I'm sorry to hear that, with Dana's death there was a lot of blame being thrown around between some members of his family and it was awful. Definitely did not help anything, just caused bad feelings during an already terrible time.
As for the gratitude, I have done a ton of posts expressing how grateful I am for the people I've met on this journey- I know that it's not just Ned and Dan who are responsible for this place being great, just as they're not solely responsible for its issues. I made a point about them because it still is true that without them we wouldn't be here. You see my husband has been 'the boss' of a few businesses, so I have some insight into the grumbling of those who think they could do things better meanwhile they never could have got it up and running, it's not in them to run a business etc.
I truly am all for constructive criticism that offers practical solutions though, I just get frustrated with all the negativity and complaining. If I were to sell my books on Amazon for instance- which I do plan to do, so will be able to confirm this- I wouldn't have a chance in hell of doing as well starting out as I have here. And I also wouldn't have opportunity to develop such personal relationships with my readers which is a very cool aspect of this place.
I know things aren't perfect, I have difficulty imagining they ever will be since so many have different ideas of what it would take to make that happen. I'm happy to be a part of whatever will make things better, but I just don't see much value in simply complaining . You get that I can see ;)
Yes, I know you're an @nonamesleftouse fan, have seen you there! He is an integral part of my own journey here, love his art and humor, his intelligence and wit- he's a friend at this point and I adore him. Many of the connections I've made that have become important to me started with him, whether we met in his comments or he referred me to them and vice versa. I call his comment section the rec center of steemit lol. Actually, I haven't been using it that way recently, I should be though, you should see some of his sections from last year they are a ZOO of people all commenting to each other haha!