Golden greetings and silver salutations! Brace yourself, this is going to be a long one... It has been an interesting ride since I started here in August 2017, but I think it is time to power all of my Steem down. This is NOT a complete farewell, but I sure will not be posting like I used to. You will still see me post periodically when some new shiny arrives in the mail, which will likely be less frequent. But why? Well, like the old break up line, "It's not you, it's me". Actually, it is "you" too. By you, I do not mean anyone in particular, but more of the current state of Steemit in general. It's Me! Steemit, life is good right now, like really really good. I accepted a promotion at my job a couple of weeks ago, which is going to demand more of me. Currently, if you include my long daily commute, my work day is about 11 1/2 - 12 hours long. This promotion is going to require me to work more, and potentially may cut into my weekends. While the days are longer, I am finally getting a shot at a leadership role, and dammit, I want to give it my all. In my Steemit peak, I would sometimes forego sleep, to write. I cannot justify this any longer. I MUST succeed in this role. I have been grossly underemployed for many years, frankly most of my life. As of a couple of weeks ago, I was working an entry level position, next to fresh college graduates (in some cases, I am old enough to be their father). The new job isn't the only big news, I am moving in with the girlfriend. Actually, we're moving in to a big new house together! This has caused lots of stress and anxiety as buying a house and selling 2 different places are NOT fun. Once we get settled, that extra weekend writing time will likely turn into lawn mowing or random project time. Also, there are many costs associated with moving and that liquid Steemit money may come in handy. It's You! Oh, Steemit, in the almost a year that I have been on here, things sure have changed. The bots have risen from a handful to the hundreds, the followers system has been destroyed, votes are being automatically given, and what is the dev team doing?!? The Bots First, and most certainly foremost, F**K THE BOTS!!! I am tired of them and they have led to multiple Steemit problems. And, before you have a chance to say it to me, I AM A HYPOCRITE! I use bots for every damn post (and I'll use them here). If you want ANYTHING, you have to use a bot. What problems you ask? - They lead people to post daily! This frequency leads to a lot more "shit posts". Like, a LOT more. Even if they are not completely shit, quality has dropped big time. Personally, I am guilty. I used to think, I need to post tonight to get my "Stax" vote, quality be damned! Plus this additional time posting, leads to less time reading and commenting. It's a vicious cycle of writing then buying your own votes. - The rich keep getting richer! Look at the Trending and then the Hot sections. Go ahead, I'll wait................... did you scroll down? Look at all of the repeat names! Is it because they great writers, some may be, but look at their top votes...SO MANY BOTS! - They cause fights! This is a very specific example, and not necessarily a Steemit wide problem. SteemSilverGold has been my main home on Steemit. The Stax fallout hurt, then that led to drama with the formation of a new bot, Precious. Not going into specifics, this lead to a lot of infighting and people leaving. The Followers What happened to the followers? You used to know who followed you, now every time I post, I get 25 or so new followers in about a second. What are these accounts? And of these "followers", do any of them read my posts? Actually, is ANYONE READING MY POSTS? I once wrote about something and got NO comments (other than the bot comments). That is the absolute worst feeling when you are trying to put any quality writing out there. Why I am wasting my time, when nobody is going to f'n read it?!? Auto Votes / Curation Trails This is not necessarily new, but far more rampant then before. People set up their buddies on their auto votes and leave themselves little voting power to curate. And, yes, I am guilty of this! I have an autovoter, and I'll keep it on while I am on hiatus. Voting power be damned! Now the curation trails...what is the benefit of these? I am receiving votes that equate to like two one-hundredth of a percent. The monetary value of these votes may equal one or two cents. I would rather that one of these people actually read my posts. What is the Dev Team Doing? In the past year, I have seen lots of people hyping Steemit and all of the great things it is going to do. Do you know what meaningful updates I have seen?!? Well, the Steemit logo was changed...that is about it. Oh, there is that new TOS mandatory change. I checked on our fearless founders page for details as to why the new TOS was necessary (if the leadership team did release a public statement, please leave a link in the comments), and I can't find it...but Ned did post a selfie a few days ago, that's an important update! Finally, what is happening with "Smart Media Tokens"? The last time 'Ol Ned reposted anything about it was 4 months ago. If you look under the category "SMT", I dare you to find something that it is recent and relevant from the dev team. In Closing I am done venting. I truly worry about the long term status of Steemit. I want it to work. I have spent many hours on this platform and I care about it greatly. Alas and alack, It just kind of feels like a money grab right now. Let's leave this on a happy note, I went to Banff, Canada this past weekend. It was gorgeous! As every post needs a photo, let's look at mountains as I walk away slowly... ![Banff.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQgMTdtTLaMcmp1TM7t33qpi4JYbiu8XTWAfRYmQbjvY7/Banff.jpg) Until next time (and it may be a while), keep stacking and supporting #SteemSilverGold, #SteemUSA, and #TheAlliance! TL:DR - It's not you, it's me...but it's also you! ![SSG.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYeRXrmb4fhJ8e6pYYGjAx9SCZSrW7cfuYFH9TQP5NXYX/SSG.png) ![Alliance1.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdDsiPvkGf9aJmF9RSA6GkK43SXKy8bX9SeKdqW7VDAaZ/Alliance1.jpg) ![Steem USA Footer.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbjbmqGsySZ3Pf6e8L6Gi15BrE45Xkra8Za7NW8qKdxoo/Steem%20USA%20Footer.png)

mikeshuh