I think this issue goes hand in hand with the fact that in a competitive marketplace developers need to be paid well in order to attract the talent necessary to build out the ecosystem. Don't get me wrong, the huge delegations to individuals was obviously a giant mistake in almost every way imaginable. But if people are expected to devote their full time to the platform and they are otherwise able to fetch 100k+ salaries doing any other type of coding work elsewhere then we should expect to see at least some of the delegation power be used to pay the team members.
That being said I do think that things could be done a bit more transparently, and that there should have been clearer contracts written up. But I think that some of the aversion to doing so may lie more with the original team and steemit itself than those who happily take the huge delegations. As I understand it the shadow mining and initial distribution of steem was done to avoid the ICO label and skirt laws about forming such entities, and it seems that they are continuing the practice of refusing to draw up legally binding contracts in the fear that they will be under legal scrutiny for their previous and continuing actions regarding their use of steem.
So it leaves us with this current mess where we can only hope that the teams are at least somewhat fair with their use of the power given to them, because who can challenge them? Steemit wants them to build, the people want handouts, what's best for growth? In my opinion it's counterintuitive to give people rewards for simply using the platforms as they are, because if they know they are competing amongst current steemit users for votes from them, then why would they want to invite other outside friends to join a network when they would only become competition for those same upvotes?
If you're a successful streamer on dlive, why invite your friends? They'd only potentially outshine you and suck up all the votes you were once getting. Same story for dtube, dsound, etc. The way they are currently handling the delegations is actually encouraging anti-social behavior. You're already on the platform and create content of middling value? Here's your participation award because we want our app to be a trending hashtag. Don't invite your friends because they'll eat your lunch.
I really don't understand, it's like these people have never actually worked anywhere where growth actually mattered. Their approach is very anti-growth. We are kind of helpless as we watch these SP giants plod along and waste a very good opportunity. When was the last time you saw one of these platforms give awards for bringing fresh blood in? I barely remember the last time I saw an individual host a twitter competition to get new users signed up.
I run into the same issue with my UBI initiative. I can see why other UBI's require people to pay, or invite friends. Because why would they want to tell others about it, when it would only dilute their potential earnings.
Who knows, maybe steemit inc is just paying all of these teams to build out the platform then kick them to the curb when the apps are developed and the price skyrockets, then cash out. That's what many people who have refused to join steemit have asserted all along.