I think there is a whole mix of issues. Steemit isn't very encouraging for new users. The lack of ways for crypto enthusiasts to get involved I think is hurting things.
Liquidity rewards are gone. Whether or not they were worth it, it was in the promo material for weeks after it was taken out. It might still be in the documentation as something that is working. It's a turn off to try and figure it out and have to learn from an obscure github note that it was taken out. If you are lucky enough to find that note in the first place. Otherwise you might just sit there for days supplying the market and wondering why you dont get paid.
The mining system is not attractive to most. Steemd can be a bitch to get running and then once you get it working you quickly learn you won't make anything close to the amount you're about to spend on electricity unless you are a permanent witness.
The whole bag holder witness system wreaks of an elitist system that favors the few very early adopters with connections to the founding userbase.
Mining should be a marketing ploy to attract crypto enthusiasts instead it just turns them off because it's not really a free and open pool they can jump into and start hashing it out. It's some sort of political campaign to get into a club.
So what does that leave? Content creation and curation. Well if you are used to reddit you are about to get slapped in the face. Just linking to the work of others and finding cool stuff from around the web is not rewarded on Steemit. You have to create new unique articles. Which means you're no longer hanging out on a social network just having fun and making some passive income you are working a job.
For many they must think why don't I just fire up wordpress and get a google adsense account if I want to get paid for blogging? And they might not be wrong in thinking that.
Curation rewards? Hahaha you're not getting those with your puny 3SP starter account. And why would you invest in SP when the price is dropping like a rock and most of the ways to make steem are being held back from you.
If you don't want to be a professional blog writer what is steemit to you? An inferior social network still working on reinventing the wheel so they can strap it to a blockchain.
"Just linking to the work of others and finding cool stuff from around the web is not rewarded on Steemit."
You can link or post work not created by you just elaborate as to why you think its interesting or why you oppose it. Its not a slap in the face its just a different system that rewards more thought out content.
"Which means you're no longer hanging out on a social network just having fun and making some passive income you are working a job."
Why does it have to be a job, maybe to you it is but most people just enjoy posting their thoughts.
"For many they must think why don't I just fire up wordpress and get a google adsense account if I want to get paid for blogging? And they might not be wrong in thinking that."
Yes people think this and the more serious bloggers already have a site as a primary platform and post the content they create here as a secondary.
I am not a professional blog writer and I enjoy the platform a lot. Its a great way to meet people with the same interests.
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Well from the outset Steem's marketing gimmick is that you can make money. So let's keep in mind that is a very real and expected mindset when coming here. If you aren't seeing a path to money you probably won't stick around.
"You can link or post work not created by you just elaborate as to why you think its interesting or why you oppose it"
Yeah those still don't do well. Most people do not commonly write blog articles in the style of posts that do well on steemit. They share links and offer a few lines of opinion for the most part oh and photos. There are plenty of posts documenting the heart break people feel on steemit from putting in hours of work in the hopes of having a post trend.
"I am not a professional blog writer and I enjoy the platform a lot. Its a great way to meet people with the same interests."
You have to admit there are far better platforms available for that purpose. This is a somewhat hobbled social experience at the moment.
I'm not trying to attack steem but rather bring some of the very big hurdles it faces into the light. These issues won't go away by simply ignoring them. The proof is in the numbers being posted here all day long. Steemit has a user engagement issue, the daily active users have shrunk recently.
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conttentjunkie I think you do speak the truth they need to fix the falling user problem soon
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