This is posted for the #steembarometer theme suggested by @bozz where he sets a few questions relating to how we feel about Steem.

How long have you been on Steem?

I joined in August 2016, so it is nearly 3.5 years.

Did you have a goal in mind when you joined Steem?

Of course earning something tempted me and I had some experience of that on Tsu before it was killed off. I also saw great potential for Steem to empower people around the world who struggle to make much. I thought it could give me some extra income and I might be able to help others.

Are you still on track with that goal?

I did cash out some Steem and spend it on a guitar as well as two trips to Steemfest. I have also been able to help a lot of people as my SP has grown, although it is currently a few cents per vote. At the peak prices it was dollars.

How have your goals shifted?

I am a lot more about the community now. I have my @tenkminnows initiative and help out with @SteemFlagRewards to try and keep the abuse under control. I am not planning to take out any more Steem for now. I am not desperate for the money.

If your goals have shifted, what were some of the driving factors of that?

Steem is definitely struggling with adoption and retention of new users. The low price is part of the problem, but it is also a complex platform to learn about to start with. We do have some better tools like Keychain to help with that. There is also the issue of votes going to the same few people. We need less automatic voting for curation rewards and more of new users who create the sort of content that makes Steem attractive.

Based on your expertise, faith, or other divination skills, where do you honestly see the overall value/landscape of Steem (knowing that most cryptos are still tethered to BTC feel free to make broad speculations) at the end of 2020?

It is tricky to judge. Crypto is very volatile. Even Bitcoin can see big swings. Steem has not dropped back to the all time low, but is not much higher. It needs some tipping point to make it go viral. That could be some person with a significant following joining up and bringing in a lot of new users. That has dangers if too many new users go for the quick buck and so we need to act now on those who just buy votes or otherwise try to manipulate their rewards. I would hope that by the end of the year we will have several times more active users and a Steem price of at least 50c. I could easily be very wrong.

Steem on!