Hi V4vapid, I really appreciate your words of support. I'm far more comfortable being a cheerleader and advocate than a stick in the mud. I'm here raising these issues because steem and steemit have given me so much, is the most incredible community and example of what is possible. There are two questions I think it is extremely important to answer....can steem/steemit be drastically improved in a timescale that is relevant? If not, can the best of everything here be salvaged?

Despite having powered down, I feel I still have a responsibility to this community. The best way I can think of to help is to raise these issues, generate discussion and see if they can be addressed.

The way I see it, we all need to end up on a platform like this because there is so much scope for improving life everywhere......I don't much care which one it is as long as it works as best it can. So the best way to find out is rigorously challenging all of the options available, including Steem until one shines through.

I hope everyone get's the most they can out of Steem and Steemit, but preserves at least some of the value they are generating. Being aware of issues can give people perspective and help them make decisions.

None of the issues I've raised are easy to solve but I think we need to try a little harder to do it or like you say, eventually it will all catch up to us.

Thanks again bud.