RE: "That's the BEST THING you've ever told me about Steem"
I definitely think the rewards pool thing was a negative thing for the longest time. Now that Steem is much closer to being worthless than it was, say, a little over a year ago, it's easier to not think about the payouts as there aren't any, for the most part. I made a couple of cents on all of my posts, and that's fine. That's more than I ever made posting on Facebook, and I don't expect a few posts I make about a game to pay my bills or anything. I've been consistent about posting, though, and I do get some decent votes here and there. So while I'd say I agree that the focus should NOT be the rewards pool, the message should be that even if that's your goal, expect it to take work and time, like anything else in life.
With people becoming increasingly annoyed with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, I think the focus should be on the other aspects you've so wonderfully illustrated. I shared this post on Twitter, anyway... hopefully someone clicks on it.
Well i think reward pool still has a place and I'm trying to figure out the balance with providing it a place on the UI and not making it too much the center of the UI.
On another note i think that for large content creators there is a usage for rewards pool... it's for them to get a decent amount of steem so that their vote is seen as motivating to their viewers. They can use votes to influence action.
All those things are INFLUENCE and if having some voting power even if it doesn't change a life is still influence to do some good and that's what they like and that's also what their sponsors pay them big money for. So reward pool isn't for creators to earn from as much as it's a tool to interact with their audience ... well that's my opinion.