Well said, that's how I feel too.
We clawed our way to a tiny upvote, now that's halved, and then halved again. Not just tiny decreases, but a total change in one move, like a transfer of wealth away from the masses toward the insiders.

I suspect that the team running the HFs doesn't understand how psychology affects users. I know they consider game theoretical aspects, but prior to HF21 my incentive to post was low, since even for posts where I spent hours and got a decent amount of votes, the payout was extremely low in contrast to those who are gaming the system. Now under HF21 my incentive is even lower. I had already stopped trying to convince others to join the platform, and HF21 lowers that incentive even more. This seems to all be the result of having an oligarchy run steem. Steem needs many more users, but its complexity and lack of features are unlikely to result in more users. HF21 makes things more complex. You can argue that you don't get anything on the mainstream social networks, but that again goes back to psychology. Folks see the huge payouts on meaningless posts, put time into their posts, then wonder why they get near nothing. Overall, my 1+ year on Steem has largely been a huge loss in terms of time and money invested. In contrast, my time on Twitter has been very valuable, because there are communities there with which I can have meaningful scientific discussions.

I wish they'd change it back if there's an outcry. I don't think they would (I'll be happy if I'm wrong.)

From before, only a small minority earned 20Steem or more, but many earned at least 1Steem to 5. Now? I guess it will  be at close to zero for the majority of us.

I have 2 accounts. On the smaller one I have set it at Decline Payout. With an SP of less than 200, no point in wasting everyones voting power. The other will carry on a usual for a while, so that I can compare.

I had been disappointed by the loss of value in Steem, but had continued trying to earn some, in the hope that someday it comes back to life. The way it is rigged now, no point in trying for the smaller posters and the promise of a future high value for Steem is just an empty (fake) promise. They/we are no longer allowed to try and benefit ... someday.

Thank god so many other Steem platforms have been created.