I completely agree.
The reason I was skeptical of joining Steemit at first was the money. It was the"get rich quick" stuff that's almost always bullshit - and creates suspicion towards the entire platform.
I have nothing against TDV, or people making lots of money on Steemit, but I think stuff like TDV making his $15,000 might have been somewhat harmful in the long run, since lots of hopefuls joined Steemit with the hopes of doing the same, and then left disappointed, and THEN told their friends that the whole thing is a "scam".
But I've liked Steemit, there are few trolls, people seem pretty accepting, I've gotten a positive response for blogs that have been about very different topics. People seem interested in what other people have to say, and behave better than they do on Facebook, for the most part. Almost every conversation on Facebook ends in me getting frustrated, unless it's among a very close circle of friends - and new information is rarely acquired by hanging with the same people all the time.