Interesting background. Thanks for providing info. 50% going to group owner was clearly the wrong number. But I could see concept working and being reasonable if it was something like 5%; as payoff for all the curation work that would be needed to be a good owner of each community.
No obvious reason why steemit.com would shut down in the short term. As long as there is a 9% or 10% inflation rate there will always be some type of rewards pool to distribute. And if confidence in platform grows, the open market price of STEEM could continue to rise which will attract continuing interest for new entrants.
STEEM On !!
Cheers Dave!