We've seen a lot of anguished posts about how some lucky individuals are getting most of the rewards, sometimes because they have networked with whales who own bots.
Part of the problem is down to cases like the following I have taken screenshots of:
As you can see, the individuals got lots of upvotes but very little money. Why is this? To answer the question, we need to go back to the whitepaper.
The amount of Steem produced per minute is fixed
The whitepaper on page 35 mentions that Steem grows at approximately 800 STEEM per minute. The amount generated is FIXED - which means the total payout in any 24 hour period is fixed.
Just to reiterate - IT IS A FIXED POT
Therefore in any given minute, the amount per post awarded in $$s fluctuates due to a) the price of Steem and b) the amount already allocated to published posts. If a handful of posts are getting huge $$$s, by definition all other posts must get less, as the Steem being produced is fixed in a 24 hour period. On the day I took the screenshots above, there was one post that made about $44,000 out of a total pot of $200,000, plus about five others on $16,000 each, which means the rest got squeezed to nothingness despite upvotes. You also will notice this if you are voting too much - the $$ value of each vote starts to drop.
Game Theory Takeaway: If you are a minnow who has written content that day, do not vote for any of the trending posts on the front page. By all means read them and comment on them, but do not vote. Instead go to the "New" tab, and try to find something fresh to vote for. The goal is to ensure that the top posts don't get too much STEEM, so that others including yourself, get something.
Timing Matters
If you are after a curation award, and you are a minnow, the only time you really get a curation award is in the very early period after a post has been published, between about 15 minutes and 2 hours. To gain max curation awards, you need to vote before a whale or dolphin does.
There are some authors who have been favorited by bots who vote for them at the 15 or 30 minute mark.
If the whales and whale-bots have already voted, don't bother to vote yourself, you won't get a curation award, or if you do it will be so minuscule that it doesn't show up in your wallet history.
Here are some known bots and whales:
@steemed
@itsascam
@steemroller
@wang
@berniesanders
@smooth
@xeroc
@dantheman
@ned
@rainman
Check the dropdown for their names before you vote. Don't bother if a whale has already voted - instead scope out interesting stuff that hasn't yet attracted the notice of either whales or dolphins.
Final Takeaway
Steemit has been set up like a giant game. By all means do the basics right - write interesting engaging posts with good titles. But realize this is not enough - you've got to play smart too.