Yep - you're right, the platform needs some attention. I was hoping that we would see more hard forks but not much has happened in the last 6 months to improve things. I remain optimistic overall though, not necessarily about the steemit platform alone, but it's an excellent case study in a decentralised social network. It sort of works. As for the money, I've earned peanuts for the amount of work I've put in, but I was pleasantly surprised when the price of steem peaked. I don't think I'll ever earn any worthwhile cash though, so my attention will only be spent on here while I've got time to do so.