I've praised smartsteem for their change greatly in several places (although to be honest, it was selfishly motivated, as they will do better this way than they would have if they kept doing what they'd been doing). Yes, I benefited, but I've also lost most of my creator rewards elsewhere. I keep track of my income and growth here (currently on week 77) and will soon be able to show what outcome HF21 had on my team's finances. The damage done by HF20 was obvious, subjectively and in the data.

Non-scientific yadda yadda I know, but you won't convince me it was all a coincidence. Sooooo, your optimism is wonderful, but since I don't have much SP (3000ish) I'm nowhere near being in the newsteem club.

I realize that (and have been posting about) the shocks to the economy haven't all shaken out yet, and things are still adjusting. Who knows what could happen next? An entire industry (say bitbots) could collapse, and massive amounts of money could move away from the blockchain, or into some other projects, etc etc. Public opinion can shift. People can get tired of things they first enjoyed. Who knows what will happen over the next few weeks? Wildcard. And yes, wildcard's leave room for optimism.