Don't get me wrong, I like steemit and the online socialization here is really something you can't get on any other site.
But, one of the main problems I've been thinking about for a while is the way the money is distributed. I know, I know, it's not about the money; except it is. When I started using steemit people were very into checking everything on their posts. There were articles about using sites like grammarly and other spell checkers to make sure everything was top notch on that end. Then there were posts about formatting, markdown, proper post layout, using copyrighted material, etc.
And the thing was, all that stuff did matter back then. You could make a really good post and it would earn a good payout. If you made an obvious low quality post, the earnings would be $0.00. The amount of votes from one post to the next were different and so were the payouts. The difference in payouts back then was like $0-$80 and 10-200 votes.
Now, I don't find that happens so much. There are some posts that occasionally earn some good rewards and they deserve it, but for the most part there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of curation going on by anyone that can make a difference. The same people make it to the trending page and making hundreds a post and it doesn't matter what they post. The same people earn $30 on most of their posts no matter the quality. The same people make $2 on their posts even if they are the same or better quality of the posts making it to the trending page. The quality of posts doesn't seem to matter anymore. I get pretty much the same payouts and the same amount of votes on everything I post about. Instead of $0-80, it's more like $2-10 and 20-30 votes. It doesn't matter if it's a drawing that took me hours, or a screenshot of the price of bitcoin. It's always the same. Then, someone else draws a picture of a stick-man doing nothing and they make it to the trending page because that's where their posts usually end up. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
Not to complain about it or anything, it's just something I've been observing. Steemit is still awesome and it's getting better all the time. This is a big con for me now, though.
I do see what your saying, and from watching others here, it seems there are ways around it. It does take time, and a community of supporters, I've seen a group of people move up, along with the amount of SteemPower they have by working together.
One thing the people who keep making allot per post seem to have in common is a large amount of SteemPower, or they are friends with someone who has a large amount. So if a few people with lower amounts of SteemPower all banded together in a group, the amount of SteemPower they have as a collective would grow, and in time they could be doing better as a group.
But for me either way, I would rather make that $2, than let someone like the CEO of a large corporation make it instead. So for me, I find some of the best times I've had making a blog, and even making comments on blogs others have written. So although it is a trend yes, it seems to have been changing, and as a group with lower amounts of SteemPower, we can work together and all gain from the experience!
I agree, it is sort of about community to succeed here, but I don't think quality content should require a workaround to make value it's worth. I just think it would be nice to see it sort of go back to the way it was where you never know if you're post is going to do well or not, but still being able to move forward. That great feeling you get when you check your post in the morning from the night before and 100 people have voted on it has sort of gone. It was good to feel that you made a post that had some value, and also good to know when the post didn't have value because it got no votes and needed to do better next time. I'm okay with earning whatever I make here and getting whatever votes I can. I stuck around even when everyone was making $0-0.05 on every post so $2-10 is fantastic (especially with SBD making it more than it seems). I'm sure it will sort itself out, it's just a matter of time.
Agreed, those were the good old days, but you never know they may have there way of coming back!