It is hard to deny that Steem is broken, and just like in the real world the people who sit at the top (the 1%) control most of the wealth and yield the most power. And the more power you get on Steemit, the more money you make. I have done okay for myself here, I wouldn't say it's a success by any means because I've experienced what it's like to be flagged by someone more powerful and have your money "stolen" from you.

To play the Steem game you need money because money makes money here. As a newbie, it can be almost impossible to get anywhere and the amount of time I have spent the past four months to get to a current value of close to $600 doesn't equate to what my time is worth.

There is nothing more demotivating than seeing a spammy piece of shit post with spelling mistakes, no formatting or basic grade three grammar earning hundreds of dollars in votes (because of votes), while great content from other authors putting in effort earns nothing (or peanuts).

I have hopes this platform will turn itself around and to its credit, there is a tonne of initiatives underway designed to prevent people like Haejin from taking more from the reward pool than they deserve. For now, many of us plebs have to live off the crumbs.

Maybe it was just an expression and there wasn't any real meaning behind it, but Steem isn't worth killing yourself over mate, if you ever need someone to talk to, I know first-hand (even as a newbie) what this site can do to you and always happy for a chat about the state of this place.