This seems to be a crucial topic of discussion, thanks for the info. I've read all the comments so far and the jury is divided regarding the future and the value of Steem and the Steemit platform. As a newcomer of less than 4 months, I'm here as a writer happy to earn some steem for my posts. Steemit inspires me to be original, creative and well-researched. I'm not too interested in the leadership or the economy as I think it will sort itself out, as the market does generally. There are enough members here and enough momentum to keep Steemit going.

I'm not too familiar with all the bot stuff and delegation business. It seems a bit inbred to me - paying for upvotes from bots so that you can get paid. Obviously I haven't been around long enough to know what's actually going on in this new economy but the rise of the bots here is a bit fake to me. Do people even read the posts? Who are human and who is a bot? Which accounts are clones and which are people? Steemit needs to remember the human element and the original idea of creative content curated by humans who vote as humans for good or bad posts.

Just my novice impression.