Thank you for this analysis! I've been meaning to research and try to understand the payout system and how it works. THis is my first week on steemit and I'm pretty happy with my results. However, I have spent a total of about 8-10 hours the past week crafting what I hoped to be quality content.

My rewards were pretty small until I started commenting on other posts and interacting with people who have a bit more clout than me.

I think those of us who are just getting in now still have a decent chance at making good (maybe not life changing but good) money as the user base grows. Steemit seems like it's still kind of in its infancy and has a lot of growth potential.

I've upvoted this post and followed you. Thanks again for the info.