These are great points. I was not saying that Steem is ONLY about making money, just saying we shouldn't pretend it's not about making money and disparaging people who try to do so. As great as all of the points you make are, I don't think we would get mass adoption of the platform on those items alone.
I don't think the majority of people are as bothered by ads as us early Steem adopters are, and people in general seem to love click-bait which is why it's so popular. Also my guess is that the majority of users probably don't see censorship as an issue since they themselves probably have never been censored and don't see the danger in it.
I think they will come to Steem because they can make money - that to me is the best avenue to mass adoption.
Fair points and no one should be disparaged for enjoying the rewards of their efforts to make this community a better place. The reason it is so powerful is because its a crucible for social and market forces to work together. A funny thing has started to happen in my brain when I read a good article on a different site. I want to up vote so they are rewarded and then I get disappointed when all I can do is share it on facebook. lol
I think ultimately the best reason for people to come to Steem is because Steem has the best content. The most engaging community. And if they have something valuable to contribute they are rewarded fairly. How we get there is the ongoing challenge that makes Steem such an exciting thing to be part of.
Yes Steem needs to attract, encourage and educate present and future content creators and money is definitely an important tool to do that. However, many new users don't make more than a few dollars before they loose patience. So if we are motivating people to join just to make money then we are setting many of them up for disappointed.
This is a good conversation to have and I believe Steem's marketing can mature over time.
That's a really good point that I didn't touch on that if people come just to make money and then are unable to make much they will probably become discouraged and leave.
I think right now though, and probably for a little while ahead, it's still surprisingly easy to make money here with relatively little work if you know what you're doing.
So my point is that we should get the word out about that and educate people as you said. At a certain point in the future when there are significantly more users then making money will be much more difficult but hopefully by then the ecosystem is attracting people on its own.
Thanks for taking the time to engage on this discussion. I'm working on some ideas for Steem advocacy. Would like to get you opinion on more Steem topics. Can I contact you privately?
Sure, let me know how you want to get in touch.
Cool, I sent you my telegram number via encrypted memo.