Extremely important post. As a new steemian I find myself weighing whether this platform really has a future, given the dynamics described...

If it's just about making money, even as a talented writer and multimedia artist, my time probably will be better spent learning more about trading crypto. At least that seems "more honest" than playing the bots.

I've seen (a lot) more actual debate of ideas on (hold your noses) Facebook than here... Something really is off here, maybe fatally so (?)...