There was never support to do this on the live chain, though it was discussed (as it should be to explore the consequences). I'd also argue that in the greater discussions, a new chain was actually discussed far more than doing this on the live chain.
Everyone who even mentioned the slightest support for the idea of a "Steem without Steemit Inc" never actually said "on the live blockchain".
The context here is incredibly important.
News to me.
You are/were in those chats, you want to go dig through them and find a single instance where someone actually supported it? I'll wait.
Thanks for clarifying. My points do not apply to new chains.
I came from the future to tell you that Hive happened.
And this, boys and girls, is history.