RE: Why there are so many fake accounts and abusers?
First, let me answer your opening question:
MONEY! Unfortunately, too often "easy money". For some users so much money that they are not ashamed to pick up dirty money.
And I would like to take up this point very briefly (whereby I can sign all of your listed aspects [By the way, I especially like the paragraph with "This is not the Steemit I knew." I feel the same way... 😔]).
There's no harm in it if a user needs money, but if the sole reason behind joining Steemit is money then I'm afraid we can't expect much from such users.
This is a very central point.
Of course, I can understand that many people really need the money, but the biggest mistake is to become dependent on the Steem. Nothing good can come out of that.
The fact that many people think this way is unfortunately due to the false advertising that many people (including "country representatives") do for the Steem: There you earn money by blogging.
This is a big, big mistake!
You get the chance to earn rewards (money) if you do well. But nobody gives you money for nothing. That's not how the world works, not even Steem.
By the way, the fact that for a large percentage of users here it's all about money (users who don't even participate in the "give and take" because they only see the quick overproduction of their own (bad) content) makes more and more long-time and loyal users like you and me lose interest and leave too.
I hope that the point where we have to decide who is more "valuable" for Steemit and its growth is not already passed...
We already had so much unused time to rethink - let's do it now!!!
Btw... the sheep are sheared... 😉
Thank you for the big hug; felt better. XD
Dependency on Steem doesn't let you focus on the needs of a successful community. Instead, you start obsessing over votes because you gotta earn a living.
I always tell people to have a career outside Steemit if they want to keep themselves sane. Otherwise, they will always stay in misery because sc01 is not giving enough attention.
This is where we go wrong and lure people with (as you said) false advertising. I myself realized it after doing some promotion last year and it immediately hit me that I made a big mistake. I talked to those people again and cleared out everything so that they don't get any false impression. Twelve people signed up and only one stayed after I popped the bubble of easy money.
Since then, I haven't done any online promotion. I occasionally and carefully mention Steemit to people who I believe have some caliber.
Absolutely and I will add that nowhere in the world does blogging directly generate money. It's always the traffic to a blog that helps in making money. ;) On Steem, we get incentives with/without the traffic that's just a bonus and nothing to obsess about.
Coming to see them beauties. ;)