I still remember when I read the Steemit white paper. The thrill of finally having a place to blog that didn't rely on AdSense for payouts, built-in sustainability model, community building and saving my stuff on the blockchain! I'd written for too many sites where they shut down, payouts were never honored, and my stuff disappeared with them.
To this day I still have no expectations of earnings. Never have, Never will. I know that community building, by default, will bring greater earnings because it's all about keeping someone's attention. Frankly, when I started on Steemit, my comments earned more than my posts. One only has to look at my history to see that I spent MONTHS earning zero. And yet I stayed.
The well-being of Steemit will always be dependent on the community interaction. We build friendships and family here. Heck, I'm closer a lot of my Steemit friends than I am with family. And when I'm not here I think about the lot of you. I think it was the day after lauralemons committed suicide, my aunt died. I am still more upset and moved by the loss of Laura from my life. These connections are real and we harvest them through honest communication.
Well, I pretty much agree with everything you just said... I think you and I made our way here along very similar paths, with very similar experiences... including the fact that we have the ability to "see the writing on the wall" far sooner than most, thanks to 20 years experience in this field.
Back in February I started saying "Just because we're on the blockchain doesn't mean we're exempt from dealing with the greed and selfishness inherent in human nature." And I am still saying that... just a shame nobody wanted to listen then, just now.
I, too, kept creating content through months of Steem under 10 cents. And pitiful returns.
What you describe is precisely why I keep saying "Communities are built by PEOPLE, not by bots and code." I miss Laura, too... and a whole group of people who were regular contributors but stopped posting. I'm stubborn, though... so I plan to keep hanging out here unless it gets truly horrible.