Hey, @practicalthought.

I having a little deja vu right now, because I think we've either commented about the first bullet point or I read a post you wrote about it. :) Either way, I remember it, and fully agree.

What adds to the problem is, the system is designed to vote for others. And now, the incentives are greater to do so.

Personally, I've had issues with larger accounts that hand out 5% or fractional votes, even if they're not autovoting. Unfortunately, that's all most do anymore, though there are a few still who actually curate.

We've had so many people leave from when we came in and after that those of us who actually end up sticking around essentially have no ships rising with us. We're constantly in a state of flux and reset, starting over with the newbies.

re: apps

We seem to attract the folks with no other way to get paid to build an app, and their abilities seem less than optimal in too many cases—some actually do quite well, but they're the ones who find a way to finance things without relying on delegations.

I don't really think Steemit was so keen on having other apps for all they said they wanted them, so that's good they're out of the picture, and as you said, we'll see what it looks like without them in the middle of things.

I would hope to have a very different and diverse looking ecosystem by this time next year, if not sooner, with announcements about things coming no later than three to six months from now. We're not a new blockchain from the ground up, so I think we can do a little bit more running once we've got a sure footing.