I've made almost $12,000.00 usd since August 2016. Steem was worth .50¢, most of my post were way under $10.00 for months, I survived the hardfork when the pool was drained too! I kept posting at least once a day and also I'm an artist, very niche work. Unlike many post that focus on cryptocurrency and Steemit, which rake in hundreds of dollars. You are right that the algorithms for payout is screwed, do a search. There is or was a lot of discussion about changing rewards. I'm not tech savvy so I can't go into detail.

But I do have to say, $12,000.00 is more than I made on FB or wordpress, and I still own my paintings!