Your persistence is admirable and happy you are proud of your hard work. Thats fantastic! I am not seeing the same opportunity for new users though.
Nobody can turn back time and it would have been huge to have the whole world on board back in 2016.
Everything I'm saying is that it makes no sense to point a finger at someone. Time is much better spent on improving your own stuff. So while you complain about "shit posts earning crazy amounts" you could have been writing a new shit post on your own :-)
Persistency and patience will always pay off.
If you need more evidence: @acromott is the very best example of how quality content is able to succeed on steemit. He joined in May 2017 (like you).
Haha I just checked his blog and perhaps it wasn’t the best timing to see it but 5 photos earned him $28 or so on his latest post. Pizza anyone? In any case, yes “winners”can be selected, however the go getters who are just as good sometimes get overlooked. As well, aim not sure about your statement that everyone started from 0 here. I did, but dig enough on this blockchain and you will find out that steem was ninja mined and distributed to select members. In any case I appreciate the frank discussion. I believe you earned every steem dollar.. and your experience on the platform isn’t being taken for granted. I’m just trying to bring a different perspective.
I guess you will always find something negative in any of my statements, so I will leave you now and just wish you: best of luck on your steemit journey :-)