This is all great to hear. I know many people are new to blogging as I myself am. I've never really been to direct on any social media platform prior to steemit. I have had Facebook since 2007 and started it for games only. I have since then added direct family and a few friends but still have not really ever cared for it much.
I agree that contest gives people a foot in the door so to speak. I don't really care for the types of post that make trending, nor the ones that were trending prior to bid-bots. Most of the time there was little to no engagment but plenty of comments.
I am glad you stuck around as I find you doing more to help the platform than many of the investors do.
Thank you for sticking your head in here and replying.