Hello @the-gorilla and the rest of chatters.

I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the post and the response of all the participants. I am of the opinion that sharing knowledge is practically the only way for us as a human species to evolve, and this conversation corroborates that.

I have seen diverse opinions, and all of them have contributed something new and different to the proposed topic, so I will try to give my own.

In one way or another, all participants are investors, some on a small scale, some on a medium scale, and the fewest on a large scale. This means that we all expect to receive some reward for our time on the platform, which in turn is a reflection of how our society works. On the one hand there are hordes of mostly young people, armed with their mobile phones trying to scrape a few cents in the shortest possible time. On the other hand we have groups of quieter 'investors' who go from one contest to another, participating more or less in some activity, but who practically never stop to answer except to say thank you and little else. Finally, I note that there is a small group that tends to be loyal to its community, that occasionally goes out to see other groups, but that spends most of its time in a fixed community. It would be childish to lump everyone into these three categories, but in my opinion the vast majority of users fit more or less into them.

From simple observation and a bit of intuition, I deduce that the first group, those who want a quick buck, have no future, especially if, as some of them do, they cheat to get it.

The second group are gradually doing things. Most of them, in a lively way, get some satisfactory reward and enjoy publishing their daily life or, in the case of creative people, some good photos, verses or drawings. Generally speaking, they don't have many collective concerns.

And then there is the third group, those who have an affinity to a community, commit themselves to the functioning of the community and make others feel 'protected'. I consider this way of functioning in Steemit to be the best long-term investment.

But as in almost everything there is a 'but', and that 'but' is in the time that everyone has available. In my particular case, and I extend this to my partner who also participates, I would love to be able to dedicate much more time to the community than I do, but it is impossible, and I certainly have tried. Both are forms of participation and both are necessary, but as has been said before, the vast majority prefer to post rather than comment. As investors it is more profitable. The solution? I imagine it is technically complicated, but comments should be encouraged with more rewards.

With regard to other aspects that can be improved, and without forgetting that we are investors, there are more or less ethical ways of being rewarded. We have seen cases of moderators and country representatives buying votes in nutbox and posting in another community because it is more numerous and will have more prizes, and also with very low quality entries. I think that as a moderator you should maintain a minimum of composure and ethics. A moderator with an account worth many dollars, it is unethical to participate in tiny contests where the maximum prize is 3 steems. Of course it's not illegal, but it sure isn't ethical. But... we are all investors, and therein lies part of the problem.

Well, I've had enough of this. A thousand thanks to the creator of the debate and to all the participants @bambuka, @stef1, @papi-mati, and the rest. Everything that has been said has been a great contribution, so let's keep the debate going!

I love to participate! But I need time...