You make a lot of interesting points here. There are definitely people who come to Steemit and expect an audience to just be waiting for them but that is not the case. These people criticise the platform but the truth is it would exactly the same for them on YouTube or any other site. Building a following takes time, persistence and patience. A lot of people would be happier if they just accepted this role IMO.
I don't put a lot of effort into my posts because there is no particular subject I'm interested in blogging about, but I'm happy to just curate and comment for the most part. You're right about people seeing the trending page and wanting to be making the big bucks right away but not everybody is going to be a successful creator. Steemit needs content CONSUMERS just as much if not more, and people can earn whilst curating without having to put in all the time and effort that is required to make posts consistently and build a large following.
We agree, buddy! Everyone believes that when they get to Steemit and post quality, they will receive excellent votes. But it turns out it's not that easy. You have to be persistent and already have a vision of what you want to do with your blog. It is also very important to join communities to make you known and establish relationships, such as PAL, Steemians, Cervantes, Trail Hispano, among others that are in the Discord platform...
In my case I like to comment on posts from other people and be part of the conversations between bloggers.
STEEMIT is just like the real world, we all have our desires and roles to fulfilll within our community and I agree with your statement about needing content consumers as much as creators or more; moreover, the site would be useless without the people that digest other's material.