Well said, indeed! I cannot overstate the important of having the patience for organic discerning growth.

On my hard drive, I have a "writing" folder, in which I keep backup copies of every single piece of "article" writing I have ever done. These tens of thousands of pieces over 20+ years sit in subfolders by venue to which they were posted.

As of this moment, I have moved 61 subfolders to a folder named "Obsolete." ALL 61 were sites that compensated-- in some way-- contributors for content. And (mind you, this is just my OPINION!) all 61 failed because they chose to emphasize "get PAID to write!" over building sustainable communities.

Yes, Steemit is unique...but let's not fool ourselves that we are somehow exempt from the darker sides of human nature... specifically greed. Let's stick to carefully telling people we know that this is a great social blogging/content venue... and that through contributions, community members can slowly become stake holders in the community.

In the meantime, we need to continue to build in more social features to make Steemit "sticky" for reasons other than just rewards...