Honestly there are a few things that steemit reminds me of. It's very class-based, and not in the druid/ranger/wizard kind of way.
People just seem... muted. I addressed this pervasive feeling I get that everyone self-censors themselves and so no one really seems like themselves in another rant of mine.
People are inviting to newcomers, but almost in a weirdly too friendly way, and there seems to be a weird split between the few who knows how things really works, and the many who are ill-conceived on how everyone else who is dong well from the platform are actually doing so.
I see lots of posts that laud people for getting others hyped about steemit, but they always come off as less of a genuine recommendation from a friend to try out a decent product and a bit more like a hey bro I've made a lot of money selling these knives/life insurance/energy drinks do you also want in on this great opportunity kind of pitch. The samesies feeling that you're trying to "give people the opportunity to own their own business right from home" kind of shit people should run from is actually enticing to many users here, and I think the dollar signs they see others receiving are kind of blinding them to some harsh realities.
It's literally not possible for everyone to get rich from something, people. Someone somewhere has to pay for something.
And why do I have a feeling that people who speak about uncomfortable topics find themselves stuck out on a cruise ship somewhere? Where are the voices of dissent? Have they just left? I've found some flagged comments linked, and holy crap if that kind of tame, honest line of questioning is flagged then I can only wonder how other higher orders of hard-hitting stuff gets dealt with by those profiting from the site.
I'm honestly grateful for the votes on comments I've received here and there, but looking at the raw stats for other newer bloggers, the hoops you have to jump through to succeed, and all of the politiking required to move up the ranks leaves me on the fence about blogging or creating content full-bore. I'll be blunt here, I hate pay-to-win, I hate things that aren't meritocracies, and I do not like tribalism. I see way too much back-patting going on around here, so much so that it seems like a weird mix between a multi-level marketing scam, a religious cult, and a very nepotistic government bureaucracy crammed into one at times.
I mean, this stuff must have eaten away at me at least a little for me to write this the other day. If I was to be honest if steemit wasn't some weird meta-game about money, power and politics that interests me on a few levels then I don't know if I would use it for long as just a social media site. I do enjoy being able to participate in a small community, and I love pissing people off and being contrarian so I guess I have that going for me. I'm not trying to bite the hands that feed me, but I have to hope they understand that the Korean funny money party punch won't last forever, and we shouldn't get people hyped about something just because of a price pump that has finite power behind it.