The way I see it, one's effort in one's content is a staple of our diligence, discipline and pride.

That's something that goes way deeper in all of us.

If you shirk off this staple, whatever success you have will not last.

Why? Because you don't have what it takes!

You lucked out somehow before, plain and simple.

As subjective as content is and as unfair as Steemit is meant to be, you should never shirk off your staple' i.e. who you are.

If you just want to bank on luck or 'gaming the system' only, then your success will go away as quick as it came.

You raise some good points.  I wouldn't say I view you as the guy who's just talking drama or scam busting.  Though I can respect the strong stance you have taken because many are not doing so.  It is true that I can put a lot of time into a post and not make much. Conversely the photo contests I participate in make more.  On the other hand still, the post I made the most money on ever was 2 weeks after I joined steemit back in June and wrote a passioned blog about the death penalty in Texas and made $300 on it. So it really is hard to pinpoint.

It's good to have a little rant once in a while.  I hope you feel better now?  I hear your frustrations, I have experienced your frustrations for sure.  Blogging on steem can be a moving target, well, not only can be, it is. 
 Here soon, another experiment(s) will happen that will change things, for example 'hive-mind.'  Short term, it may be a bit bumpy but I think long term it will be helpful.

And, I totally agree that it is hard to find other's content after spending so much time creating your own.  This is definitely one of my weaknesses

>  I feel like 90% of the people on here are content creators

This is entirely true and how every platform starts out as far as I can tell. As long as we continue to create and share it around the internet, we will start to pull in more 'consumers'.

> some users just go to CoinDesk and CoinTelegraph and a few other places every mornings and read the news and then paraphrase the content

Or straight out copy and paste the exact same content. Once I started curating for the tech and science portion of MSP's curation account I realized how bad it is. Looking for fresh and original content (in that niche at least) is a hassle.

I agree with what you're saying. Most people on this platform are content creators. As a result, I feel like most people are just talking AT each other trying to get people to read their new blog post. That's to be expected though.

We still have not gone mainstream. The only people that really know about steemit are crypto people. We haven't established ourselves to the point where some average guy will want to go to Steemit of all places to consume content. Why should he? He already knows about Reddit, Youtube, etc. Once Steemit becomes more mainstream as a platform to consume content, then you will get more people simply interested in consuming content; not necessarily posting blogs or trying to make money.

In terms of noobs getting payouts, well the same can be said for YouTube. Many people on youtube post videos without any expectation of getting paid. I guess on Steemit, because you know you can get rewarded, people have higher expectations and get frustrated when they don't get noticed. On the other hand, people with many subscribers can post mediocre content and get millions of views and earn thousands in ad revenue.

Ha you are the first person I have seen to call out the scammers on steemit!  Why is everyone bullying bitconnect?! lol

>Even in the crypto space I would rather do the educational videos and do the deep dives like I did with Electroneum, RaiBlocks, SmartCash, and EOS but those videos don't get as many hits as if I talk about the drama surrounding Bitconnect and these guys like @trevonjb @craig-grant CryptoNick....etc.   

Yeah I feel ya, I think that's because people tend to focus on the short term?

~~But the EOS ICO seems to be difficult to grasp so maybe a tip to do a video on and also poke some holes in EOS...~~ Yup should have readmore carefully! Going to watch it now!

Interesting view @brianphobos I have also observe that a beautiful girl avatar **pic** has a strong upvote impact from the libido orientated male crowd, it does not really matter about it's content really. Well it is not the pretty girls fault as I wish them luck, it is just a fact here @steem blog sphere...

Thanks  @brianphobos  !! Im new here and have been a Content Creator online for 10 years. Just my knee jerk reaction when I first came here : I was astounded by  the number of blog posts that are centered around crypt currency and how to buy and sell it, whats the future, time to buy, high, lows etc..etc.. I think if Steemit is going to succeed long term it has to be about a diverse array of subjects.

 It still blows my mind there is not a main tag for 'make money online'. I'm a full time IMer and came here not even knowing it was a platform based on crypto . I had been told it was a platform that pays money for quality content. That's all. So all this stuff is new to me. Anyway again thanks for the post. It wasn't just a rant . You provided  some really good insight  !!

Hey buddy great post. I feel your pain, I hate when I spend tons of time and really pour myself into a post and it gets little to no interaction, upvotes, etc. It's not even about upvotes and money so much as just getting people involved in the post even through comments, just knowing someone else saw it and took something from it.

I remember in my very very early days on Steemit I earned $75 for simply asking a question, yet a multi page post with tons of pics where I really put myself out there got like 2 upvotes and no comments lol.

Would you be down to join me and @reseller on a livestream sometime in the comming weeks? We did one the other night and talked about making it a semi regular thing and we'd both love to get you on there.

You've highlighted one of the main problems with Steemit as it stands, and something that in my opinion undermines the platform as a whole.  

Once you get a following (usually by persistence and quality posts), then unfortunately it doesnt really pay to put the same effort into each post.  I've seen some good content producers getting lazy, and churning out 1 pic posts or a few retarded sentences.

A bot cant tell the difference however, and it is only through manual curation that it is possible to spot this.

I guess it then becomes a bit demoralising for n00bs who see a lot of bollocks on the trending page, and then wonder why their hard work only gets peanuts!

It is so frustrating for the newbies to join this platform. sit down for hours creating good content and and they get zero rewards.
One thing I have learnt about Steemit is consistency and promoting your content will contribute much success on your account and I'ts not about the quantity of posts but quality and make sure it reaches the right people. 
As for **Trevon James** I've been follwing that guy from day one I joined **Steemit** not knowing he is a scammer.

Just do whatever you want bro. There's not a lot of quality content on Steemit. People just rush through articles so they can post their useless comments. 

The currency itself is amazing, but this platform needs to start offering some kind of value.