"If your business model relies on charging people for ZERO services, you are running a scam."

But isn't that exactly what Steemit is doing? What benefits (or services) do the vast majority of Steemit members gain from their investments? I would venture to say...Nothing! No other significant public forum requires members to invest money in the platform. True, you can get most of your money back, but only after waiting a total of 13 weeks, and only then if the value of your Steem investment does not drop significantly before you have a chance to trade or cash it in.

Is Steemit a a ponzi-scheme? Perhaps! Different people no doubt have different views on that.

Is Steemit a Scam? I believe that it is because the vast majority of members do not fully understand what the platform entails, primarily because that is not clearly explained for the layman to understand. Sure the facts may be embedded somewhere within Steemit's FAQs and so on, but as I am sure you will admit, they are not spelled out in plain for most to understand, and certainly not for those whose first language is not English.

Is Steemit an unethical business model? Absolutely! Most certainly! There may be no other platform like it, and I think that is for good reason. First of all, no honest person or company would ever develop a system like Steemit has done. It just would not happen! And secondly, it is simply not a sustainable business model. You can;t keep paying out money (no matter how small) without incoming revenue. Even Steemit has been forced to admit that with it's near bankruptcy last year, and the layoff of 70% of its staff, and other cost cutting measures, such as drastically reduced payouts and so on.