I'm sure there are great people here, but there are great people just about everywhere. There are a lot of scumbags here... and there are a lot of those everywhere, too.
And it IS about the money. We came here because it was different than thousands of blog sites that have existed for decades. It was the payouts! It was what I'd been seeking for years. In 2012 I suggested this exact setup to my viewers on YouTube, and got CRUCIFIED for it. Content creators should NEVER be paid, period! That was the prevailing attitude in 2012. In 2013, Patreon came about, and suddenly everybody added "I can't do this for free you know, please contribute so I can continue to put out this content". I thought Steem was going to be the way, as an unbanked person, I could finally earn online with my content! So yeah, it's about the money. Maybe now that there isn't any money to be made, it isn't anymore... but let's not pretend we primarily came to THIS blockchain in order to do volunteer work and make online friends.
As an activist (just speaking personally) I feel compelled to get my content out to people. This is one way I can do that. But I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't also (at least in theory) earning something I can feed myself with. Rent is extremely high, but the alternative is join the throngs of homeless I'm currently trying to keep away from my garden and shed. I'd love to grow more food but I can't afford to move somewhere with more dirt. I'm not well enough to do much other than computer, gardening, and parenting... and my health seems to be slipping further away despite my best efforts to find out what's wrong and get better.
I said in my new post that I've lost everything doing my activism and going against the evil machine. I had a solid core group of friends and family that had been with me for decades, and now I've got none of them. Not a single one, not even my lifelong best friend, brothers, parents, or sons. And I was wealthy at the start of this, with a position of authority in the community. At least I'm not homeless at the moment, but as I've left the consumerism and ignorance behind, I've also left behind (or been left behind by) everybody I ever knew. My grandmother was the last person I had on my side, and she died in early 2016. It's just Katie and I now, and neither of us are very well. Fer family and friends did the same thing. Neither of us could survive without the other anymore, so when I die, so does she, and vice versa. Brett would go to the state, and you know what they do with innocent toddlers that haven't been injected with anything yet... So I am working to save our lives in a literal way.
I wouldn't still be here if I wasn't at least reaching someone. I'm banned from all mainstream platforms now, so I really value my blog here, where at least I'm still able to get a message out. But I also wouldn't still be here if there wasn't some chance I'm going to someday be able to get something back for the 4 years of full time work and 0.2 BTC I put in.
More hours in the day, indeed! And more days in the year.