It has been very strange who has gotten support here and who hasn't overtime. The problem still persist that by giving rewards to creators it is almost bait in a way for them to want to buy more STEEM to gain more influence and pull others in to do the same and without using the Ad revenue to create that additonal revenue stream to reward content creators it is "Ponzi Like"
The reason we can't call the model a Ponzi is because you can come in with no investment other than time so there is no buy in like in an actual Ponzi Scheme. It is a totally voluntary free system.
If Steemit Inc would have managed their funds better and put ads up when the SEO funnel and engagement was at its greatest in 2017 and would have used part of the Ad revenue to buy STEEM and reward content creators in the form of STEEM Power this system would have flourished and created an almost unstoppable feedback loop.
The bad thing is that in its current model STEEM would have to fall to $0.01 for me to feel like I could buy into it and have enough influence compared to the other big accounts to really matter. It is a tough situation for sure.
To me it is pretty clear. Steemit Inc needs to go to a skeleton crew just for minimal maintenance to where they don't have to sell STEEM and half of the ad revenue starts to get rewarded to content creators with high engagement in the form of STEEM Power.
They won't do that though. They will continue to sell and beat the hell out of the price and over spend on employees and not accomplish much. It is honestly sad.