Missed this post originally when you posted it. Welcome back. I also took a break for a little over a month and scaled back some of the things I've been working on.
But after reviewing my past experience, I don't think critical evaluations of Steemit are much welcome and it might be a waste of my time...
I recently found this too, or at least there is not much will for diverging from The Path as laid out by Steemit Inc. I've kind of given up here. When we were debating hotly around the time of the whale experiment I think many thought there was still a lot that could be decided by democratic style means, but I don't think that any more.
The best you can do is to show problems using grey-hat tactics I think, otherwise you will not be listened to. And I don't have the time for that any more. We'll see what the future holds.
I was being flagged by power-rich-"rulers" for the somewhat popular posts about morality and consciousness which added value to many people's lives, and then I was just being flagged for months on end which destroyed my enthusiasm for Steemit.
It's a pity this resulted in your enthusiasm being affected. I'd hazard however that it was more so the economic effects that were most important. I don't apologize for my criticism of your writing at times, but I do hope you know it was always in the spirit of debate and critical thinking.
But tech companies don't seem to like it when you don't have a "steady" work history...
My recommendation is to do some short accredited online course in the area you want to get back into. You can probably find something that you already know a lot about in your area and just blaze through it. It's just for the paper, but you know, you got to play the game.
Good luck. 👍