Steem is Fake
Okay, either steem or blocktrades. This is an eclosed system, the money is not itself usable. It will take you literally years to get your Steem out of here, and the only way is blocktrades ... who I sent 7.7 Steem through, and have recieved bupkiss.
And yeah, I did it right.
It takes you exactly 13 weeks to power down, and you can send it to other exchanges, such as Bittrex, as well. You're either malicious, or horribly misinformed.
No, I'm pointing out that the setup of the system itself is painfully flawed in concept. Try finding a post that isn't utter trash ... the problem here is a pervasive one in the whole thing. It's become money-based Facebook, and since I'm already here I am trying to speak up about it. Steemit.com is malicious, itself. I am just a person (or people?) noting that.
How is the website malicious, lol? You can refuse the cash, if you wish, otherwise, it seems perfectly reasonable that people get paid for the content they create and work for. Better than seeing ads all the time.
Because it's functions the same way as a lottery. Most are paying in, not getting anything in return. People who have a lot of money to promote and fake upvotes get to the top, and skim from there. People who make art, music, writing things that aren't get-rich-on-steem posts ... they get left out in the cold, and it' the dead opposite of the draw in the first place. It just further illustrates a societal illness.
As @sebi99p pointed out, it only takes (13) weeks exactly to Power Down Steem Power into Steem, and you can have went to a different exchange.
Also, you have the option of going to the market within Steemit to convert SBD's into Steem immediately, so you don't necessarily have to wait (13) weeks to get fiat currency from your Steemit holdings.
Mind if I ask what happened when you tried to sell the Steem?
Lastly, "...the money is not itself usable," isn't an accurate statement. It has a fiat currency value at all times, and you're free to sell your Steem and take the proceeds out in USD's at any time. I assume that's the usability that you want.
I hope you get it worked out. I'm sure there's many here that would be happy to help you. I've never sold any Steem, so I can't speak from experience. I have used Bittrex many times however, and it's fairly straightforward.
13 weeks isn't "at any time" ... and yeah, like you just said you've never actually attempted to use it. How the fuck two people thought what you just said wasn't literally Nothing, I dunno. I assume it has to do with reciprocal up-votes. Which is the problem. And yeah ... never got the payout. So this is populist bullshit. At the worst.
Seems like you're the only one complaining. Might have to do with your anger problem, and obvious ignorance of the platform.
First, I'm not the only one - it's just that posts about how to catch a goddamn whale rise to the top immediately. And then stay there, so long as a few friendly "whales" keep upvoting one another. People want to win, so they put their money on whoever's already winning.
The real solution here is steem-like ... except all rewards and upvotes invisible, and what you see being targeted by what you either white or don't blacklist. It'd be not this whole prosperity-doctrine-church-of-lies that this is.
I'll admit there are issues, but Steemit is still in beta also. At least free speech is possible here. It's a thing of the past on other platforms. Unless you just wanna post cat videos, or how to put on makeup. If it's causing you that much grief, I'd consider maybe taking a break for a while, and maybe things will have changed when you return.
I believe in Steemit, as of this point, it's one of the only decent platforms on the Internet, at least where you can earn something. Google/YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and many others are no better than the mainstream media. Censorship and propaganda are the name of the game. YouTube has deleted many channels I enjoyed watching.
The whale situation is a problem, but I still believe Steemit will succeed. As we go forward however, I believe that there will be certain groups doing everything they can to ruin it. Free speech isn't something they like, unless it's them speaking freely.
Good luck.