Hello, computer.
How is Steemit not a scam or pyramid scheme?
Well, for starters, you can participate without ever putting any funds in... that's a pretty good indicator.
However, let's suppose you did.
Consider Bernie Madoff. If he had promised all of his investors "Bernie Tokens" instead of cash, then he would not have been running a pyramid scheme, presuming that the "Bernie Token" value was set by a free market and not a price peg. Everyone involved would have known the risk: that "Bernie Token" could increase or decrease in value in an open market.
Price can still collapse from a drop in demand, but the force that destroys a pyramid scheme – inability to secure enough incoming funds to cover an EXPECTED regular withdrawal rate – can't happen to Steem.
TLDR: A pyramid scheme is designed to, and must, fail by the laws of mathematics. Steem has no such handicap. Steem rewards are not paid from "new, dumb money.", but expected dilution.
Where does the money come from?
As 
More philosophically, imagine if a company issued you tiny, fractional shares in their stock as reward for quality content, rather than trying to fund it via advertising or "future earnings." This company could set a rate of dilution that all board members or shareholders would agree to going in (in our case, 9.5% per year, -.5% per year.) Assuming the free market sets a non-zero (and non-trivial) price for Steem, this would be a valid way to fund a start-up company with no capital.
Steem is trying to do something analagous.
TLDR: Steadily reducing, fixed inflation.
How do I get my money?
It's very easy to withdraw (liquid) Steem and Steem Back Dollars. You can have either token on an exchange like Bittrex in mere minutes for fractions of a penny in fees. From there, you are a few clicks away from having Bitcoin, Ethereum or any other cryptocurrency.
The final, and most difficult step if starting from scratch, is converting that Bitcoin to a fiat currency. There are multiple legitimate alternatives, but most have slow interfaces or poor service (Kraken, Gemini, Local Bitcoins, Coinbase).
Once you are onboarded at one of these locations, quickly cashing out via wire transfers to any bank account is simple. However, many a would-be investor or user of cryptocurrency have rationalized away their unwillingness to persevere through this process and missed out on huge gains.
TLDR: Steem > Bittrex (Poloniex if desperate) > Kraken/Gemini (Coinbase if desperate) > Fiat
How do you know the price won't crash?
Well, how do you know your stocks or bonds or car won't crash? Can you find a national government or business on a national exchange with compelling fundamentals in this sea of record-high price-earnings ratios and record low (financial repression) bond rates?
TLDR: You don't/can't. Risk = reward. At least Steem has both, unlike bonds. Welcome to investing.
This sounds too good to be true?
Generally, it's not, but you may be overestimating how easy it is to earn rewards. You will get relatively little (ie. none without making powerful friends) for shitposting. If Steemit seems like a viable get-rich-quick scheme, and you aren't predicting $10/Steem, you're either wrong or Ernest Hemingway
TLDR: Steem is not too good to be true, but your ego is probably overestimating the quality of the content you think you'll produce and therefore overestimates your potential reward. (It even says so in the whitepaper.)
"So ask less questions...and make more money." There's a lesson in there somewhere.
Follow 4 follow?
I'll pass, thanks.
TLDR: No.
If you have any additions or errata for this post, please let me know! I will see that they are voted to the top of the comments, and will make the appropriate edits (if possible).
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