I agree with much of what you express regarding difficulty generating money but here are my thoughts: Steem is very new and runs on technology 90% of the public does not understand with expert comprehension. It has a little over 1 million users. That is where Facebook was around 2004. I suggest you Google 'Metcalfe's Law' and see how it applies to the growth of Facebook and even Bitcoin. I am in this for the long game. Most people on here, including myself have not built up enough Steempower to have voting worth. That won't be the case forever. Now, regarding allegations of Scam - I have seen nothing that leads me to believe that. I question if you understand what a pyramid scheme is as I also see no indication of pyramid scheme here. I bought into Steem - where is my current risk of financial loss? Your logic reads 'I am not sure how to generate money with my posts therefore this feels like a pyramid scheme'. I should also mention that decentralization in pure form is an ideal just like true centralization or absolute hierarchy. Egalitarianism is not reality - different structures of delegations will always create contextual specifics. The appropriate use of metadata tags + follower networks is important on here. If you have less than 1k followers you likely need help from someone bigger, hence whales helping minnows and bot services. Finally, I take issue with your comment re: money. Steem and crypto IS 'legit real world currency' - more so even than the worthless fiat currency like USD which you are likely referring to. That is why say Bitcoin has a market cap of 151.98B$USD. Sounds pretty 'real world' to me.