The GOOD:
I originally bought some STEEM as an investment on Christmas Day on 2017. I had read an article about it and FOMOed myself into buying 150 shares. I didn't actually join the platform until May 2018. I posted a few articles I'd written about crypto and got absolutely nothing - no comments, no votes, no followers. Well, duh, I didn't know how it worked. It's certainly not like the famous quote from Field of Dreams - write it and they will come. So I got disillusioned and left. But then I was tired of Facebook and their information selling and I was bored with Twitter and their short little snippets for posts, so I came back to STEEM in October 2018. I posted a story about my college grad/Iraq veteran son being sent to prison. And low and behold a whale hit it up first day and I made $65 on the post. And that was the first and last time that happened, lol. But I found out I really enjoyed writing and reading what other people had written. I discovered other people, entered contests, joined @actifit, and made friends. This is why I love the STEEM community, and I stayed, learned, joined, and participated. And I'll be here, encouraging newbies as I was encouraged, as long as there is STEEM.
The BAD:
I mentioned I bought STEEM in 11/17 and the price then was $3.38 and as of right now is $.268 which is quite a drop investment wise. But I was able to buy more as it was coming down so my cost average for my purchased shares is $.917 and I believe a $1 is a very doable price for STEEM. The price of STEEM is not why I stay though, I'm addicted to the platform and all my new friends!
The UGLY:
I have to say this, I HATE looking at the Trending (which is why I stopped doing it!) and seeing all the Shit Posts with no content value and hundreds of $$ in rewards. Draining the reward pool and giving nothing back to the community.
There are still great groups and whales though (and I hate to start mentioning them because I will surely forget to name some) that use their SP to curate and encourage the newbies, who recognize quality content, and are the real backbone of the STEEM platform. This is why I STAY here, and eventually I'll have enough SP to delegate more and assist more. And I have to give @partiko credit for creating the great dAPP that allows me to post and enjoy STEEM from my phone. They have been outstanding at updating their app and supporting the community.