When I joined Steem in June 2017 (with 
The Steem price soared.
Then it dropped.
I didn't care much. But I started posting less, due to other reasons. There are 3 science posts and several scifi stories I'd like to write and publish, but ... the excitement is just gone. The user interaction dropped. And the trending page is reserved for those willing to pay for bots.
I'm not the only one facing these troubles. And while there's still a flourishing Steem community, it's a community that spends most of their time off the chain. Comments and feedback are given via steem.chat DMs or Discord. And while I personally value the Steem blockchain especially because of the community, I can't help but feel sad. Because user interaction is what made me so excited about Steem.
I love writing stories. I love reading other people's reactions even more. But nowadays, I only get comments from people who already know me.
Now, I joined during a time where it was not super easy, but still possible to reach a big audience by just being active in the right channels. Now?
Now the minnows join, are overwhelmed by bots, and don't know where to go. They're alone.
Welcome bots started out as something nice. Steemitboard still kind of is, if you're into achievements. But especially introduction posts are swamped with bots and no real users.
Barely anyone curates manually anymore.
High SP users sell their votes.
Content doesn't matter when you can pay for your own salary.
And while Steemit Inc. is hiding their funds off chain, witnesses are discussing forks that will (probably) never see the light of day, long-term Steemians wait for SMTs and hold on to their Steem, ... the new minnows vanish quietly, to never return.
Because who wants to be part of an environment that doesn't care about you?
An environment, where you don't understand the politics, and the reasons why nobody supports you but bots?
There used to be so much support for minnows, but even that degraded into automated bot votes and comments.
Where's the human community?
Where's the warmth?
I see some of it in my comments, from time to time, but even that vanishes.
And the worst thing is, I am not without blame myself. I'm active on steem.chat, yes, but I'm not curating myself either.
How do we return Steem to a welcoming space?
