When I said 'leaders', I was referring to those with the most stake and/or resources to develop and create change. This isn't really so different to a corporation in that shareholders with the most resources get to call the shots in a corporation.

You are right that many people come here and don't understand how Hive works - but that is part of my point. If correctly optimised messaging and social organisation isn't in place then people will not comprehend what they are engaging with and will not know how to make full use of it. In general they will just be confused/frustrated and leave - especially if they start getting downvoted immediately without explanation.

When I joined Steem in 2016, I had already built a social network and yet I still found the system very challenging to understand. I actually quit after a couple of months out of frustration, but then brought myself back because I could see other people having success and figured that there was still a chance that Steem wasn't as corrupt as Facebook etc.

However, the majority of people don't think like me and just leave.

I wouldn't say that success on mainstream sites is entirely fake, the big channels do get a lot of followers - but yes, the traffic is heavily manipulated.

I'm not particularly advocating for changing the software all that much in this post - I am more pointing to the failure to appreciate, respect and work with the psychology of new (and even existing visitors) by some of the key people with sway.

People coming from web 2.0 simply don't understand a platform like this doesn't exist to hold your hand and carry your messages for you.

The more that creators are supported, the more they engage, produce and succeed. That doesn't mean just voting for everyone, it means having some kind of process for education, clear communication and easily understandable boundaries without moving goalposts.

People don't even realize they're free to set up their own revenue stream on this platform.

Again, this comes down to a lack of clear messaging and refined marketing.

They don't even realize their supporters don't even have to spend money in order to support their work. All they have to do is take money from their bank account and place it in their Hive account, stake it, and vote daily, forever, at no cost, and if that consumer wants to, they can leave with all or even more of their money back.

The inflation causes devaluation of staked tokens, so there is a cost to the process but it is spread out across all users so isn't so obvious.

In going on six years here I've yet to see anyone with a large market on the outside truly embrace what this platform has to offer then act on their own and work towards establishing themselves here, drawing eyes and attention here to their work, and utilizing the support systems in place to help fund their message.

This is for the same reasons outlined in my post. I personally know people who wanted to do exactly what you are suggesting and gave up quickly because the process was just too clunky and stressful.