Hey Terry! FWIW, I read all your posts with interest. However, I have (almost) stopped commenting or posting here because of the very cons that you mentioned. I had imagined a popular platform like Steemit would have its share of spam, but the magnitude of it is becoming clear to me now.

However, as a person that likes open and distributed collaboration, I don't want to go back to Facebook / Twitter / Google+.

I would rather wait for the next generation of SteemIt (my bets are on EOS) and tolerate the spam / misuse in the meanwhile.

clear skies, and hope to see you around here, or somewhere in the future open platforms!