First off, thanks for the comprehensive, intelligent and reasoned reply.

I've written copious amounts over the years, most of it lost in the mists of time and websites being taken down. At the time I joined Steem(it) I was probably at the end of my avalanche of outpourings which were mostly related to Linux and Open Source but when @steevc pointed out "You write a lot of stuff, wouldn't it be great if you were being paid for it?" my capitalist leanings jumped at membership.

I have to say, my favourite platform was Google+ so Steem seemed like a good alternative when G+ became defunct. Initially, I was really happy with Steemit I kinda 'got it' that my rewards were low due to my "New kid on the block" status and at that stage, the money didn't bother me. After a while though, and struggling to live up to this mantra of "Quality Content" I started to see people posting incredibly immature Memes and videos and earning absolute fortunes from it. I listened to the advice from my peers and guarded my votes with an iron fist in the belief these were honours to only be bestowed on deserving people. Then, as an example, the likes of @sweetsssj came along with her titted bikini and her reviews of the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok which the hotel paid her to do. (I'm making that specific review up by the way. I've no idea if she has actually been there?) and she started hoovering up the votes like no tomorrow. I did some checks (Back then) and found she was huge on other Social Media platforms especially in China and it was clear she just saw Steem as yet another revenue stream for herself. As it turns out, I was right about that bitch (Yep Bitch) Just found this. Seems like Ned was doing dirty tricks back in 2017?

Sorry about that got my hackles up again. I'm still disenchanted with Steem I think too many people view it with rose-tinted glasses and the only ones that are truly happy are the ones pulling $60 to $70 a post let alone the ones in the hundreds and therein lies the problem (With me) at one point my account was worth $3000 odd and I naively thought "Hmm, there might be something to this getting paid for writing?" but as I've bitched boringly countless times I barely earn $5.00 my rep is poor and I've invested as much time a fully employed person can in the last three odd years. For me, and many others, the argument of "How much did you get paid for posting on Mastodon Pete?" doesn't hold any water. I'd far rather be popular and not get paid than work my guts out typing out an eight paragraph post for $1.27 and watch some arse-wipe post a Dtube video, I'll just repeat that, post a video! and get paid $150.00 for it. I work full time I can't spend all day every day trawling for other posts to upvote and comment on so my 'engagement' will always be based on Quality not Quantity

Let's not kid ourselves. It's all about the money otherwise we'd all be on MeWe or some other shiteposting site. #hugs