If the reward pool were eliminated, that would be it for me. 50:50 curation rewards has already done a lot of damage IMO. All the positives of hard fork 21 and no increase in users, because the reward pool is all that we have to attract actual normal people, and it was reduced.
All the dapps bring in trivial user numbers compared to the simple premise of Steem as a social network that pays did.
If you think 50:50 reduced the reward pool available for authors, I must ask if you have been away from Steem since HF21. Buying votes is nearly dead. Bid bots are voting on posts for free.
No I have not been away. Show me some numbers which show that the amount freed up exceeds the losses from curation and DAO.
I think @tarazkp wrote once that something like a half of all active voting power was controlled by bid bots. Also, you need to consider the amount voting power no longer going to self-upvoting serial purveyors absolute crap. Farmers attract downvoters these days.
Really, what damages? I'm not convinced.
I also don't think it changed anything besides the mood and engagement from large stakeholders. But if that what it took I'm kind of glad.
Payouts to authors are down. Curation rewards are up, but still down in $ terms and that mostly goes to larger users. User activity, overall engagement is down. September was the worst month for user activity in 2 years.
The only measurable positive has been reduced inflation, but if you want free transactions and no inflation you should use Nano (it has no users).
Mine has been up. I think a shift is probably more likely.
We need to do research on this subject.
The first week mine were up, then I started getting dv.. Now it has leveled out, I would say my total rewards are about the same.
If you produce quality content and engage, you will notice your rewards go up with the newsteem.