Great post couple thoughts from a real human, not a robot lol.
I think bots should be allowed for upvoting but commenting and creating content bots should not be allowed and IMHO anyone using them should be downvoted. They add nothing to the platform, they create shitty content, and it's unfair they earn more than people who really do add value and spend time and effort creating content. On the comment front, its' frustrating to see I got a comment, go to engage with the person and realize it's an automated bot content clogging up my comments with nonesense.
Bringing over a Youtube following can be great or kind of a non-event. I came on here with 70,000 Youtube followers and I brought some people over here but few stuck around, most people thought they were spinning their wheels for nothing and didn't really enjoy the content on here. More recently I see hodgetwins and furiouspete comming over here and doing very well. I like both those guys and follow them on Youtube, however honestly I can't say that all their posts deserve teh amount they are earning. I'll see some of them make $300 for a shitty post and then see a great post by someone else make $3. I'll be curious to see if big Youtubers stick around and continue doing well or if people are trying to get them engaged early on with big payouts and hoping they stick around. I have a feeling the next big Youtuber who comes on here will start doing really well and these guys may be tossed aside at which point will be interesting to see if they stick around.
Steemit has way too much gamesmanship going on. It's not about creating good content, it's about getting a circle of powerful people to support you and its about networking. When I read comments about 50% are from bots, 40% are people who skimmed as little of a post as possible while taking in enough to leave a halfway decent content and maybe 10% is actually thoughtful comments from people who actually consumed the content.
YouTube
I have noticed when someone from YouTube that has a bit of a follow comes over Steemit brings out the red carpet for them. They get massive upvote for little work and over time they don’t invest the time into the platform to get anywhere. Once the massive upvotes stop coming in they seem to slither back over to where they came from. They got away with some easy money but our reward pool just won’t reward them with that $2k every time like they want to make.
They also seem to notice that comment sections here on Steemit are not as bad as the burning trash heap of a comment section their YouTube videos are. So in a way they almost seem hesitant to even want tell anyone they are here. They get to enjoy for a little while not dealing with massive trolls spamming them garbage all day long.
Comment Section
While I do agree with you most people seem to only put in minimal effort. There are some wonderful places here on Steemit to leave and engage in the comments. Find the places here that you enjoy engaging and commenting on. I have a couple I don’t tend to share the places I love as I do not want the people who only post comments to get paid to find them.
It’s a sad but true thing. There are a lot people out there who only comment in places that pay. Those people post comments so fast and so short you wonder why any author would reward them at all when its clear they are just after that upvote without much thought or effort put into it.
There are some people in the list above that do spend a majority of their time enjoying content and commenting to it in a way to create engage tend make friends here. If you have not already joined The Curation Leagues I recommend you checking it out. While spam comments if enough are made can get people high ranking in League 2. There are also a lot of quality commenters there as well.
This is a thing. It didn't phase me, cuz I'm not after rewards, but I've seen folks get so excited by their early success that they quit their jobs, and then the letdown afterwards (when the promoters go after the next mark) really left them in a lurch. Kinda sad, but life is a learning experience.
BTW, I'm totally not a robot. I'm just here doing the things we people do, like eating food and hanging out with all my human Steemit friends =p