Thanks for taking the time to dive in and understand! You had the same reaction I did as well, where it seemed high that it might even turn people away. It does make sense though, and most likely steemit.com would have to do the same thing if they didn't have the funding they do.

It's an awesome business tool and I think to really plan long term, those in the space need to find ways to use it and bring value in exchange for it. My plan is to make some awesome forums :)