Learning curve can be brutal, but worth it

As you say, it can be quite steep. I myself also went the same path. I actually found BitShares before steemit, but like you I never fully got it until I joined steemit and realized that it's the same system under the hood.

As I learned about the system making steemit run, Graphene, I also learned more about BitShares and the way it works. So I joined in there as well, and I'm glad I did.