Interesting read. Just a few fragmented points
I have not log in for a long time since i dun blog a lot at steemit actually and generally not so comfortable with talking about myself to strangers. I still visit facebook and twitter and the likes because my friends are there so there is probably nothing for me to stay in steemit, both content-wise and friends. Personally, i dun find the trending content attractive and so far only followed a few people who talked sense. But i noticed that even the few people who talked sense dun seem to be posting much in steemit. I am the occasional crypto trader, and of course short steem many times. As for blog, maybe just a personal blog. I can see perspectives from perhaps both a content creator and trader. There got to be a midpoint where both roles can meet and work together to make the platform work. HODL steem as a trader is not possible. You can only count on investors who likely want to reward their favorite exclusive content creators. So my advice is probably to have layers of exclusive hidden content from public and featured writers, be it whales or community voted. I am pretty sure steem blockchain may be able to do this.
Steem and steemit probably need a big hype again and the price may then probably go up to have a steak lunch maybe :-)
Anyway, i like your frank opinions. You have a vibrant blog personality and that's why you have many followers. They may not upvote you with big bucks but they are secretly reading your blog for free (like what i do, i dun log in frequently). If steemit fails, please update where you are going.