I do not know what is going on with poloniex but the feedback I get form all over is very poor. My first exchange was bitstamp which is great but limited with coins so opened account with btc-e to purchase some litecoins. After that I started looking around different alts and opened an account with bittrex which has been great so far. Hope it stays that way. Good luck getting your steem out of there A.S.A.P.