well I can't say I have been here for that long but I joined Steemit before the fork and ppl were anticipating big $$ AND IT WAS SPAM CENTRAL , to the point where I didn't bother to even post or write anything for a few weeks cause it would instantly disappear .Although there is still too much spam content, plagiarism and abuse, it is getting better tho, like you said ,they give up after a few weeks once they realize it's not profitable and Steemit isn't a get rich quick platform. There are also some users outing the spammers one at a time ( thankfully).