I was the very first person to call out who you are talking about the very first day in his introduction post and I have paid dearly for it ever since. I called BS on the payout for that worthless POS post that generated something close to 5 thousand dollars. I strongly believe a turning point for the worse is when this person joined the platform. I am not suggesting this one person is the cause but it was about the time things here started to change in a negative way.
I am almost positive I have been blacklisted on my account because of it too. I haven't had a payout worth any amount for the time I put into a post since that day. I have had a few Ned and Dan votes but with a devalued % in payout.
Go look at his introduction post and you will see my post in there calling out the system and him defending it as well. Since then I accepted I won't grow a following here because of that, which is ok. I had and still have several other outlets for my work that I am guaranteed to get paid on.
Now I will admit my posts are probably not worth thousands of dollars that I have released here on Steemit. I purposely didn't share the work that I put a great deal of time and effort into until the platform proved to me first it was worth doing so. I believe Steemit needs to prove to quality content creators first and foremost before we commit great deals of time and energy.
I forged ahead with releasing content here with a very cautiously optimistic attitude, and obviously up to this point, my gut instinct has been right. I have only given to Steemit so far and have taken nothing from it. What you see in my wallet is what I have earned but have left it there.
For some time now I have had the thought that Steemit just might be a 2-year long experiment where a select few will benefit greatly from it. And if for some reason it took off they benefit even more. There really doesn't seem to be a lose lose situation for a handful of them.
From how the mining started to the sock puppet accounts today, it is very hard to convincingly say Steemit is going to succeed.
If there is anything that I take away from Steemit as it currently sits, is that a platform like this could never be successful when real monetary value is attached to it (money). It seems nearly impossible to create a fail proof system where the "gamers" won't find a way to game the system to their advantage leaving everyone else SOL.
RESPECT.
I think it is just possible that "a certain party" is not a scam, but part of a controlled opposition. If he shouts "look up", look down, and so on. There might be some usefulness.