Hey, @hanshotfirst.
I've found myself being the contrarian, bouncing from one side of the argument to the other. On the one hand, it is very true that none of us would be here if this infrastructure didn't exist. And I spent my time learning how to read, write and communicate ideas in written form. Coding wasn't as big a deal as it might be now, and certainly not with as many options as there are now. And I far more like writing over what coding I have done.
So, I can't imagine coding anything major, let alone a blockchain.
That said, it's tough to just let Steemit Inc off the hook. I think all of the venting that has been going on is worth something. It should send a message, and someone should be listening, that leaving the most vulnerable among us hung out to dry, which makes up quite a large percentage of STEEM, is not acceptable. Everything, to my way of thinking, that they ended up creating patches for could have been the way it started out and then throttled back.
Don't blow up the user experience, or you go the way of every other website, social media site, product, company, etc., that now finds themselves firmly wedged into place within the dustbin of history.
And, that user experience, while adequate, still in beta, not the priority—the blockchain is—isn't all that to begin with.
I am not that bullish on SMTs. Not yet. I think they present as many issues, if not more, than they solve. It would have to be a near perfect launch, far better than this one, with widespread acceptance and adoption, for it to begin to be a success, let alone the saving grace.
Here, we have the STEEM initiated (I'd say faithful but I'm not sure if that quite applies across the board). I think we end up putting up with a lot of things we wouldn't anywhere else because we have the "hope" that all of this is going to matter, that we are still in the nascent stages of technologies combined with economies, and that the STEEM blockchain is finally going to head towards the value it deserves.
But if that value never gets realized, it won't be through a lack of cohesion of those of us who have been forming the community as early adopters. It will be because the builders went too far too fast, without enough consideration given to the first million through the door before they opened the flood gates to let through the next the 100 million they think are waiting out there.
I 100% agree that it is never ok to leave people hanging out to dry (hence why really needed a pal to help me out when I was upset about it). If I had written this post before he and I chatted, this would have been a much different post. For me, this post was a cathartic way to express that I am going to keep contributing the tiny bit I can to try and help others.
And I think it accomplished that, not just for you, but I would guess many others who have read it. What happens to me is I have a very brief initial reaction, which is often a "Hang 'em!" kind of deal, but not always. Then, I kind of go into observation mode and see what's happening. In this case, there's been plenty of "What the...?!?" along with some "Cool your jets!" and then Steemit's own, "Hey, it's successf...uh, it's complete...it's uh, patched... it's uh, patched again... Three times a charm?"
So, I've been ping-ponging from one side to the other and now more or less somewhere in the middle, where it's time to move on if it's the community, but it's not time for Steemit Inc. to forget how this did not work out, and how it's not okay.
That is a great way to sum this up. Just because we are moving on and continuing to build, we cannot forget that real live people are being affected when there are unforeseen consequences. The team needs to be as vigilant as possible to prevent these consequences.