As a relatively new user to Steemit I must also confess to being confused by some of the behavior of posts, voting and payout values.

I know about bots and have a general understanding about what they do. Maybe as time passes I'll understand them better and will be able to make an informed judgement about the ethics of using them.

For now, I've stopped looking at the trending and hot pages and am concentrating on simply generating (hopefully) quality content.

Simply stated, I'm not going to be resentful of other people who have been here longer than me and put in the hard work it takes to become successful.

It's counterproductive.

Steemit may not be perfect; others may find ways to "game" the system.

But overall, it offers in my humble opinion the most realistic opportunity to build something with your own hard work than anything else I've seen in my 50+ years on this planet.

Upvoted and resteemed.

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