I joined because i needed a place to consume content but felt it could also earn with my comments instead of wasting energy on reddit bozos for nothing at all.

I agree that it is not easy to make an income on here but that is not what this platform was designed for. Itwas made to reward people for content and curation. profitability is not implied by the creators of steemit, just gauranteed rewards of some level for your content and curation efforts.

the upside is it has opened the door for others to possibly copy the business model and make improvements in the future. I personally aspire to Fork the Steemit blockchain and build my own from it one day after i have gotten a good feel for the shortcomings of this platform.