I feel your pain. I've definitely been disheartened with the dark side of Steemit over the last few months. However I keep posting hoping to be proved wrong, but I'm afraid you're right; you don't get rewarded for quality content anymore.
It never used to be this way and sadly unless things change I only see it getting worse...
It's disappointing, for sure.
To be fair, I do get rewarded for some of the things I post. There are folks on here who've been absolutely amazing and consistently supportive. As I said – they're the reason I'm here.
I'm not ready to give up just yet. I suppose we'll see what kind of retribution I just invited. I could very well have just sealed my own coffin...
I hope not, but the fact that people are very aware that there are repercussions for saying things that they can clearly see speaks volumes about where we are at right now as a platform.
This platform is still a great place to be, it's just slightly lost it's way like we all do sometimes. There is a great community that keeps the place afloat, and I definitely don't want to abandon ship just yet, but it's extremely difficult to ignore the obvious faults that are happening and carry on with a fake smile pretending that everything is perfect...
I love the fact that you care though, like we all do. If we didn't care we would have disappeared a long time ago. Keep doing what you are doing and be honest to yourself, just remember that everyone on this platform may not have the same integrity as you...