I suppose with the recent changes that Youtube have put in place, users are looking for another quick get rich scheme to jump on, unfortunately for them Steemit is not the answer. It won't take them long before they realise this but there's still just as many spammers joining Steemit as there are leaving so Im going to assume this is how the platform will stay for a while.
I agree that Steemit felt cosy and friendly. It took me a few months to get into it but when i did it felt like home.
It takes a while for them to realize that this is hard work, so we're bound to get more spammers than those that leave. Measures need to be set in place before it gets out of control and some spammers with too much money in their hands organize their circle-jerk networks of trash content.