"The more folks that run nodes the better"
Oh yes, for sure. It contributes to/creates decentralization.
I really have only known the 'miners' of these social blockchains, witnesses, to run nodes. I'm not extremely informed or anything however.
When I think about how few 'miners' there are on Hive and Steem it kind of makes my skin crawl. The fact that only 20 'miners' get to generate so much of the new blocks by design is very limiting in terms of decentralization, in my humble opinion.
Why not let anyone get a chance to make a block and get the rewards? Why only let an elite few people who can win a popularity contest do it?
Centralization seems like it might be the answer. I don't really see there being an answer that I would like either.