I agree with all that you said and ran into all of that confusion and incorrect thoughts. I'm still here for three reasons. I found out that Steemit is about way more than just making money that goes into my pocket. It's about helping people and learning about other people and seeing ourself as a cog in a world much bigger than yourself.
It isn't full of the unicorn sales men that clog the "other side" of the traditional internet world, all promising that if you just give them money they will hand you the magic button to internet wealth and riches.
Yeah there's some scammers here, they'll pop their ugly little heads up no matter where we go, but there aren't many.
ANd yes, my income from Steemit is less than I thought it might be, but no matter what it's still more than I would make doing the same thing on Wordpress or my own site or Medium.
And I like it here. I've met some really incredible people and every day is a new adventure. So I'm staying. For a long long time.