You'd be amazed how difficult getting long term, dependable funding for projects, programs, initiatives, jobs, etc can be on here.
To some degree, it's the 'nature of the beast' in that Steemit's setup for things to be seen for a short period of time (i.e. one week.) Once that first announcement post goes away, it becomes 'old news'...even if followup posts are made.
I honestly don't blame @arcange at all for making the move to the paid subscription model. I've had to start telling people that I'd respond to their questions (in private messages) when I get to them...they'd have to pay if they wanted my time outside of that.
Whether it's creating/maintaining an app or website, mentoring new people, answering questions in chats...anyone giving something away for free is quickly overloaded with little to no compensation.
Personally, Steemit Inc has not seemed concerned with funding many projects (they have done some) and if you're not on that list, then you have to either drop it or find a better model (i.e. requiring payment).
This seems even more the case with people actually doing 'jobs' or services like manning the #help room or moderating the #general room in Steemit.chat. If nothing else...I'd LOVE to see funding go towards things that large populations of Steemit are using (i don't know how many users SteemSql had, but I def can see the value here) as well as anything towards those on the front lines of customer support.
I'd love for a steemit inc member to sit in one of those steemit chat channels while everyone's bandwidth has been restricted...see how much value those people bring.
Sorry, end rant. Lol
{Upped for visibility}
I think we have more chance if we focus on the community than steemit, inc. We can do much more for each other. I strongly believe that the sense of community, the interactions are what can make this platform awesome.