Steemit people revise your expectations and enjoy what you have built.

As a person who saw Steemit when it launched, I thought it was a terrible platform when it launched. The main reason was that 95% of the posts were about Steemit. Do you know how many people want to read blog posts about Steemit? About less than 1% of the people who listen to crypto-currency news, and people who listen to crypto-news are already a small minority. It was a niche of a niche, and this niche was enthralled with itself... not very appealing to most people including myself!!!

Recently, I came back to steemit to see what was going on. And to my surprise everyone had settled down and real blogging was happening. I saw pictures of mushrooms which I love to pick. I saw news on cryptocurrencies, and not just steemit. I saw other news. I saw how people were polite because votes were at stake. I also received votes for my posts, and to my amazement, Steemit pays out way, way, way better than YouTube. On YouTube, I might expect to make $700 per 1 million views. But on Steemit a few hundred likes can get you some serious cash. One of my videos earned $13 which I thought was amazing.

The steemit you have today, is better than the steemit when it launched, much better. So much better I was recommending the platform to family and friends who like to blog. Why not? Signup is free, and you earn rewards!!!

My youtube channel has 3k views, 100 followers, and many likes, and it has earned me $3 in revenue. :| It's pathetic. This platform is so amazing, but people just have not realized it yet. It takes time. Adoption is something that trickles in at first, and then cumulatively snow-balls as a platform approaches maturity. Steemit is still in the adoption phase, and it only needs to keep doing the basics well, and work on eliminating any confusion the platform might have for new users.

For example, one of my friends who is a blogger was asking me how hard it is to cash out rewards earned. I told him it would take 2 websites since that's the only way I know how to do it... and then I realized it is probably too complex for him to use coinbase + poloniex to exchange steem dollars into real cash. Fixing minor things like this or educating more people, reduces friction against user acquisition, making it easier for people who want to sign-up and use the platform. Little things like this will snow-ball and you will get social media press because of your superior blogging rewards and payouts. It just takes time. That's all.

Now that inflation has been fixed, the system seems pretty sane to me. I would just suggest you guys stop this "whale voting ban" and change the system somehow to fix it. I saw the whale votes when it launched, it made me think... "blogging + lottery". It was a very odd combination because it made it seem this was a blogging lottery where your chances of payout was based on whale votes. What is happening now though, by downvoting whale votes... that's just confusing. Confusing for whales, confusing for new people, and a hassle for people downvoting whales. Systems need to align with objectives and just incentive people to make right behaviors. Trying to manage the system against itself in how it's built is not ideal. It is a minor thing, though, since that one little hiccup is not such a big deal when we consider.... we are getting paid real money to blog!!!!!!

Steemit users, appreciate the platform you have built!