RE: So who is actually paying the Steemit bill?
I see your points and from the beginning I've been mystified as to how Steemit could have any value without people investing money. But my understanding - and I may be wrong here because I'm new and not particularly "investor savvy"- is that there are 2 primary ways to invest in Steemit: time/content and money. I've believed that a large amount of the value of Steemit has to do with the quality of the content because the content will attract users and as soon as there is a critical mass of users, it's a more appealing investment. So by bringing valuable content, this is bringing an investment. Am I seeing things correctly?
I will also say that I've never spent this kind of time on any other social media. I do a lot of supporting of others' posts and commenting and as an author I know I'm not alone in spending many many hours on each post. I put a lot of myself in them so I sure hope they are helping!
The only social media plattform I spent more time on so far is the Bitcointalk-Forum, but it was not about earning anything there.
I also want to point to the funny fact, that people automatically seem to assume I am just putting profane money in this project. No, it's actually much (unpaid) time AND money. So now what?
As to your investment, I see your point. But maybe look at it this way: I myself could sit back and just "Invest my time" (that's actually what is happening, because I'm tired of spending time AND money, if "time" is also a "valuable investment" here). Imagine everyone was doing this? Who's gonna pay for the value you perceive in the content? I get better content elsewhere for free, just because there are some ads on the site I don't really notice and never click on. I neither want to be mean, nor hate, nor spoil anyones party. I just try to be realistic. I already made the cardinal mistake of "falling in love with my investment", because I really like the Steemit and I want it to succeed. I just don't want that love to completely cloud my reasoning and I know what I am talking about, because it keeps happening again and again.
Yes I understand. Financial investment is key here. Without good content there is nothing but without the money to back it, there is nothing either. Makes me wonder if all of us should invest financially even if in small quantity. Thanks for the food for thought!