Does anybody else feel burned by steemit?

Does anybody else feel burned by steemit? In particular, anybody with less than a "70" reputation rating ? I do.

I've been on steemit (actively) for almost a month now and admittedly, that's not very long and I agree, I haven't quite "paid my dues " compared to the big dogs around here. I'll also readily admit that I'm not the most interesting blogger and my posts are certainly lacking in community value. No argument there. I quickly understood that maybe blogging wasn't the best option for me to prosper on steemit. So I read the rules for curating.

Curating sounded like something I could do and do well. And so I did. Very well in my opinion. This game was easy to figure out. Vote on the big dogs and vote early. Having a low steem power balance, vote conservatively, selectively and effectively. Never vote on more than 20 posts per 24 hours. Vote on the big dogs... this, I feel, is the hustle.

I paid much attention to my feed, waiting for those money makers to post. Time after time I nailed it. First upvote sometimes, second upvote often, top ten upvoters repeatedly. And then I patiently waited for those curator steem power dollars to begin rolling in. A week went by, finally, and I watched my wallet.. and watched.. and watched.

WTF? Wait, what? Where's my money? That's it? What about 50% split amongst the curators? And what about being one of the first to upvote, sometimes THE FIRST? Nothing? A few I got one tenth of one penny. Are you serious? On a $1000+ Hive account@officialfuzzy post? On numerous multi hundred dollar posts? Most of which I saw absolutely zero? THIS SUCKS. On this post 👇I clearly remember being the second upvote. The author being the first.

And I got nothing.

And what about the whole 50/50 thing? It's not true. Curating is a waste of time. Steemit is only profitable if you blog. And only if you have a 70 or higher reputation rating. It's f'ed up that way. We know who's making money here and the fake curating rules are set up so those bloggers are the ones getting the upvote so they are the ones continuing to be the money makers. It's vaguely based on content. Mostly on who the consistent money makers are. This is crap.

I gave this a good spin and I tried my best and I wasted my time, attention and effort. It's a sham. I was excited about steemit and I had encouraged my wife to join and blog and I encouraged some friends to do the same. I take it back. This shit sucks. I'll be sure to share my experience amongst my circles. Thank you steemit for (almost) nothing.