@kp138 and I both asked the same question (why not be more transparent) because the community could see this and freak out over it as it could be taken as they're taking the money and running while the price of steem is still fairly good. That would be a lot of STEEM to hit the open market if that were what was happening and thank God it's mostly not, I think.
ON a separate note, I think steemit inc should hire some sort of PR person (or a couple of them) because tech people and engineers are generally not good at communicating with the general public (I'm a machine designer and I hate dealing with customers and a lot of people in general). Hell, they obviously have the funds to pay someone. Maybe give them stock options (Steem Power), a salary and the option to take it in crypto or whatever. It takes people of many different skill sets collaborating to maximize the success of a venture. MY point is -- they've proven time and again they're very bad at communicating and they don't see the negative effect that the poor communications has on the platform's users. It creates unnecessary uncertainty, scares people who have money invested, and is generally not very good business practice to update the shareholders about what's going on.
Yep, share holders. I paid several thousand dollars of money I worked for at my job (I didn't get into crypto early, I got in six months ago and invested about $4k over 3 months in the fall). That was a risky investment but I believe in the platform and it's paid off some so far but I want to know what's going on. I powered up ALL that I bought. I have 5940 SP and 5 STEEM and a few SBD. I'm invested in this. Even though vests / steem power are not traditional stock it is the equivalent of being a shareholders, and shareholders (and everyone here really) has the right to know what's going on when something big like this happens.
This kind of reminds me of the show silicon valley (great show on HBO app) and how it shows that the tech guys generally do not interface or communicate well with the average joe / jane and this creates unnecessary problems for them (that's not the whole plot of the story, just an observation / example).