Excellent article Robert! I would also like to thank you for your recognizing my content and for your kind words.

I read through the comments, and I see a lot of people wondering how people who put out crap content always seem to end up in the "trending" and "hot" sections.

There are basically a few main ways to "game" the system. Since SteemIt is allegedly "decentralized," a lot of people would argue that the term "gaming the system" is in and of itself a non-starter because that can't be done on a "decentralized" platform. Well, I'm here to tell you it most certainly CAN be done, and IS being done, on a massive scale. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.

So, back to "gaming" the system. Main ways to do it:

1. Invest a lot of your own money and buy a bunch of Steem Power, giving yourself major influence right off the bat. This is actually a completely legitimate thing to do, and in a sense is not "gaming" the system. It's more of a mimicking of actual society, where people who start out with a lot of money make a lot of money much quicker than those who start with nothing.

2. Buying resteems. When you buy "resteems," what you are effectively doing is paying a member with a large follower base to showcase your content on their feed. This, hopefully, results in getting you more upvotes, followers, and potentially, free resteems from people who really like your content.

3. Buying votes. This is where I have a problem. In my opinion, this is where I draw the line. I'll openly admit to using resteem services, and the reason why is because there really is no other way to get your content noticed unless you have a large, active follower base who are consistently engaging with your articles. Good luck developing a follower base who actually care about your content, because the majority of people who follow you are doing it in hopes that you will follow them back. It's the "follow for follow" culture, which, unfortunately, invades every social media platform sooner or later.

I have almost 1300 followers. I've never asked any of these people to follow me, nor have I ever bought followers from a service. Still, I would estimate 90% of these people couldn't care less about what I post. They're simply hoping that they can get somebody with a rep of "60" or above to follow them back. Now, back to buying votes. You might ask yourself what the purpose is of sending someone let's say, 5 SBD to get an upvote in return that is worth a little less than what you paid. Well, simply put, this is how you "game" your article into a "trending" position. If you buy enough votes and resteems, you will end up in the "hot" or "trending" section. Maybe even both. This is where the action is. Once you get your article there, organic upvotes, resteems, and followers will start to take off.

Is it "cheating?" Some say yes. Some say no. You say po-TAY-to. I say po-TAH-to. Personally, I did it twice and felt like a cheat both times. So, I absolutely think it's wrong, and I won't participate in it. If my content can't be recognized on its own merit, then maybe SteemIt just isn't the place for me to publish it.

4. Voting bots. Last but certainly not least, are voting bots. This is when someone has a large number of accounts and they tie it all in with automation using a bot of some kind (I'm not a techie so don't ask me how they are built), and they use these accounts to upvote their own content, and alternatively, flag other's content into oblivion. I refer to these as "flag wars." There are several of these going on right now, and they are making SteemIt look like a very unfriendly place to be. Many people have quit SteemIt due to sheer frustration over this, and even worse, many people have been bullied off of the platform.

I'm not going to mention any names, but there are several people involved in these "flag wars" who denounce the practices of their "enemies," while they are actively engaging in the same exact behavior they purportedly despise.

Unfortunately, no matter how decentralized a platform is, there are always going to be people who will take advantage of the system for their own personal gain.

Add to that the fact that there's lots of money involved, and human greed naturally kicks in.

That said, I know SteemIt is far from perfect. And that's OK. What's NOT OK, though, is people pretending that everything in its current state is all fine and dandy.

If SteemIt continues on the same path it's on right now, it will eventually implode. My guess is there will end up being three main classes of people on SteemIt.

1. Those putting out shit content and raping the reward pool.

2. Those satisfied to work their asses off for pennies.

3. Those who don't care one way or another and just come here for fun.

Is there anything wrong with that? I guess not, except that it could and should be so much more!