Taking a Hiatus from Steemit - Becoming Disillusioned with it.

I am taking a hiatus from Steemit for a while. My reasons are selfish, but understandable I think.

I keep seeing crap posts that are obviously spammy or low quality getting moderate to large payouts, but the quality content I have posted has been largely ignored. I know it takes time to build a following and establish a presence, but I am an old pro at social media and I know when to step back and walk away to focus my efforts elsewhere.

Now, I am not just blowing my own horn. I know everything I post is not going to drive the world mad with delight and I don't expect hundreds of dollars or a ticker tape parade for a blog post (even a good one). But, I would like to point out the contrast here.

Example :

$1000+ payout and over 800 likes for this short, poorly-formatted, generic article about crypto : https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@happymoneyman/money-in-10-years-how-your-future-may-look

$49 payout for this quality article that is well written and includes numerous original photos : https://steemit.com/steemstem/@galacticstone/fossil-hunting-in-florida-s-bone-valley-formation

And the only reason I got more than .25 cents for that article is because I was lucky enough to have a whale give it a powerful upvote. Take away that single whale boost and this article gets less than a dollar.

Another quality post I made : https://steemit.com/steemstem/@galacticstone/meteorites-a-voyage-to-the-asteroid-belt-in-photos

Well written. Numerous original photos. Educational. Payout - 5 measly cents.

Money is not the only reason I am here. I loathe the privacy-invading hypocrisy of Facebook, and I think Steemit has great potential. But, it is very discouraging to produce quality content that is ignored, while subpar posts attract hundreds of dollars or more.

I refuse to game the system and pay for upvotes or whatever these people are doing to make their posts attract that kind of payout. It just doesn't seem right or fair for the content creators who are trying to add to the platform and educate people in a positive way. Sure, I'd like to drive some sales to my website, or make a few bucks from my posts, but the results I am seeing are hardly worth the effort or time spent. I have always tried to make my blogs (anywhere, not just here) informative and educational in some way - to give something out in return for getting a possible sale from it. I try not to be one-sided in that regard and I am never spammy. Yet, I get pennies and nickels while low-quality posts get enormous payouts.

Lastly, I have yet to actually see one dime of anything I have earned on Steemit. I set up an account on Kraken and Bittrex and tried to exchange my Steem into USD, but none of the exchanges will do a transaction unless it exceeds a minimum amount. Apparently my $30 - $40 is not worth it, because it's just sitting in the exchange where I cannot withdraw it yet. And unless I get some whales to power up my posts, it will take me months or years just to make the minimum amount to withdraw - while making pennies per post. It's just not worth my time. Other platforms like Facebook or Instagram are problematic, but I get tangible returns from my posts in the form of sales referrals. I have yet to make a single sale I can attribute to Steemit. So, I am basically wasting my time here. Nobody is seeing or appreciating my posts.

So, I am going to step back from Steemit for a while and think things over and decide if this is worth the continued investment of creative energy and time.

Ok, thanks for allowing me to vent. If I came across as entitled or pissy, that was not my intent. I really would like to see Steemit knock Zuckerberg off his golden throne of social media dominance. I still see promise here and I have met some interesting and nice people so far. But the promise of making some cash for posting quality content has yet to materialize for me after almost two months of trying. So....time to take a hiatus.

:/