I don't need to cool off at all, mate. I was in a really great mood when I wrote this post, and I still am.
But yes, it is about networking. Only I don't believe it is about marketing yourself, but rather, marketing the parts of yourself (genuine or otherwise) that you feel will be beneficial to your Steemit career. I know this is something that happens on all social media, but the interconnectivity between this and the prospect of earning money has, in my opinion, created a particularly unique type of ugliness.
It certainly is, I consider my posts great and informative, I see folks post the same thing hours later an get 10X the amount of upvotes, so its all about developing your own community that can support you, having a couple whales as friends would help...it certainly hasn't reach the point where all can successful write and create a career here for themselves unless they are actively engaged with a few members with significant SP, probably this is a reflection of the society we live in, some would get ahead because of who they know and who supports them or what they can invest and an get ahead