Free Market...

Yup. That's what it's all about. And if the reward bar is set too high for new users, the new users will simply not be here.

What's the point in posting on Steemit for $0.02 a week (maybe... if one is friends with a large wallet...) when someone can post of Facebook and have a much larger audience?

From what I've seen so far, most of the top payouts are handed over to plagiarists who have purchased most of the votes and the rewards on the post as well. This particular practice is mystifying to me, as it seems like chasing a tiny profit margin using a ton of cash... but whatever.

There should really be a Gaussian voting power curve... with the highest vote power set at a few thousand SP. That would ensure the best quality content over all... because the mid level users are the ones most likely to be engaged in actively reading content and making the platform better. This would also fix the problem noted in other threads regarding the VP of the bidbots.

But... maybe someday there will suddenly appear a BAT tip jar next to Steemit postings. And the whole discussion of platform generated rewards will slide into oblivion.