Just because I'm here. Doesn't mean my sole purpose is to upvote your stuff. Just because you may have a following, can make $300. for a single post is all the more reason I won't vote for you. Popular all too often = spoiled & boring.
I'd rather hunt down something really interesting to vote for that hasn't been seen before. People don't read because of the content & tone used by the author. We're overstimulated to the point where we automatically block everything until there's a minute level of recognition To form some kind of connection with.
This is only amplified when we're in a group of strangers. Why? Because there's no connection with things we're familiar with. The very idea that top posts are about the network itself should tell you there's a problem. Who gets on Facebook to talk about how much they love / hate Facebook? They either stay or go. Most people I know have dropped Facebook because of its algorithm, specifically how things are / aren't shared to people. Coming from Google Plus myself I really enjoy being able to post a link, let Google fetch the title & a selection of leading images on the page to post with an article & still have space for a comment, input On the subject to share my thoughts. Communities & collections are curated by the users, what they want to see / read about Without promises of a payout if... That could easily be done here while still offering curation rewards / posting rewards.
If Steemit made it easier for people of similar interests to come together and congregate on subjects that interested them, it would be a step in the right direction. But this nonsense of hunting whales to beg for attention / votes? Talking about the network because "that" is what pays? Ridiculous!
Think about it. If a social network that's handing out money can't hire staff to hammer out the basic functionality of a social network, what's it really worth? What problem is it really solving? Other than just being an overcomplicated way to hand out money to your besties? Is there value in a quality post? Ya. Can you determine "quality" over "popularity" in an automatic way? No. Because what people like changes as they grow, as they share, as they evolve.
