well, take YT for example, 'thumbs up' - the real indicator of content appreciation, is worth 0. While you need thousands of views and over 2000 followers to even start making any money. Yet everyday new users join and jump through all the necessary hoops to succeed (with less freedom to express themselves and greater competition)... and yet they don't need any encouragement or incentives. So why should people expect that here?

I never bought my way to the platform (i would if i could), but i started from 15 steem and (25) rep like most users here. Whatever I made so far, for better or worse, is from my own effort. I've helped other people too, who I felt could use some help, advice, etc. But this is all a user can do here... we support each other, but have different capacities to do so...

Also content is not everything, social interaction is currency - just as my diagrams points. It's important to reach out, and not only from a position of scarcity ('what is missing'), but from a position of abundance -('I can contribute'). Hopefully this will be the philosophy that dominates this platform... but since we come from a world of scarcity, we also bring scarcity to where we go.

Still, your question and the desire for everyone to do better is very valid, and i often think about 'what ifs' myself...