the hidden hand of the Steemit algorithms

Officially, there ARE no algorithms on Steemit. No code (or people) behind the scenes, deciding what does well and what doesn't, what we see and what gets missed, who goes viral - and who gets avoided like a virus. It's one of the most beloved parts of the site - one of the main draws. We're all on even footing here, finally, and censorship like on FaceBook and YouTube is impossible. A free marketplace of ideas! But is that true?

A few things hint at problems:

• I recently lost access to my account until I agreed to abide by a list of rules. This was troubling enough, but when I read the rules, one of them was against "promoting anything illegal". A lot of my activism is by definition illegal. Peaceful civil disobedience of unjust laws is every free persons' responsibility, and I believe the blockchain to be an excellent place for it. This is as public as one can digitally get. My wife's account and our team's accounts got the same treatment, so perhaps it was site-wide. It still bothered me.
• Quality doesn't equate to success on Steemit, and vice versa. Some of the "trending" and "hot" posts are nearly worthless, while some extremely top notch content goes mostly unseen. But just because quality content isn't driving success here, doesn't mean a hidden hand is.
• As I reported here, my account growth abruptly stopped a few weeks ago. Since then, I've made many quality unique posts in various categories, and many comments, but only gained 2 followers. Until recently, that volume of content would bring me 100-150 new follows.
  
• Today, I typed up a great article on the announcement of cannabis legalization. The PC was logged into our team @greatesteem account, so the article got posted there instead of here on @DRutter. I removed it, then logged into DRutter to post it where it was supposed to go. Same article, same title, same categories.... different account. Normally, I've never double-posted anything like that. But because of a simple mistake, it revealed a glaring inconsistency: @greatesteem gained dozens of new followers for posting something and taking it down right away. DRutter posted it, left it up, and still didn't gain a SINGLE follower.
  
• I can start a new Steemit account, make 2 or 3 empty posts with no effort or content, and have the account at 200+ followers in an hour. No bots or services, just a few friendly intro posts, maybe a stock photo or something. I've done it, it's easy. That's not my style, I'm just saying, I know how to gain followers. And yet I'm stuck around 530, week after week. Am I really to believe there are only 530 other people on Steemit interested in cannabis legalization, cannabis growing, cannabis modeling, silver, gold, cryptocurrencies, philosophy, comedy, and Steemit?

On Steemit, it's GROW or DIE

Followers aren't why I'm here, especially not followers that don't really care about my content, but without them we're talking to ourselves. Being cut off from new followers not just stifles an account, but ruins it.

Furthermore, is Steemit really what we signed up for, with a list of rules to accept otherwise we lose access to our accounts? With someone or something behind the scenes deciding who succeeds? Threats of accounts being deleted and people being banned? Is our content really ours, here? Do we maintain control over it? Is this just another private company, another (but smaller) FaceBook, with some cryptos to make it seem evolved?

And where is that "any day now" major site update that has been promised since I signed up here almost a year ago? A fix for the nightmarish signup process, helping the site grow and compete? Instead, we saw the millionth account about a month ago, and now we're at 1.003 million or so. Major stagnation.

The warning signs are piling up. Something stinks at Steemit.com :(

And that really upsets me to admit because I burned bridges in coming here. I feel like I put too many of my eggs into one basket. I'm on the lookout for other, more legitimate and sustainable, baskets to move some eggs into.

I mean no personal offense to anyone with this post. This is how I see things. I'm always open to debate and new information.

DRutter