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For me it's not about the whale thing. I want to write what everyone wants, not a few people. I don't see the point in only writing for a few in the hope of getting a decent upvote one day. But maybe I'm thinking totally wrong about Steemit.

No, write what you want to write.
But, for it to catch fire, it usually takes someone with great upvoting power to land it in the Hot and Trending, which will make others see it.

Yeah, I get that. I'm OK with it but it doesn't make for an ideal community when only a small handful of people basically control the platform and decide who does well.

Anyway, I am carrying on for sure. I do like it here but I still think it has some major flaws that only benefit a small few.

Onwards and upwards. Certainly not stopping.

Well, the other options seems to be creating some sort of hashtag contest for others to follow and then those who are interested in that hashtag know who is contributing to it.

I'm not sure how well that works outside of photography.