harder, smarter, or be more patient.
The devs are working on HF20 to include SMT functionality, as well as more sustainable account creation. This will come with some changes to the steemit front end. Probably big changes. If you see that the devs don't talk much, and they aren't as focused on small things about our current front end, consider that they might be working on the "Big Change," not trying to plug every hole in the current infrastructure.
Let's not become gripers and complain a bunch.
Let us accept what we cannot change, change what we cannot accept, and learn the difference.
Many of those big whales you see today, were using steemit consistently when there was no value to the posts and the price of steem was down to pennies. So if you get too sad, try to remember how good we have it today.
Use our resources!!!!!
Off Site Editors
If you are having trouble with steemit eating your posts, use one these off site editors. I'm not sure why anyone would want to create a post in the steemit editor, so clunky. Here are some editors I've found useful in my time here.
- hackmd.io - Realtime collaborative markdown editor
- Saves text as you work.
- Allows multiple people to easily edit a document at the same time.
- MarkdownPad -Editor for windows
- Haroopad - My favorite editor for linux, but also available for Mac, and Windows.
All of these editors offer a side-by-side view of your post showing you the preview while you write it, as well as support for multiple coding languages! However, make sure to double check in preview how your post looks before you hit send. Each editor works slightly differently in the way it represents markdown\html
Other front ends for the Steem Blockchain
Many people do not understand, that while steemit can be malfunctioning, the steem blockchian is specifically designed to be safe against attack, computer glitches, or localized power failures.
These options will keep you Steeming, even when Steemit.com isn't working too well.
Don't Panic
Help New Users.
Finally, let me remind us all how much it takes to get started here. If you find a new user who seems to be lost, please help them learn some things!! This is the future, and it's in our hands... we must help the newbs find their way.
Since there is lower account creation, and retention rate has always been a problem, whatever we can do to help new users ensures the future of this platform.
I created this simple guide to help new users get started. Feel free to share it with others, and\or recreate it for your own blog.
REMEMBER!!!!!
If your posts are valuable, and worth more than you get paid, then they shall provide value for years to come.
Every post, I write so that it can continue to provide value, regardless of pay. This is an important part of the mindset which will help you to succeed in the long run.