The counter was broken and needed to be fixed (counted every refresh including from poster) but was better than nothing.
Content just seems to disappear into the void and no one ever saw it or heard of it unless people expected to see it appear.
This will change with new front-ends. it isn't actually Steemit's job, there's is to make sure the chain can perform imo.
btw, how come you don't come into steem.chat?
RE: Content producers and 7 years of bad sex