Part of Steemit's problem is the initial token distribution. Capital was concentrated artificially in too few people to get the network off the ground but that is actually improving. The distribution is flattening out, albeit slowly.

The bot-army thing is something that can only be address by bandwidth limitations and the like. I quit @minnowsupport because I wasn't getting any return on my investment for the bandwidth it was costing me, for example.

All the bot and upvote schemes have a limited lifespan before they lose their effectiveness, I've found.

There is always a difference between the specification of a problem (building a network that pays for its bandwidth usage internally) and the implementation of a solution. Just because Steemit has flaws does not mean that a system can't be built that doesn't.

I think the rise of the SBD/USD ratio has more to do with a shortage from hoarding into a new bull phase. This is making STEEM worth a freaking ton.

Have you noticed that the post estimations don't match the real world value? Because the steemit front-end is calculating your reward based on the SBD = $1USD when it's actually worth $11.50? That means that posts worth $1 are actually worth 6 to 7 times that.

I've been racking up STEEM at an astounding rate given this 5:1 STEEM/SBD ratio by trading immediately on the market. Then converting STEEM to BitShares and trading them up on Openledger. Working beautifully to help get my work properly remunerated.