I remember when I first signed up for Steemit, there were people averaging from $750 to $1,000 per post on the "Hot" and "Trending" sections, but no longer.

I also noticed that Steemit's self-proclaimed shill Jerry Banfield has been rarely posting as well, and the last few posts he had up were garbo.

Is this another bad sign for the platform?

My theory is that the whole self-voting system is the cause for the lack of money being made, by the same 10 characters that usually seem to show up in the most popular tabs.

I have a feeling that all the whales just spend what ever daily Steem allowance they get on themselves, and then sign off for the day, and do it all over again the next day.

Does anyone else think that the self-voting system is the most ridiculous thing ever devised, and that it will most likely cause the death of Steemit in the not so distant future?

I mean why didn't they just design the voting system to emulate the website they copied the entire layout from in the first place... Reddit? Their voting system is almost perfect, and they should really consider using it before it's too late.

What say you guys and gals?

Am I alone here, or is this system incentivizing everyone to lookout for number one first and foremost, which in a way is causing them to give everyone else the middle-finger in the process?