hey @denmarkguy, i appreciate you writing about this as i'm quite new here and even in my short two .5 months i have noticed a type of apathy start to take over in the last two weeks. i've wondered if it had something to do with the FulltimeG's "war" against the monster?? anyway, that seems to have sucked up many people with SP's attention of late and I think for us lower on the totem pole who are earning .01% of the reward pool if we are lucky, the numbers have gone down even further as the ones with higher SP aren't even really engaging with us that much anymore.
Steemit is certainly an interesting ecosystem. And where so many talk about how it can be improved, it's interesting to just dive right in and "play the game" a little (i bought a few votes from bots today myself) and see what happens.
personally, i have so many people i am growing to care about commenting on most of my posts, but none of their votes are worth a lot. as an account grows and starts to expect the $70 payouts (and if they aren't getting them, upvoting with bots so they do), do the organic, truly engaged followers leave?
if that's the case, someone please reach out to me now who has "made it" to that point-- cuz i imagine that's not satisfying...
anyway ,always thoughtful and enjoyable to reflect on the questions inherent in your articles, @denmarkguy. thanks.