I've posted some awesome stuff on Facebook, some beautiful photos on Instagram, think they paid me a red cent of stock for my participation? Think they sold me shares. Nope, but they did take my efforts as a sign they could sell me to advertisers.
I've had a blogger account for 7 years, think they are covering my annual url reservation fees for bleedpoetry.com, I could of used google ads, but it was against my philosophy. I left a donation button up that collects dust not dollars.
I've been paying money for a service and community that Steemit offers for free, ad free. Every cent I make is a blessing, it's depressing some people don't see how great this place could be.
Not that I'm not sorry about the other ventures--I'm a writer, and I totally hear you--but I'm very glad you see the uses for Steemit. I could write these rants on Reddit, if I wanted, and what would that do for me? Not a thing. There, and everywhere else, I'm paying for the privilege of talking with people and creating content. Here, I'm getting paid for it, by people that are also getting paid to interact with me. Where's the downside?
Not that there aren't changes that could be made. There definitely are. But they also get made, and I'm encouraged by that.