It does go slower and slower and slower, that reputation thing... I've stopped trying to figure out how it works.
As you know, I've reflected on much same things..."all these words" we write; I haven't authored near as many posts as you, but about the same length in general. And it really does make me hope and wish that Steemit... or at least a significant part of the community... will continue to value and produce content of merit and interest. I'd just as well just head over to Farcebook for my cat video fixes...
It seems people are trying to mimic other sites here. They have a pattern of behaviour that is well trained and a pattern of supporting that behaviour too.