I generally agree, it feels like a "circle-jerk" most of the time, with people voting each other on totally worthless posts. But, it is also in the user's power to tell the wheat from the chaff. Personally, I have a very limited group that I follow, mostly artists that share their work and writers that have something interesting to say; I do not aspire to become rich from Steemit, so I do not fixate on getting high payouts; thus, I do not have to "whore myself" to whales!
When I browse my feed, I am glad to see interesting articles and beautiful art. If I do not like someone's post for some time, I mute/unfollow them and keep my feed clean.
Take the money out of the equation, how many of you would be here?
This is so true, indeed. I guess that the vast majority here are doing it for the money, and it is expected and understandable. But, personally, I think that I would miss the great posts on my feed, even if money in Steemit was thrown away. I never expected to be a steem-millionaire anyway, right?
Generally, I think it is all about users' expectations.