There are no popular social media sites with so many hidden rules, so many wannabe moderators telling you what, when and how often you can post, and name calling and intimidating it's users.

Let's also remember that people who don't talk a lot are also part of the community, and have watched the rules, evolve, change, be denied, be enforced selectively, etc.

In order for any kind of mass adoption you need fun, or even a gimmick, the reward pool, and paid posts was perfect for gaining adoption, but many large accounts decided inflation was too high, not enough users, etc, so instead of letting it al balance out and correct the whales decided that the reward pool wasn't meant to promote, but rather is eroding their stake and liquidating their value.

I've been here since 8/2016 - I watched thousands come and go, too many rules, downvoted to death, said something mean to a whale, bored.. etc.

I guess with a busy job, and the 7 year itch, I kind of think well if we haven't grown by now.. will we? Especially when the whales hate the blogging side of the platform.

There is no such thing in social media as quality, it's about engagement and networking, so the idea that each post should be judged according to a subjective benchmark, is not a winning strategy.