I think the hard part is that many people feel like the last HFs gave even more power to those who already had the biggest stakes. The new non-linear voting means that until you get to $20 payout, you get less than before. Most small accounts don't get even close.
Now there's also groups of people who have decided that their vision for Steem is the best one and anyone who falls outside that is downvoted. Some talk about removing profitability from vote buyers, but I've seen people who bought say $10 in votes get downvoted by a trail of autovoters for $12. (You talked about lazy curators, what about lazy flaggers?) So it wasn't about the profit, otherwise the downvotes would have stopped at $2 or $3 to remove any profit.
I know more people who are thinking about leaving Steem because of newsteem than I had seen in a while before it. I'm reluctant to post even this comment because I know it will open me to the downvote trail from ocdb. It's funny how so many crusaders come in declaring themselves the savior, but end up doing so much damage.
Steemsilvergold was doing a push to increase exposure of the annual Steem Silver Round we selling. Not only does it help us share our love of precious metals, it is a physical representation of Steem. One would think that such a marketable piece would be valuable to newsteem because it would increase exposure of Steem to a different market of people. However, because donated monies were used to buy votes and get greater exposure, the downvotes rained down. Any "profits" (which would have been used to support the group anyways) and then some were removed by the new sheriff and his pals. When a large community starts beating up smaller communities, how can we expect the small communities to stay bullish on Steem?
I wish things were different. I've been here almost two years and have put a lot of time into Steem. I just think it's headed the wrong direction. Newsteem made it worse, not better for the smaller accounts. It changed the rules so those with much have more, plus they can take away more from those who have less. (More rewards and free downvotes)
At the end of the day, I don't need the "income" from Steem to pay bills. Thank goodness too! If I did, I'd be a lot more worried, but as it is I just question if it's a good use of my time. That's a question we all have to ask about all things in life: "Is it worth it?"
Speaking of direction, is it true that Steemit changed it so regardless of what front-end you use to post, the search engines and such direct to Steemit? I forget what the term is for that, but it seemed worrisome.
Just some of my thoughts. You don't have to agree. Have a good day regardless!