Well the whales are all different and I have found some who genuinely like curating good content and establish groups that find such talent and upvote it. They are what I think is what Steemit intended to function when they were delegated their SP.

We also have whales that became that because they invested their own money and set up their own nodes so that they effectively mine Steemit. They usually are those that lease out their SP to voting bots and delegation and they have said that they earn more that way than curating in some unknown person's quality post which may or may not get upvotes. In a way they are not gambling their voting power to anyone they think will not earn them more.

And we get to the faction of whales that just upvote each other this they are the only ones increasing their SP and never mind the planktins, redfishes and minnows that join and leave because they usually don't get any votes.

I have been here for about 3 months and honestly I get more in joining contests and getting curation rewards on some people. There has been a point where in I wanted to quit because the things that I like writing about get no love but when I do what most people do then I get some votes. Still not a lot but makes a difference for a plankton like me.

We all agree that the rewards system is broken and you taking the cudgels of trying to find a way to fix it is admirable. I hope that I will still be in this platform when that time comes.

We all experience that Steemit fatigue when we are at our low point and think why am I still posting here when I don't get a lot of interactions. When you think your voice is hardly heard or your opinions matter because end of the day people look at the number next to your name and will always think how they will benefit with an interaction with you.

I wait and will see when Steemit becomes great. It is good now but for something that has been on going for the past two years it could have gotten a whole lot better. Some may disagree that it is still in beta stage or that these are growing pains but need to get better faster as we do not have the luxury of time. There are so many platforms popping out there with similiar promises so what differentiates us from them? Surely not content because lately all I find are selfies and very general posts. We have to get better in terms of content and how to reward that content.

We need to continue growing and stop people from suddenly ghosting and disappearing from Steemit because all the power are consolidated on the few. We need to get better.

I have no idea how but I feel an urgency to it.